powermax 65 ?

[cncplasmacut]

I have been cutting for about 9 months. My powermax 65 book lists starting points as far as pierce hieghtcut speed and so on my question here is that the machine displays in amps and the paperwork displays in volts so as far as useing the book as a guide for cutting differant materials its not so helpfull can anyone tell me how to get volts into amps or amps into volts settings. The book would be a great help in getting close before makeing finall adjustments seems like if you pay 2500.00 for a machine they could at least get the machine to display in volts if there book settings are in volts

[jimcolt]

Amperage is the relative power output of your plasma system. More amps equals thicker and faster cutting. For best cut quality....use the lowest amperage setting for a particular thickness as listed in the cut charts in the manual.

Voltage (also known as "arc voltage") is controlled entirely by the length of the arc. When you cut thicker....the arc must be longer to penetrate through the material.....this takes higher voltage. There is no setting for voltage on the plasma system...the voltage automatically adjusts depending on the speed you are cutting at and the thickness of the material you are cutting.

With a cnc plasma cutting machine....if you add a torch height control system (controls the torch to work distance automatically).....then you will have a "voltage control". If the height control holds the torch higher off the plate while cutting...the arc length will be longer, and the voltage will be higher. Closer to the plate and the voltage will be lower. The cut charts listed in Hypertherm manuals under "mechanized cutting" provide a suggested arc voltage that will produce a good quality cut....assuming the consumables, amperage and cut speed are all set exactly as the cut chart suggests.

So...arc voltage is not controlled by the plasma....rather, it is controlled by your method of height control.

Most height control systems for cnc plasma cutting have a voltage set switch....or dial...or input on a programming screen. The voltage that is published in the hypertherm manual for cutting a particular material thickness is the voltage that you should set on your height control system. Some height controls will have a digital readout of arc voltage as well.


Hope this helps! There really is no good reason to have a voltage readout on a plasma system.....there is good reason to have a voltage readout on a height control system, however!

If you would like to monitor the arc voltage while cutting....you can easily connect a DC voltmeter to the plasma system...I can tell you where to make these connections.


Jim Colt

[cncplasmacut]

Thank you Jim for the information I am still having an issue with the cut charts in hypertherm manual they do not tell me the amperage setting for a particular thickness, there cut chart shows only volts for each thickness. my machine is a plasma cam dhc2 it does have the hieght controll on it and I do use it but not sure of much past that. If you have any info on this system and where to locatate voltage settings this would be great. starting to feel like I could be getting much better cuts if all is set up right. I am the kind of person that likes information the more information I get the happyier I am. As far as monitering arc voltage during cutting, if the program does not do this this would be very interesting to to do.
Thank you

[jimcolt]

All of the Hypertherm cut charts have the amperage setting......at the top of the chart it says: 45Amp mechanized shielded consumables.....and that means that all of the specs on the chart are for 45 amps. the 65 amp chart requires a 65 amp setting...and so on.

The PlasmaCam torch height control does not use arc voltage as a setting...rather, it uses a physical cut height. On PlasmaCam you can ignore the voltages listed in Hypertherms charts.

Jim Colt

Thank you Jim for the information I am still having an issue with the cut charts in hypertherm manual they do not tell me the amperage setting for a particular thickness, there cut chart shows only volts for each thickness. my machine is a plasma cam dhc2 it does have the hieght controll on it and I do use it but not sure of much past that. If you have any info on this system and where to locatate voltage settings this would be great. starting to feel like I could be getting much better cuts if all is set up right. I am the kind of person that likes information the more information I get the happyier I am. As far as monitering arc voltage during cutting, if the program does not do this this would be very interesting to to do.
Thank you

[cncplasmacut]

Thank you for the information I did return back to the charts and I do see the amp setting only see two or three amp settings but it does give me more of a starting point .
Thanks