Cutting aluminium...

[davek0974]

I have a 30XP on my little table, yes I know it's not a CNC plasma system but it does what I need and seems happy with it.

I'm trying to find out if aluminium is particularly tough on consumables? I'm running the finecut consumables on 3mm alu at 25A and although the cut quality is stunning, it seems that every nozzle I've blown has been done while running aluminium.

It always seems the same failure - the orifice gets blown to one side and the result is a 45 degree cut angle and a wasted part. While I'm finding it difficult to keep track of consumable life, it does seem very short.

I would step up to the 45 machine which has all the CNC goodies but it does not use finecut consumables and I'm fairly certain the cut quality will not be as good, even at the same current because of this.

I'm running the finecuts at 3mm pierce and 0.75-0.5mm cut height, there are no book settings for this as its a manual system.

Anyone else run finecuts on a smaller system? Do they last long?

[tnbndr]

No expert here, but you can run the 30 amp consumables in the PM45. They are not called fine cut but allow you to run at the lower amps.
I did not know there were fine cuts available for the 30XP?!!
I am sure Jim will chime in when he sees this post.

[davek0974]

I did not know there were fine cuts available for the 30XP?!!

Yep, DuramaxLT torch and finecut consumables, really do give a nice cut.