Well after you start getting nicks in the slats and slag sticking to it. Is the material square to the slates?
Throwing a level on it and getting close really doesn’t take long
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Nicks in the slats aren’t a big deal, just make sure you knock down/off any welded on or slagged up high spots.
My issue with 1/2" has been a rather severe bevel (wider at the top) regardless of cut conditions or consumables. It’s making me wonder if the machine is struggling to get enough air despite the line pressure being around 90psi, and the set pressure on the machine being correct. I wonder if my machine has developed an air leak inside the case or something.
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That is true at the end of the day the material and the torch must be square. I work in a repair machine shop all of our vises are old as dirt. We always make sure everything is level . Lots of the stuff we do a indicator is not necessary in the mill. My thoughts are if it is something I want the best edge quality it isn’t a lot of extra work
Repair and rework on machined parts is a whole other monster, I can understand verifying square and level in that kind of work rather than trusting things to be right on their own.
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Not great at it. Been at it for 22 years just second nature to me guess that is why I set my table up that way.
I was cutting some of the parts out of 1/4 inch. My washers I cut out I checked the first washer,the middle one and the last. The taper will not be consistent because the material warps to much. Picture will show what I mean.
So the first washer has 3 degrees taper on all sides, the middle and the last was the same each side a little different some sides was 3 a couple 5 and extreme 8 degrees. These parts will all function as normal with no issues.
I went through my stock of washers I am currently working with that was cut at 65 amps grabbed a hand full to check the taper they was for the most part consistent with the ones cut at 45 amps
This is the first washer in a nest of only60.
This is a 65 amp cut with probably the most extreme taper.
Here is a full nest you can see how the taper can change constantly
This is the finished product if anyone is interested
I was mainly interested in seeing if anyone had noticed a difference in cut quality cut the same material at different Amps. Digging in I don’t see a difference.
Still would like others input.
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That’s about what I was expecting. I’ve done a little cutting at lower than book amperage before and always felt like the results I got were pretty similar too, so I just cut at the recommended amperage. Good to know your experience basically matches mine with plasma and laser.
How do you order your parts? (it looks like you start center front and work your way out in an orderly fashion) I bet playing with the part order would make a noticeable difference in how much your plate warps. You won’t eliminate it, but I bet you could get it better than it looks in the one pic you posted. The risk of catching a tip up might increase, but jumping around on the sheet location will even out the heat.
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But Phillip…you know I can’t stop at just one or two comments! 
So the plate is obviously expanding on the topside due to heat. What do you think of flooding the top with water while it is cutting? Bad idea? That is what Tin said he does when cutting stainless steel.
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Those cuts was at books settings. It is doin to because the skeleton is only .030 tho or less. It is don’t to maximize the amount number of parts.
For the function of the parts it isn’t worth changing the cut order. Was only showing the reason I thought the taper changes throughout the nest beside consumable wear. Sheet cam usually and on this one filled the first row x axis left to right. Then filled the columns out from right to left.
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Those are 4x8 sheets I couldn’t flood. For these parts the taper is full acceptable so it isn’t worth the trouble of ripping the sheets. Interesting tho I saw plans a while back for a flood nozzle that constantly flooded the nozzle like the coolant on a lathe or mill.
I was just bored this am and thought it would be a interesting topic that might help someone out. I really think people get carried away with the taper thing sometimes. My thoughts is I guess if it has to be real close square machine it.
We get 8.5 thick block cut for work the are usually within a 1/8 of a inch square. Those are done with a flame not plasma… sorry just thought that was interesting.
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You need to confirm what air pressure is when torch is cutting,70-75 psi for cutting. You want 110-120 air psi to plasma machine supply inlet. Air psi and volume is a key factor in cut quality along with clean/dry air, cut height, torch level to material being cut and cut speed.
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My air system is good for air pressure, volume, cleanliness and dryness, I’m positive (I have a post somewhere showing my drying and filtering setup, and it’s multi-stage, fairly large, and doesn’t choke down the air supply, and my compressor can catch up with air usage even with the machine running a cut using 70-75psi). And I set the air pressure on the machine at the right setting, and even played around with slightly higher pressure.
Also Primeweld specifically says to keep inlet pressure at 90psi or less for the Cut60, so although I can turn my system pressure up to 110-120psi, that can supposedly cause air leaks and problems inside the Cut60.
To turn the opinion on amps a different direction not on cut quality but effects on equipment.
Is it better to cut slower at low amps or faster at higher? Leave time out of the equation. Will a set of consumables say 45 amp set last longer or shorter than a set of 65 amp consumables cutting the same material and parts?
I normally do my long cuts with the copper plus electrodes and lately running at 65 amps.
Today I ran the standard hypertherm electrode and a 45 amp nozzle.
These consumables cut 433 washers and one square 24x24. There is 3 hours and one minute torch on arc time and 1300 pierces.
They are well used and earned my respect. I never try to run them til they blow.
This is the 433 washer the best and worse side as far as taper
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