Aluminum Diamond Plate Cutting

[Bigrhamr]

Any tips on getting the best results cutting Aluminum diamond plate?
I always cut steel DP with the tread surface down so the THC doesn't have to work so hard following the raised diamonds, but in this case I would rather not drag the tread surface across the table and scratch it up any more than I have to. Some of it is in 60" x 192" x .190" sheets so just lightly setting it on the table won't be an option
unless 3 or 4 of you want to stop by and grab a corner

I haven't even tried it yet so this is just speculation but I picture the THC doing a jackhammer imitation trying to follow the tread surface. Any input would be appreciated.

[jimcolt]

The whole reason for height control is to follow the contour of the plate accurately. I get excellent results with my PlasmaCam DHC2 with the bumps up....and yes, the torch rides up and down fairly rapidly over the bumps without colliding. This allows me to keep the shiny side shiny, and the light hairy dross on the back is easier to scrape off.

Jim Colt

PlasmaCambuild 015.jpg (71.27 KiB) Viewed 1709 times

PlasmaCambuild 015.jpg (71.27 KiB) Viewed 1709 times

[Bigrhamr]

I cut some today and just like you said following the bumps was no problem. Did some 3/16" 5052 smooth and the book settings for my Powermax 45 were dead on, hardly any dross. On the 1/8" 6061 diamondplate it measures close to 3/16" at the bumps, I had to drop speed down almost to the 3/16" rate to get it cutting clear through. That made quite a bit more dross, I assume just because of more heat input. It was thick but comes right off with a hand scraper, no more work than if it were just a small amount.