I have a small automotive oriented fab shop and I am inclined to order a Crossfire Pro despite having 1990s computer skills. I have never worked in a program like fusion360, so please forgive the newbie questions. I have done a fair amount of reading, seems like a great product.
The Torch Height Control I understand is to manage the cut via sensing voltage to maintain a good arc. My question is, will it cut a shape in purposely uneven metal, such as corrugated steel siding? What is the z axis capability?
Is anyone cutting copper sheet with it? I suspect it is harder to do than aluminum because it conducts heat away as fast or faster, but I am thinking like 1/8 sheeting for gaskets.
Will the Razor 45 cut 3/8" stainless steel? I am thinking header flanges. I read on this forum that it will reach up to 1/2" mild steel in perfect circumstances.
Will fusion360 import a PDF file from a scanner of a 2D part, such as a gasket, and be able to get to where I am cutting that shape? Are there other steps needed that are time consuming to do that?
I picked up reading here, that the new Razor 45 does not have a variety of tip sizes any more? For decrative thin material, like .050 stainless, do you just ramp up the speed and turn down the amps? Does the CrossfirePro set the amps for you based on the material you tell it you are using?
Thanks in advance for any answers. I appreciate your time, hopefully some day I will have the knowlege to help someone else here.
To be honest I am wondering what the learning curve is to be a competent or even above average user, so that I can save time AND gain accuracy on the parts that I manually do now. Is it reasonable to expect to be productive in 40 or 50 hours of self training??
I’m an ex auto mechanic. You can do flange design in Inkscape(free) since the issue with flanges is how thick of metal do you want to use. The drawing in Inkscape does not depend on you doing anything but drawing the flange, assuming it is a flat flange. You can take multiple pieces and weld them together to get a 3D bracket as needed.
Welcome to the forums! I can take the question above - no the table / software does not set the amps for you. You will manually set the amps on the plasma machine. The trick is to match the speed you’ve set in your cut program with the amps and the material. Those 3 things need to be in sync to get good cuts. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the welcome, and the answers! That corrugated video was just what I was looking for, altho I haven’t found a z axis spec for how much travel it can handle. It looks like 2+ inches tho.
I hope someone knows about PDF to actual cutting. Many of these gaskets I need to build better literally need scanned flat, not drawn, to get the results I am looking for.
Fusion360 won’t import a pdf file that I know of, but it will import a jpeg image. If you are using something like a flatbed scanner to get the profile of a gasket, what I’d probably do is put a ruler into the scan area with the gasket to use as a scale reference. Save the scan as a jpeg image, and import that into your Fusion360 sketch. Then use the scale feature in Fusion to size the image correctly based on the ruler markings. From there, you sketch the profile of your part using the image as guide and it will be dimensioned correctly. I’ve seen a youtube video or maybe it was on this forum somewhere - but search around and you’ll find some info on it in more detail. PDF, most likely not supported format, but image, yes.
Edit: the F360 feature is called Calibrate, not scale.
You can also take a pic with a phone and do same thing…
Use Inkscape to convert the PDF into an SVG drawing. You’ll be able to cut it. I’ve used that trick for a few things where I used my scanner to get the shape/outline and then used Inkscape to create the outline.
i would look into a Hypertherm Powermax 45xp with the machine torch, they are expensive but worth it, especially if you’re using it for production…
I can’t swing that right now. I ordered the Razorweld 45 hoping that it is a worked out system that is reliable. TBH I never heard of razorweld but people here seem to like it.
I have a Thermal Dynamics 38 on my welder cart. It’s 25 years old I think, but I don’t know if it is a hi freq start. It does misfire about 1/2 the time even with new consumables. Using it by hand I just deal with it, but that would immediately frustrate me with a table.
I went cheap and went with longevity forcecut 40 S45 torch, it cut ok. But it was a struggle to get any quality parts (hole point of CNC) finally said F’ it and dropped the coin on thr Hypertherm. It cuts 2 to 3x faster than the other plasma cutter and the cut quality in night and day different. Im just a home fabrimicator and have no plans to use this for profit. But on occasion i should be able to cut parts for my work when our normal source for cnc cut parts cant drop everything and make a one off part for us.
Hope the razorweld works out for you. From all the posts on here and plasma spider i wpuld think you made a good choice.
The only thing, which I haven’t looked into yet, is I would think a straight torch would be better on the table. Seems like the handheld torch has to have some amount of torque on the “gantry” . It may be insignificant, but since I have one for hand work in my thermal dynamics one, I thought maybe a straight torch would be an upgrade.
Does the thermoDynamic machines have a good reputation? At the time, it was a $3k+ machine and $1K machines didn’t exist that would do 40 amp cuts.
I paid 2300 and change for my hypertherm 45xp with the machine torch and spare consumables.
Also spent a few hundred on a dessicant dryer and a water trap. In the process of adding a cooler (GM engine oil cooler from an Isuzu NPR) between the compressor and tank to drop as much moister out prior to the tank. It will be mounted to the belt gaurd so the compressor fan pulls cool air through it. Even with an auto drain on the tank i get a huge amount of condensate in the manifold i have downstream from the regulator on my tank.
