Razorweld 45 cutting 3/16 carbon steel. Every cut it does this. It will cut 3 1/2 sides and it won’t full knock out the bolt holes. My consumables are brand new, my air goes through a 2 stage air dryer. I’m using the settings from an everlast cut chart someone linked me on another issue. So I’m about 60 imp, 45 amps, 72 psi, cut height .062 (I have tried from 60-63 and it doesn’t change) pierce delay is .6 but I have done .7 and .8 with a cut height of .125 with the THC on the machine. I don’t understand why this machine has such a hard time at anything over 10 gauge for me.
Question 1. Is your compressor capable of keeping 70 psi for the entire cut? Starting at 70 and ending at 50 can be an issue.
Question 2. Is the work clamp on the metal being cut? Not the slat or the pan.
Question 3. Are the holes purposely oval?
Post pictures of your consumables. End shots.
We will try to help.
It looks to be an air or positive work clamp connection issue to me. The issue seems to be at the end of the program every time, if that’s what you mentioned on other attempts.
All your settings seem to be in line with a quality cut.
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I believe the compressor holds 70, I haven’t really looked but if it cuts and then stops and then cuts I believe it would be holding pressure, right?
The work clamp is on the part, perhaps I didn’t clean it enough?
Yes the holes are purposely oval, I had a more square ish hole before and it cut even worse.
Pictures of the consumables, they have less than 200 pierces on them.
The tip is no good. Try a new tip. Many events can take out a tip. Install a new electrode and tip and try again.
Run this program. It will move the torch to where it thinks .062 is. Then shut down in that position. No torch fire. Then measure the gap to the steel with a feeler gauge. If it’s more than .062, let us know.
cut height test.tap (224 Bytes)
You won’t be able to open it, but FireControl can.
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That nozzle is in bad shape, what pierce height are you using?
The electrode looks fine, but that nozzle doesn’t match the wear. Piercing too close to the metal can destroy a nozzle very quickly.
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Yup, Big Daddy is right — the consumable looks rough.
Once you change it out, if you are still getting this same issue, please email us and we can continue troubleshooting.
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I changed the consumables and it cut great for 3 of the 4 remaining pieces I had. For some reason on the 4th it seemed to be a little rougher. Aside from use, what causes these consumables to go bad so quickly? I got almost 600 pierces out of my original set of consumables, I changed them and got less than 200.
Also can someone explain pierce delay like I eat crayons? What I read about it makes me think I need to go up on thicker material but it seems to not pierce as clean.
Premature consumable wear: moisture in the system; cheap consumables vs quality ones (say, bought from Home
Pierce delay is the amount of time from when the pierce initiates until the torch starts to move.
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Pierce delay is the time that the torch stays in one place until it burns all the way though the metal. The delay time only has to be long enough for it to fully pierce the metal before starting to move. Too short and the torch will just gouge the surface of the metal as its moving. Too long and the torch will burn a big hole at the start of the cut and possibly burn out before starting to move.
The time it takes to fully burn though the metal will be longer on thicker metal, so the delay needs to be longer on thicker metal. For example, I use .4 sec on 16 and 14 ga metal, because that is as low as I can go before Firecontrol gives me an error for “torch started moving before voltage was sensed”. I use .5 sec on 11 and 10 ga, .7 sec on 3/16 and .9 sec on 1/4”
My consumables I bought from Langmuir and I have a multi stage water separator since I live in NC and we have a ton of humidity.
Makes sense as to why when I cut 14g I have larger holes, my pierce delay was too long. I ended up at .7 on 3/16, with all the drama I get at 3/16 I couldn’t imagine going to 1/4.
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Tell us about your compressed air system.
Compressor brand, size and output
Tank drain on compressor?
If so automatic or manual?
If automatic how long does it run and how often?
Refrigerated drier?
Desiccant filter? Size?
Motorguard filter?
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Knick’s questions need to be answered to help rule out moisture.
You can also destroy the nozzle if your cut height is too low. You might set the pierce height and cut height correctly but if you have not verified that you are, indeed, at that specified height then it can mess everything up.
Try Phillip’s cut height test file. This will cycle the IHS and then set the torch at 0.06 inches. It will not fire the torch so there is no concern of damage to metal nor the consumables. Now measure with a feeler gauge the distance between the metal and the torch tip. Realize that the z-axis is spring loaded so you don’t want to cause that upward movement while testing.
cut height test.tap (224 Bytes)
This is what that cut height test file looks like:
As Erik and David explained pierce delay. If the piercing of the metal is not accomplished during this “pierce delay” time period, all of those hot metal fragments are bouncing back at the nozzle and wearing it down. The pierce is the most damaging moment for the nozzle during all of the cutting.
I destroyed a brand new Hypertherm nozzle when I attempted to cut 1/2” steel with a fine-cut nozzle. It never made a clean cut thru and was spraying hot embers all over the place, including back at the torch. I stopped the cut and inspected and found my mistake.
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