Smallest detail from plasma

[RAD]

Just curious what's the smallest you guys can cut and still have parts come out looking good, I'm not talking about dimensional accuracy, just the profile of the cut.

Here's a small company logo I did that would be welded to completed jobs (industrial fabrication jobs) to 'brand' the company products. It's approx. 2" x 2" overall, this part given it's application is acceptable, but I'm still curious if there is room for improvement, what do you guys think? Also attached is the DXF if anyone who has the time to cut and compare to mine, thanks

BTW this was cut from 18G zinc coated using finecut consumables.

[bhamer62]

This is laser, not plasma, but here's some small stuff I cut for a customer once....

[RAD]

^ Wow that looks really good for parts that small. Mines is a DIY plasma though so I'm not expecting quality to be as good as laser, but I'm not too satisfied with the quality on this piece, although the guys at work say it looks good. Just wondering if you guys think this could be alot better or whats the smallest you've cut with good results (thats better than this)

btw the width of the letters are about 1/8"

[jimcolt]

The cut quality with a plasma cutter is dependent on the accuracy of the plasma torch and condition of consumables, the ability of the cnc motion to maintain recommended cutting speeds and stay accurately on path, the ability of the height control to hold accurate torch to work distance. In my opinion (which is based on 39+ years of plasma cutting) your part is probably as good as it will get.

- You could do better with a High Definition plasma on a precision CNC machine (starts at about $100k)
- You can do better with a laser cutting system (starts at about $350k)
- You can do better with an abrasive waterjet (starts at about $175k)

An air plasma needs to run real fast and close to the material in order to get best cutting performance on very thin materials. Generally with low cost (under $20k) cnc machines you are lacking the acceleration and following error capabilities that you will get with the higher cost industrial processes. The whole air plasma / cnc market is based on lower purchase price, easy to learn software and smaller footprint machines, as well as single phase power. You cannot expect the same cut part accuracy, however accuracy is more than adequate for most artistic or metal fabricating applications.

If I need more accuracy I simply farm out a part to a laser or waterjet company. Jim Colt Hypertherm

[RAD]

Thanks jim your advice is noted and always appreciated, although I may need to increase my acceleration (I need bigger motors), I'm glad to know that this is as good as it will get

[DXF]

I would love to have a laser. My 16 year old Plasma cam will do for the moment. No DHC and been hit by lightning twice.....blew out circuit boards in my plasma cutter. Here's a logo I cut for my MG Roadster out of 14 gage stainless steel.

Dave Hanks

[RAD]

DXF, that's impressive, hope to get to that level or even close once I upgrade my motors!

[Nacs Fab]

I made these for a customer who builds roll cages and will tack these to the cage for customers.

These are 2.5" wide and letters are .0625" inside dimension. Cut with Finecuts on 14ga MS.

[Brand X]

Here is one in .050 aluminum..Made one in this SS too.. This was with a heavy gantry one motor, slow acceleration, exposed nozzle over twice as high off the plate as a fine cut.. (Thermal dynamics 151) Made one in thin SS too.. The slow Acceleration really shows up on the Chevy emblem, but I could do much better now..

[RAD]

those look really good...now I'm going to try and do better, as you can see in my pic the pierce is visible how can I eliminate this? I did use an arc lead in and also tried perpendicular same result (my settings were 110 ipm @ 40amps 0.06" cut height, 0 second pierce delay for 16g steel)