26 ga. aluminum help needed

[plain ol Bill]

A friend came over with some brushed finish 26 ga. (.0159) alum sheets he wanted me to cut for him. I could not get it done. Jim how would you go about this -
Hypertherm 1250
Sheetcam
Mach
omnic sensor
Fine cut consumables - manual shows alum to 1/16 but this material is thinner
25 amps (lowest I can go), pierce at.08, cut at .02, travel at 150 IPM
I could get the machine to fire and immediately it would shut off before starting to travel. I don't think it was establishing the cut before it just blew the material away. I may just be trying something to thin in alum. I have been cutting 22 ga. steel without any problems. Any suggestions - maybe snips.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Ive cut some really thin materials by changin the pierce time to 0.0 and switching the toggle on the 1250 to intermitate cut. 25amps and turned the air pressure down to around 70. i was running around 160 ipm. Dunno if this would help you or not. I was cutting steel. But have had good luck doing this on the thin stuff.

[jimcolt]

Open up your Powermax1250 operators manual to the 40 amp shielded, Aluminum cut chart. The thinnest material listed is 1/32"...this will work. It says to use the 40 amp shielded consumables, set cut height to .060 (pierce height at .060" as well), optimal cut speed is 397 inches per minute and amperage should be 25 amps. Pierce delay time is 0. If there is any hesitation in motion at the beginning of the cut....you will get arc blowout....meaning the arc burns the material away so fast that it loses its cut path....and goes out. To solve this eliminate any pierce delay time...if that does not help then try flipping your cut mode selector into the expanded metal (auto pilot arc) mode. If your machine will not cut at 397 ipm......cut the material as fast as you can....I think 200 to 250 ipm will work fine. If you are using height control....do a couple of test cuts and adjust arc voltage so the the torch stays .06" (thickness of a nickle) off the sheet.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

A friend came over with some brushed finish 26 ga. (.0159) alum sheets he wanted me to cut for him. I could not get it done. Jim how would you go about this -
Hypertherm 1250
Sheetcam
Mach
omnic sensor
Fine cut consumables - manual shows alum to 1/16 but this material is thinner
25 amps (lowest I can go), pierce at.08, cut at .02, travel at 150 IPM
I could get the machine to fire and immediately it would shut off before starting to travel. I don't think it was establishing the cut before it just blew the material away. I may just be trying something to thin in alum. I have been cutting 22 ga. steel without any problems. Any suggestions - maybe snips.