Cutmaster A-Series PROBLEMS

[esracerx46]

I have a cutmaster A-120. It was brand new in November, didnt get my table up and running until late decmber early January. Had a bad pc board right from the start because the AV read out was just messed up. Got a new PC board, worked fine. 20 hours approx. of cut time later. Need to send the plasma in for what looks like a pc board. Fault 85. changed all the consumables in the torch, talked with a tech at thermal and thats what he came up with. Called my local repair center. He has 4 A-series in his shop now for the same reason, and one hand-held for that issue. When it cuts, it cuts. But.....

[weldguy]

Are you using the shielded consumables?

If there is no fault with the machine then this can solve this problem by eliminated the chance of the nozzle contacting the material.

[esracerx46]

I am using shielded consumables. Their is an internal error with the machine, most likely a pc board. Either way, it's on its way to the repair. When I was talking to the owner of the repair center, He already knew I was getting a fault 85 flashing when I mentioned I had a cutmaster A-120 since he has 3 in there now with the same issue

[esracerx46]

Got great service from Thermaldynamics. It would have taken 2 weeks to get the parts needed to my authorized repair guy, so they overnighted a brand new powersource friday evening and my tech had it by 10:30 AM monday. Thats where the good news stops. Wired the new machine, hooked up the air, swapped some jumper pins to get the correct voltage readout for my table. Checked the voltage in to make sure I was getting the correct power. Turned the breaker on, turn the machine on and.....NOTHING. Checked every connection I could think of inside the machine and could not find anything. Talked to the Thermal tech guy that was such a great help before ( I emailed him and less than 5 minutes later he was calling me) and he's stumped. Now I have to take everything apart....again, and go off to the service shop. 2 new machines, 2 problems. I'm stumped, and pissed. The only bright spot is their excellent service.

[alleykat]

Any update on this?

[tirediron]

I too have the same problem (alarm 85) although its with an A 40 machine. One issue that I have is when using the Control Knob to purge the air or set the air pressure no air will flow. Right now the machine is in the repair shop and I am waiting on a call back to tell me what the problem is.

Hopefully we can can this issue resolved.

G

[alleykat]

My A60's power source seems to have went out according to the operator I talked to.I dont get any lights or anything to come on.Gonna take it into the welding supply to let them check it out. *sigh*

[tirediron]

Just got a call from the repair folks on my A40. It appears that the air solenoid on the machine torch was bad. Of course the machine is not in warranty (in service date of 2/11).

Is there a "Jim Colt" for the thermal dynamics plasma cutter on this forum? Sorry about using your name Jim, but I learn alot from you when you answers questions reagarding the hypertherm machines.

G

[mapequipment]

Just wanted to see if there was any updates on these situations? I started recieving the 85 reading yesterday, cleaned and replaced all consumables multiple times to no avail. Really needing some stuff cut by the weekend, didn't know how my chances looked, Thanks in advance

[trucutcnc]

The 85 fault is caused by a torch short. That can hppen from the torch tip making contact with material during cutting, a fault on the main board, or damage to the torch. Don't discount the later. We've had two customer machines replaced because of this. It is caused by burning the electrode back to far, which can cause permanant damage to the torch in the form of a short to ground, which will read as an 85 fault. Replacing consumables will not fix the problem because the damage in internal to the torch head.

If you have a machine replaced and they send a complete unit with the torch, make sure you replace the torch also. If they only sent the power supply and the new on is doing the same thing, it is almost certainly a damaged torch.

[esracerx46]

My issue with the fault 85 turned out to be rubber snubbers in the powersource. My local repair guy couldnt find what the issue was and I was in contact with a tech from thermal who in turn dealt with the repair shop. They finally tracked it down. They weren't able to get parts out for at least 2 weeks so they overnighted a brand new machine to the repair shop. Service has been great, I just find myself talking to them way too often.