finecut on .063 aluminum powermax 85 jd2table

[metalassassin]

been trying all day to get finecut consumables to work with jd2 table. i have hypertherm powermax 85 and there is no chart for finecut consumables on aluminum so i had read on here to start with steel values and tweak from there. my problem is the lines where not good somewhat wavy my guesss is the panel heats up and warps up and the torch height controller is trying to react but not fast enough i assume.when i switch out to regular 45amp consumables and run at book specs i get decent lines but not great. what am i doing wrong and what kind of edge quality should i expect from .063 aluminum. then in the facebook group for jd2 a guy said that i can't use fine cut on aluminum so am i wasting my time?

[john527]

I am having the same problem with my plasmacam/hypertherm45 XP why isn't there a specs for fine cut and alum?

[Charlie10]

I cut .06 aluminum with fine cut on my 45xp fairly often, so I certainly wouldn't say you are wasting your time. I don't know why there aren't specs for it, but I did the same thing you did. I started with the specs for 16ga steel fine cut and tweaked from there. From my experience the cut quality with aluminum is never going to be great, but it should definitely be better than what you have. The biggest pain with thin gauge aluminum is how easily it bows and shifts from the heat. It can cause inaccurate parts or torch collisions and I generally have a much higher scrap rate with it than steel, but it shouldn't cause wavy cuts like that.
I wish I could help more other than to just say it's possible, but I'm not sure. I would say try cutting with less amps, I cut at 45, but sounds like you tried that?

[tcaudle]

Usually when Hypertherm does not provide a chart for a machine that has charts for other consumables its because its not recommended . You have picked two challenging things a the same time. Fine cut is always harder to do because there are closer tolerances as to cut height and voltage and feedrates. Aluminum also presents a challenge as does cutting fine detail in thin material.

We cut tons of thin aluminum (060 to .12) and plasma is not the method we use.

[motoguy]

Per Jim Colt, there are no cut charts for Finecut in AL because it is not a recommended process. Per Jim, the using Finecuts on AL will result in significantly shortened nozzle life. Due to the significantly decreased nozzle life, they do not recommend it, and recommend using the standard 45A consumables instead.

Doesn't mean it can't be done, and that others aren'd doing it. Just means you'll need 1) to figure out the specs yourself (easy enough to do with a straight light cut), and 2) expect to wear out your nozzles faster.

[justfishmetalart]

Metalassassin
We cut a ton of 063, small stuff like christmas ornaments. Ran out of regular nozzle the other day and use the fine cut nozzle and looks like the cut was the same I have found out that I run my 45 XP at 30 amps and it produces a mighty fine cut at 140 IPM

[Paint Chip]

I ran some .063 Al on my table today and got very good cuts with a fine cut nozzle. I have a water table so no issues with warping used the plain steel cut setting for 16 ga steel even though .063 Al is technically 14 ga. The straight and wide radius curves (>.5") had no dross. Detail between .5 and .1" radius had varying degrees of dross on the back side - some popped off by hand and some did not. The fine detail (radius <0.1" had dross on both sides - the top dross brushed off with my fingers, the bottom dross was tougher and had to be sanded off.

One issue I did notice was that touch offs would depress the Al sheet to different heights, depending on how close the location was to a support rib, which made the initial torch height off a bit. I think extending the length between touch offs in Sheetcam might help this a bit.

[jimcolt]

Fine cuts are not recommended for use on aluminum by Hypertherm, hence there are no cut charts provided. They build up aluminum spatter very quickly, which tends to cause short nozzle life which does not meet Hypertherm's design specs. We recommend that thin aluminum is cut with the 45 amp shielded process at book specs, do this will create a kerf width that is a little wider than with Finecutts (about .006" to .010" wider), however good quality and excellent consumable life. If you insist on using Finecut….be sure the pierce height is at around .18", that there is adequate pierce delay time so that the pierce is 100% complete before x or y motion, and that you have the arc voltage adjusted so that steady state cuts are at a .06" cut height. If you adjust speed to minimize dross....then you will need to readjust arc voltage until the cut height of .06" is maintained. Wipe off the shield and nozzle periodically and use mig welding anti-spatter spray to minimize aluminum buildup on the shield and nozzle. Running at less than 45 amps will likely not work well as this decreases arc energy density.....essentially creating more dross. A couple of pics of the cuts I get using the 45 amp shielded process:

IMG_0507.jpg (34.23 KiB) Viewed 1751 times

IMG_0507.jpg (34.23 KiB) Viewed 1751 times

IMG_0507.jpg (34.23 KiB) Viewed 1751 times

IMG_0507.jpg (34.23 KiB) Viewed 1751 times

[grindergary]

I cut .064 aluminum all the time. 30 Amp, 200 IPM .06 cut height, no pierce delay and 78 volts. Cuts really nice on straights, very minimal dross on tight corners.

[grindergary]

I cut .064 aluminum all the time. 35 Amp, 200 IPM .06 cut height, no pierce delay and 78 volts. Cuts really nice on straights, very minimal dross on tight corners.

[grindergary]

Sorry Double post