Thick metal quality

[zackdrews]

Hello everyone, just wondering what I can do to improve my cuts. This is 1.25 in material with a Hypertherm 105 Sync cutting at around 7 IPM. I have a water bed. I have played with speeds, any faster and I get incomplete cuts, and slower I get dross that adheres pretty solid. As you can see the cut leaves behind a crust, and I am wondering if the cause of my issues is the water bed. Any other input would be appreciated. My torch head is mounted square in all directions, thinner material performance is awesome.

The bevel is a little over 1/8" on one of the center legs and the other is about 1/16" on the inside of the other leg as pictured. The corner on one side blew out a little and the rest has a bevel between those two dimensions depending on where it is on the part.

I have to disable my THC and just set the torch .125 off the material, and this cut was done .1 off the material. If I have my THC enabled, the voltage doesn't read the same as it does with thinner material. It will read 180 volts and keep lowering the torch to achieve the 160 ish volts until it crashes. With it manually set to the cut height it completes the cuts without issue.

[SegoMan DeSigns]

This is my non sync 105 cuts on 1.25" @ 14 IPM (cuts on right side of material) Water table (down about 1/2" from work) as well. Dross buildup normally is a sign of too slow on the cutting speed. The SYNC charts shows your cut speed to be 20 IPM Are you manual or automatic on air pressure??
does the SYNC have the same fast-connect plug at the housing like the older units...Check that O-Ring if it does.

[zackdrews]

Sync cut charts are 13 IPM, and Hypertherm told me to reduce all speeds 20% for water table. Anything over the speeds I am running and it will not complete the cut.

It is automatic on air pressure, and regulator is set at 120 psi. Air pressure test is good.

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Thanks for the update, I pulled the numbers off of their online brochure. Did you check the O-Rings? (it might be worth a try to do a manual air adjust and bump it up for a test cut) Is the pre-filter / strainer clean right before it goes into the machine? This sure looks like lack of air pressure at the torch cut to me.

I always use the cut chart speed for straight cuts regardless of with or without water. My thick cuts have very little dross when the correct speed is dialed in. Another thing I do on rusted metal prior to cutting is to buff the surface clean and attach the magnetic ground clamp to that spot..

[weldguy]

Just looking at your pics and wonder if you may be able to achieve a squarer edge with a higher cutting height. See the image below, your cut looks like the image in the center, tapering in on opposing sides.

[cutnweld]

Wow. I cut 1.5 inch 7ipm with my 85 amp/ wish I had a good photo of the last cuts I did. they were very straight and smooth. Oring problem?...

[zackdrews]

I spoke to Hypertherm and going to try raising torch psi manually, a new consumable, and spacing the material off the water bed. Going to go through everything again and see.

Very frustrating messing up that thick of material to say the least!

[weldguy]

That would be frustrating. Post back and let us know how it goes.