14g metal, Here’s the tool settings. I can’t seem to get a pic to attach. Kerf .012, feed rate 165 (made a bit slower from manual set up), pierce delay 0.9 (added 1/2 sec from manual), pierce height 0.15, plunge rate 60, cut heights .06, lead in lead out ARC, length 0.125 on both. pierce delay. HT 45 machine.
Why are we getting the little holes at start of new line? We’ve tried decreasing our pierce delay and we get an error in Fire Control that pierce delay needs to be at least 0.5 I believe the error is. We’ve tried lead in ‘None’ as well. Any help would be appreciated. We have the Pro table.
I can’t get the actual pic to post. File to large.
That little hole will always be there to some extent because the arc will enlarge the sides of the hole as soon as it pierces. You can try to decrease pierce time until it alarms, then increase a bit. The decrease amperage until it doesn’t pierce, then increase it again until it pierces. That will minimize it.
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Kerf is too small. I use 0.056" for mine on 14ga.
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That kerf width is too small, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the holes at the pierce points. That will just make your parts cut a different size than you intended, since the machine will cut a larger kerf than that.
If you are seeing a hole with an arc lead-in, you may need to increase your lead in distance. Using a lead-out increases the chances of seeing that cut mark, since the torch passes over that area twice and will cut a wider kerf as it passes over the previously cut area. If you use "no lead-in, you will always have a mark where the torch pierced the material. Open lines will always have a round pierce hole at the start, since they don’t use a lead-in.
Thank you. I will check more settings. Have you set up any rules in sheetcam for thc on/off? I’m reading a lot of folks are shutting theirs off. Waste on $$ if that’s the case. We didn’t have as many hole issues with the old version of CrossFire we had.
Your settings are exactly what I’m using except your kerf is far smaller than mine.
I don’t have special Sheetcam rules setup - I let Firecontrol manage it.
We’re using fine consumables should we be using the kerf for those or the metal thickness? I’m trying to learn this part to help my husband get set up. Sorry for all the stupid questions. We’re trying to get rid of the small holes at the beginning of our cuts. I’ve added the additional 1/2 sec to our tool set up pierce delay needed for Firecontrol. We still get errors at times in FC about pierce delay to small. I will increase in FC and start program again to finish.
You can use the kerf for the fine cut consumables as a start. But what you might want to do ultimately is run some tests on different materials so you can measure what it is for your specific torch. It changes a bit based on material and age of consumables so even measured it won’t necessarily be spot on. It’s usually within a few thou which is fine.
If you need to do precision cut pieces where the measurements are critical then just swap in new consumables and run a quick test cut before you start your production run.
I have a little file that cuts out a coupon with a circle, square and triangle cut out and a couple of lines (one straight, one curving) that I use to measure kerf in new materials.