Hypertherm 1/16 settings

[wickedinhere]

I have only cut 1/8 thick with my PM45 so far and i am going to try 1/16. The book shows 350 ipm at 45 amps i have read where the book is pretty much dead on i know it was for 1/8 thick metal. I am running a bulltear table and machine torch
and i will be using the same consumables that it came with. I will try some test cuts first i just wanted to get a good starting point.

[jimcolt]

The book specs work very well.....problem is that most machines cannot maintain that speed on intricate details!

Jim Colt

[wickedinhere]

Yeah i did some cutting today and it cut really good at the book specs. I tried some small lettering and and it didnt cut as good as i would have liked it, it also rounds the corners off. I am gonna try some larger stuff tomorrow and see what happens.

[Kentuckyfarmer]

Not trying to steal the thread, but what is the best solution for small cutting when the table cant move at 300 ipm in tight turns and small detail?
I know with reduced speed you have a increase in dross, but thatb seems to be the lesser of 2 evils.
Thank
Mike

[wickedinhere]

I think the best thing is to turn the amps down and slowing the ipm down.

[jimcolt]

As "wickedinhere" posted......turn the amps down and reduce the speed to a reasonable level. You will have to experiment with a combination of amperage and speed that provides the best result....often you cannot completely get dross free cuts at lowere speeds....but you can get it so the dross removes very easily.

Hypertherm's process engineers are working on deleoping lower speed specifications for the newer Hypertherm air plasma systems that will help on thenner materials. When the info is available (hopefully in the first quarter of 2012) I will make it available for everyone.

I have two machines in my shop....a Torchmate 2 x 4 that gets unstable above about 140 ipm......and a PlasmaCam that cuts well up to 250 inches per minute. Even on he PlasmaCam I occasionally have to develop slower cutting speecs on gauge materials. When doing this.....use the smallest, lowest powered set of consumables, make sure you maintain the proper recommended height.


Jim Colt Hypertherm

Not trying to steal the thread, but what is the best solution for small cutting when the table cant move at 300 ipm in tight turns and small detail?
I know with reduced speed you have a increase in dross, but thatb seems to be the lesser of 2 evils.
Thank
Mike

[wickedinhere]

I did a little testing today. I tried 25 amps@100ipm but the cut quality wasnt as good as i would have liked. I next went to 30 amps@100ipm and that seemed to be the sweet spot, i am gonna try to speed the ipm up tomorrow to reduce some of the dross. Here is 30amps@ 100 ipm cut. I got my square corners back.LOL