Dross on 1/4" mild steel, improvements?

[jimcolt]

I agree that the Finecuts are finicky....generally I use them on only 14 ga and thinner....unless I need a squarer edge on 12 ga and 10 ga. I have found that the book speed is generally right on....but I bump the height up (book says .06") to .075"....and the cuts are much more consistent. I do this only on 12 and 10 ga.....don't see the need on thinner.

The Hypertherm torches (in my opinion) are touchier than most others on height. It has to be pretty close in order to get consistent angularity. You may want to see if your actual arc voltage and your digital readout are the same....I find a lot that are different by 5 to 10 volts....which makes a fair difference on height. Put a meter directly on the raw voltage and cut.....compare the height control readout vs the Raw voltage. Could be electronics calibration.....discrepancy in the voltage divider, etc. Then just offset all your voltage readings by that amount...

Our process engineers are under the gun to ensure that all of our consumables can pierce a minimum of 300 pierces without any effect on cut quality....so that is why we stop the Finecut at 10 gauge, and suggest 1/4" for the 45 amp shielded parts. Although the Powermax45 has specs to pierce through 1/2"...go figure! I do like the edge quality of the 45 amp shielded process on 3/8" and 1/2"....though I agree it is too slow for the big jobs.

Jim

[Brand X]

My dro will read the height.. instant stop and measure will put me right where I need to be.. The actual shown are matching up with set voltage too.. It's the cat 5 stuff from Candcnc. Even turned off on the small piece, it keeps the correct pierce height, and cut height. I had three different plasma's on this setup. and one used raw arc voltage, and the inductance on the work lead. Card for 7-1 voltage..Thermal dynamics A-120 factory card at 50-1, same with the Hypertherm at 50-1. Pretty much know it's right on the mark.. I leave it on all the time because it just works right. I would be less likely to trust my cheap voltage meter.. I am not having one issue the THC.. I will double check a couple more times with my feeler ga. but pretty sure it's stable as it gets.. Right at first I was off on my switch offset, and the voltage did not match book setting. Corrected it, and right on. Showed me its really close.

The one consumable I do think is a good idea to use (for me) is the copper electrode.. It shows much better life then standard ones.. It's the better value for the little extra..