SheetCam + Hypertherm 85

[dawahar]

Looking for some advice as a complete beginner!
We have a cnc plasma cutter and it is attached to a Hypertherm 85 machine.
Once we have loaded the job, we are able to select the material thickness etc,
but we also have the option of selecting fine cut, 45a, 65a or 85a
obviously each change of amperage selection creates different cutting speeds.
At present we are cutting quite a bit of 4mm and 6mm plate.
Can anyone advise what amperage setting we should be setting on the sheet cam program, and then what amperage should we be setting on the hypertherm?
Any advice appreciated!
Davie

[djreiswig]

Do you have a manual for the Hypertherm? The cut speeds and other settings are all in there. As far as amps, normally it's recommended to cut at the full amperage for the nozzle size you are using.
Use the smallest nozzle you can for the material thickness.

[adbuch]

Looking for some advice as a complete beginner!
We have a cnc plasma cutter and it is attached to a Hypertherm 85 machine.
Once we have loaded the job, we are able to select the material thickness etc,
but we also have the option of selecting fine cut, 45a, 65a or 85a
obviously each change of amperage selection creates different cutting speeds.
At present we are cutting quite a bit of 4mm and 6mm plate.
Can anyone advise what amperage setting we should be setting on the sheet cam program, and then what amperage should we be setting on the hypertherm?
Any advice appreciated!
Davie

Here are the preferred consumables and settings for 4mm and 6mm shielded mild steel mechanized cutting for the Hypertherm Powermax 85.
David

[dawahar]

Hi David, thanks for that info.
So basically setting the hypertherm to 45a should be sufficient for cutting 4 and 6cm.
Which setting should I use on the computer sheet cam program, I assume 45 amp setting also?
We have been cutting using 85 at the program and turning the hypertherm down to 65amps

[Welder Kenny]

I running a hypertherm pm 65 and I just make changes to my plasma cutter as far as amps goes, sheetcam is just IPM as far as speed goes, I'm cutting 10 ga with a fine cut tip at 48 amps and 90 IMP, just cut a lot of parts with a normal electrode and shield at 54 amps and 125 IPM.

[dawahar]

Hi Kenny, thanks for the reply.
when we are cutting 10g our machine would be cutting about 117 IPM...this seems really fast compared to your speeds, yet it does cut!
I can understand altering the amps on the hypertherm to suit different materials, but what I don't understand is which setting should I set on the sheetcam program?
I understand that the IPM speeds will be faster if I select 85a on the sheetcam program than they would be at 45a, but what difference does that make if the hypertherm is set at 45a.
Hopefully this makes sense!!

[sonbakler]

I am not a sheetcam user however I believe that if you choose 85A in sheetcam it will apply the appropriate cut speed and other parameters assuming that your setting your Hypertherm at 85A. If you were to do this and only have your Hypertherm unit set to 45A then your speed which was determined in sheetcam and applied to your post will be too fast.

[adbuch]

I am not a sheetcam user however I believe that if you choose 85A in sheetcam it will apply the appropriate cut speed and other parameters assuming that your setting your Hypertherm at 85A. If you were to do this and only have your Hypertherm unit set to 45A then your speed which was determined in sheetcam and applied to your post will be too fast.

I am not a sheetcam user either, but would imagine that you would need to enter cut speed, kerf width, pierce height, cut height, pierce delay, etc. into sheetcam separately, unless you already have some configuration files set up for specific materials and thicknesses.
David

[dawahar]

Sorry Guys, I just remembered that the final program that we use to prepare for the cutting is Techserve CNC.
Sheetcam crates the pierce height, delay etc but using Techserve we select the material thickness then either fine cut, 45a 65a or 85a and techserve then automatically sets the cutting speed.
What I wasn't sure about was what difference other than speed of cut would there be between setting the Techserve to say 85a when cutting 10g plate and setting it to 45a?
We have had a couple of occasions where warping has occurred and I'm concerned it may be because we were cutting at too high an amperage and at too slow a speed
Really appreciate all the replies so far
Davie

[djreiswig]

You should use the lowest rated consumables for the material thickness you are cutting.
Hypertherm recommends cutting at the full amps of the consumables.
So set to 45a for 45a consumables.
I have turned mine down lower than 45a on really thin material. You'll have to adjust cutting speed if you do this.

[sonbakler]

If Sheetcam is handling your pierce height and pierce delay the only settings left that would change for material thickness are cut speed and THC voltage.

If you see warping then have a look at the settings your software selected to use and compare those to the Hypertherm charts to see if in fact cutting slower than Hypertherm would suggest.

For sure use the lowest rated consumable for your material thickness and match the amperage to the consumables. I would select 45A consumables up to 10g, 65A up to 3/8", and 85A for anything thicker.

[dawahar]

Thanks for the replies, We are cutting 9g and 4g plate so going by your reply would you recommend 65a rather than 45a?

[sonbakler]

Yes, 65a will do a good job on both your 9g and 4g. Work with it and see how it does for you. Best of luck.