Titanium 45 wont initialize arc

[aarolar]

Anyone got any ideas why a harbor freight Titanium 45 would act like it doesn't have a ground? Running it on a home built table and unless I set the pierce height super close like .030 it acts like there's no ground. I have a Powermax 30xp that I was using and my pierce heights were around .1 with that machine with no issues. Even using the machine by hand I pretty much have to strike the arc like with a welding rod to get it to start cutting. I feel like it's something I'm doing wrong because of see where people are using these on tables and no one is complaining.

[acourtjester]

You did not say if it was working and this started to happen. This seems to be a blow back start are you supplying enough air pressure? Next to check the electrodes to see if they are clean and the spring is working, ( if the electrodes has a spring my Hypertherm does). The air pressure moves the electrode to start the plasma sequence.

[aarolar]

It has not ever worked right straight out of the box and this is actually the second one I took the first back because I thought there was something wrong with it. I've seen mention of turning up the internal regulator maybe I need to try that.

[tcaudle]

Some inexpensive Plasma cutters are Contact Start , not Pilot Arc. If you can't hold the torch up in the air and air it and get a flame (plasma arc) then its not Pilot arc start.
There are severak types of Arc Start methofs. Predominate in modern units up to about 150 amps is the |Blow Back" arc start that has a spring loaded electrode and swirl ring and when tair starts as current starts, the flow pulls the electrode back away from the nozzle , creating the initial ARC that ionizes the air. it will fire without being close to the material or the Workcalmp.. The arc then transfers tot he work .if its within the arc gap distance (pierce height)

HF start uses the fact that a high frequency signal travels though air better and will arc and create a path further . its used in older systems and currently in larger rated units like the MAX200

There are a couple others but they are variations of the two basic ones. Contact Arc start is as you described, a manual way of starting the arc like you do in arc welding..

[aarolar]

It fires the pilot arc but never starts cutting in essence it acts like it has not ground but in fact it does. I've even tried cleaning where I put the ground clamp with no success.

[acourtjester]

You may have gotten into a bad batch, I would return it, get your money back. I watched some YouTube videos on that unit and they seem to work OK.
And they seem to be the blow back type, seen in the video.

[aarolar]

Yea I've watched that video among others and I've seen on the langumire forums where people have had good success with them plus I had cash to burn so that's why I decided to go that route. Hard to believe I got 2 bad ones back to back.

[aarolar]

I feel like this is relevant to the issue, yesterday I cut some stuff using the standoff and in the middle of the cut it began glowing and arcing out.

20250227_061134.jpg

20250227_061150.jpg

[acourtjester]

That does not look normal, the drag tip guide should be isolated from the plasma stream/current path.

[aarolar]

Do you feel like the issue is in the torch itself my plan was always to buy a replacement torch for this machine but I'm hesitant with the issues I'm having.

[weldguy]

Do you feel like the issue is in the torch itself my plan was always to buy a replacement torch for this machine but I'm hesitant with the issues I'm having.

Definitely safe to say that problem is in the torch. If you dig deeper you may be able to determine where the voltage leak is coming from in the torch, and you may be able to identify a solution or possibly get warranty replacement on the torch.

[aarolar]

I did manage to get it to cut some on the table last night after cranking the internal regulator up but it still had some failures to arc randomly. When it did cut it does a good job on 1/2".

[aarolar]

Probably a dumb idea but I just ordered the Plasmadyn torch for it we will see if that fixes the issue.

https://plasmadyn.com/products/x45-cnc- ... 2867435716

[weldguy]

Probably a dumb idea but I just ordered the Plasmadyn torch for it we will see if that fixes the issue.

https://plasmadyn.com/products/x45-cnc- ... 2867435716

I don't think that is a dumb idea at all. The X45 torch is a decent unit and I have known many people using it with great success on a variety of different plasma cutters. Let us know how it works out for you.

[acourtjester]

Not dumb you are trying to find out what is wrong, but do you plans on going back to HF to get them to replace the original torch if that is it???
You plunked down your $800. They are responsible to you for a working unit. They have started to run TV ads and if they want to play with the big boys, they need to stand up if they have a problem. IMHO