nitogen for better cut

[bob49]

i,m new here but was curious about plumbing nitrgeon to my cutmaser 82 for cleaner cuts on non ferrus materials, feed back welcomed Bob

[rock4xfab]

IN the manual I do beleive it stated not to use anything but striaght compressed air. Nitrogen is not going to make a better cut. It is used as an aid in laser cutting to aid in keeping the cut edge mill scale free.

[bob49]

i disagree....nitrogen is a moisture free gas,unlike compressed air, also an inert gas or buy todays name noble gas one would think the oxides or dross would be reduced

[jimcolt]

With a single gas air plasma...nitrogen will not get a noticeable improvement in cut quality on stainless or aluminum....in fact on some grades will produce more dross. Nitrogen will definitely make the cut quality worse on steel. If you have a water table, and can raise the water and cut submerged with nitrogen, you will see a cleaner (less oxidation) on stainless...as the water shields the ambient air from contaminating the cut edge.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

[Loyd]

I used a bottle of nitrogen with my HT 1250 on steel. I concur with Jim...
Loyd

[bob49]

thanks for your input...since the older twin gas machines used it i thought it might be worth a try.. guess not

[jimcolt]

Dual flow plasma systems use nitrogen as the plasma gas and C02 as the shield gas...the C02 effectively creates an atmosphere around the cut that is devoid of oxygen....this process creates a slightly cleaner edge on stainless. By using nitrogen in a single gas torch, and cutting submerged in water...you can achieve similar results. There are dual gas plasma systems on the market...however most of them are of industrial design for mechanized cutting only....use liquid cooled torches and are far more costly as compared to todays air plasma systems. Typically these industrial systems will use either a nitrogen/hydrogen (5% hydrogen) mix as the plasma gas, and nitrogen as the shield gas for cutting stainless up to about 1/4"......for thicker stainless a hydrogen /argon mix (35% hydrogen) with a nitrogen shield is used. Very few plasma manufacturers recommend the old N2/C02 gas mixes as they produce very poor edge angularity.

Jim