What is KERF? - Width of the Cut

[mridul_hunky2]

helloo guys,

i know this is a stupid ques i own a cnc plasma and i dnt know wht kerf is i mean i dnt knoe wht happen when we increase or decrease the curve wht is it can anyone tell me in detail so that i can understand easily ...... nw my kerf is set at 0 .... does it helps to improve cut quality????

thanx in advance

[Scratch]

Do you mean kerf or curve?
Kerf width is the width of the cut that the plasma torch makes. Usually in the thousandths of an inch measurement. It varies by how much amps you're cutting with.

Curves are what girls have.

[mridul_hunky2]

thanx for your concern ok tell me if my kerf is o wht will happen and if it is 1 wht will happen like in cutting .................

[AnotherDano]

A LINE has no width mathematically speaking. The method of cutting material uses a mechanical device to remove material to separate the 'part' from the 'work'. That 'device' does have width; saw blade, laser beam, plasma stream or axe blade.

When cutting, the width if the cutting tool must be determined to move the edge of the cut to one side of the 'line' to leave the part at the dimension desired. Carpenters learn early to cut along the correct edge of the line.

Kerf is simply the width of the cut. Move the cut-line to half that width away from the 'product' side of the material, leaving the 'inside' of the kerf at the desired dimension. Using a zero kerf adjustment will cut along the center of that (imaginary) line, cutting material from both sides of that line.

For a simple graphic example, take a piece of paper and fold it down the center. The left half is to be your 'final product'. Measure that half.

Now use a 1" marker and mark over the line, right down the center of the crease of the fold.
The 1" line is the kerf. Think about how you would redraw that line if you wanted the two halves of the paper to separate, leaving you with the left side at the measurement you started with after folding.

[Scratch]

Hunky, take one of those thick magic markers, the ones that when you draw a line with it, the line will be about 1/4" thick.

The "KERF" of the marker is 1/4".
Now try do draw a detailed picture of Yosemite Sam with that marker, but make him only 2 inches tall head to toe.

...That's the problem we have with having a thick Kerf width. It'd be much easier to draw old Sam with a ball point pen. Unfortunately, when you cut thicker steel, you have to crank the amps up which makes a thicker kerf width. Now if we were cutting thin gauge steel, we can turn the amps down and have a thinner kerf width.

Your software takes the kerf width into account and that's why it's asking you for that measurement. To get it, set your power supply to whatever the book tells you too, in amps, tip size and IPM (inch per minute) and cut a straight line about 6 inches or so. Take a digital caliper or something and measure how thick that line is. That's your kerf width for that size steel. You can do that for different thicknesses and make a fancy chart to hang on your wall. You could even laminate it! I'd use purple cardstock if it were me... maybe yellow, yeah yellow.

So when somebody asks you to cut out a picture of Yosemite Sam, ask them how thick they want the steel, then you can set your kerf width in your software and voila!

That's french for TaDa!
which means.... well you know what it means, yer no dummy.

And if somebody wants you to cut a detailed picture of Yosemite Sam out of 1/4" thick steel, and he's gonna be 2" tall from head to toe...

...say no.



And Leatherhands, I haven't got my gun yet. I went for the Citori 12 gauge. Can't wait!