Just a heads up for those trying to save a buck on consumables. I recently had a problem with cut quality on our machine. I put all new consumables in trying to fix a beveling problem that was only on the x axis. All new parts and a check of gas pressures did not fix it. The electrode I was using was Hypertherm, but the nozzle was jobber ( I won't mention the name as it may be a problem across the board). The material was 5/8", and I had 1/8" bevel from top to bottom, one side bevelled in and the other out. I then swapped the nozzle again for a Hypertherm one and ended up with a beautiful cut.
I have informed our purchasing dept not to buy jobber parts ever again as we have had other problems in the past.
Jobber Consumables
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WSS
- 3 Star Member
- Posts: 425
- Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2010 12:19 am
Re: Jobber Consumables
Thanks for the info! I had been considering some aftermarket/offshore consumables to save a few bucks. Lost parts suck. It quickly passes the savings for me.
I have had good luck lately using a small single flute countersink on the nozzle (by hand, one turn or two at most) to break off that bevel causing slpatter. It works if the nozzle is still round and just suffered a bad pierce.
WSS
I have had good luck lately using a small single flute countersink on the nozzle (by hand, one turn or two at most) to break off that bevel causing slpatter. It works if the nozzle is still round and just suffered a bad pierce.
WSS
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jimcolt
- 5 Star Elite Contributing Member
- Posts: 3087
- Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:18 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Re: Jobber Consumables
Aftermarket consumables are cheaper to buy, but usually not cheaper to use. Most of the aftermarket consumable suppliers are "caliper engineers"....they buy a few sets of consumables from the plasma system manufacturer that designed them....and they copy most (usually not all) of the contours and have the parts machine (often offshore) in high quantity. They have no engineering costs, no continuous improvement costs, and no ongoing testing to ensure that production parts are being manufactured to the original spec.
Many of the consumables used in Hypertherm torches have patented innovations (the nozzles and shield used on newer Hypertherm Powermax units have a "conical flow" technology that increases energy density....basically it is an accurately machine shape that creates an air flow that squezzes the arc....this was developed through thousands of hours of laboratory time)....some of these features use complex manufacturing techniques, some are rather simple....but many are patent protected.
Most of the aftermarket suppliers choose to leave the innovative features off their consumable parts....which makes for different performance, and often makes them cheaper to manufacture. Another common issue with aftermarket consumables is with "stack up tolerances"....if an aftermarket nozzle is used with the rest of the parts being genuine..the critical stack up dimensions that are used to fire the torch and create the 25,000 degree arc can be affected...which affects torch cooling , arc density, and cut edge angularity.
The big question...is it worth it to save 10% (or more) on a consumable part that does not cut as well (more grinding and secondary work) or only lasts 50% as long? Often purchasing agents are charged with buying welding and cutting parts at the lowest purchase price......when they should get more involved with what the parts actually do on the shop floor...which is to provide better cut quality, longer usable life.....which means lower operating cost.
Jim
Many of the consumables used in Hypertherm torches have patented innovations (the nozzles and shield used on newer Hypertherm Powermax units have a "conical flow" technology that increases energy density....basically it is an accurately machine shape that creates an air flow that squezzes the arc....this was developed through thousands of hours of laboratory time)....some of these features use complex manufacturing techniques, some are rather simple....but many are patent protected.
Most of the aftermarket suppliers choose to leave the innovative features off their consumable parts....which makes for different performance, and often makes them cheaper to manufacture. Another common issue with aftermarket consumables is with "stack up tolerances"....if an aftermarket nozzle is used with the rest of the parts being genuine..the critical stack up dimensions that are used to fire the torch and create the 25,000 degree arc can be affected...which affects torch cooling , arc density, and cut edge angularity.
The big question...is it worth it to save 10% (or more) on a consumable part that does not cut as well (more grinding and secondary work) or only lasts 50% as long? Often purchasing agents are charged with buying welding and cutting parts at the lowest purchase price......when they should get more involved with what the parts actually do on the shop floor...which is to provide better cut quality, longer usable life.....which means lower operating cost.
Jim
