Tricks for cutting Diamond plate

[msc]

Someone asked if I could cut aluminum diamond plate on my CNC and Powermax 45. I have never done it so I took some drop and started playing around. The results were not pretty. I set my tool to 1/8 inch aluminum and tried both face up and face down. Not only were the cuts ugly and incomplete but my torch bottomed out several times.

Are there any tricks to diamond plate to make it work? I know I am missing something here but I am at a loss.

Thanks, Mark

[SeanP]

What speed were you cutting at?
Cutting with smooth face up works best for me.
I have had some nice cuts on ally diamond plate, maybe slow the feed down until it improves.
I am maybe cutting at book speed for the total thickness of the plate.
You need to run a test cut on say 200mm x 12mm to get a torch volts reading to use as the thc preset volts, you cant rely on the book setting for that.

[jimcolt]

Aluminum tread plate cuts just like aluminum regular plate. If you have a good height control, cut it with the bumps up for best results and use the cut chart specs for the thickness at the bumps. Correct height and correct speed and you will get a cut like SeanP shows in his pic. Use the shielded 45 amp consumables.....follow the specs in the mechanized cut chart. Make sure you have the machine torch shield....not the drag shield used for hand cutting.

This is the first cut I made on my Plasmacam (about 9 years ago....still cuts nicely!).

PlasmaCambuild 021.jpg (73.41 KiB) Viewed 2700 times

PlasmaCambuild 021.jpg (73.41 KiB) Viewed 2700 times

Jim Colt

[Bigrhamr]

I cut .125 aluminum tread often with a Powermax 45. The raised parts of the tread pattern are over 3/16" thick on the stuff I get, so I have to turn the speed down close to the 3/16" setting, going from memory I think I run it at 120 IPM. I think the book setting is about 220 IPM for 1/8" and I had problems cutting through at that speed. I cut with the tread side up, it keeps the shiny side cleaner and you don't scratch it dragging across the table slats.

[msc]

Ok, thanks for the tips. I will try again tomorrow.

[chevybythesea]

I cut 1/8" aluminum diamond plate often, as well. I use 40amp, 120ipm, and keep the bumpy side up. Good cuts, little slag on the bottom, but lots of white aluminum oxide dust - set off the smoke detector last week. Fun times! But even the fire department was impressed by the cut quality.

[KIDTech]

Cut .125" diamond plate last night. I ran it at the .25" cutting specks I got from CandCNC.com as well as specks from my Hypertherm book. I ended settling in at 105 ipm and 131 volts. It turned out great cutting diamond side up and I do not have a water table.

Added: I would also like to point out that all the cuts were straight and corners 90 degrees, it was just a rectangle cover for a generator and had some vents cut into the sides so I've not tried any art work with the diamond plate yet.

[kendogg]

I just did some 1/16 aluminum diamond plate cut the speed in half and 45amp tip came out very clean minimal dross did it diamond facing up. When I used Hypertherm settings for speed it left tons of dross