Air Compressor

[KIDTech]

I am sure this has been beat into the ground but here is my situation.The cut starts great and all of a sudden it just goes to melting metal on top and not going all the way through. Happened last night about 1 am and I fought it for hours. It got to the point that the gun would not even fire after so long. I gave up and decided to come back in the morning. First thing I do today is try the cutter, still no fire.... Change cup, electrode, tip and it fires. Do I decide to check the compressor and water pours out the valve. Can water in the line cause that much headache does this sound like a moisture specific issue? Thanks for the help.

[I Lean]

Yes, it can.

I don't know specifically if the water being present can directly cause the misfiring, but it can certainly cause rapid consumable wear/erosion--which can/does then misfire.

Before I got my refrigerated dryer in my setup, I'd primarily notice my cut quality changing in the form of edge angularity, as opposed to the misfiring you're seeing. It's certainly worth getting rid of the water first, and seeing if that cures your problems.

[KIDTech]

As I've been reading through here I've leaned towards the moisture issue. I am going to invest in some copper pipe and run it up my wall as a "cooling loop" so to speak. I am using a ForceCut 42i and have been really happy with the cut quality but it had always been on one 30 second part and it would sit for two days. Now that I am cutting signage I am learning about my issues. My compressor is a little 5 gallon guy which means a lot of cycling and my coalescent filter just cannot keep up. I emptied it and water poured out as well.

[KIDTech]

Also, do I have to use cooper or would stainless pipe do the job do well? I can get my hands on as pretty easily.

[I Lean]

I'd think copper MIGHT be a better thermal conductor, but if you have easy access to stainless I'd use that.

[Shane Warnick]

Spend the money. Get a refrigerated air dryer. Don't look back.
Macair. Less than $1000. Plus a couple hundred to get it there and installed.
Shane

[abmetal]

I run my air through approximately 80' of 3/4" copper and it takes care of all of the moisture.

Allen

[_Ogre]

cooling the air with lots of copper is your best bet, imo
the worst setup is a rubber hose plugged into the compressor tank

try this... from a different thread

[jimcolt]

Running your air through a long length of copper tube that is cooler than the air.....will not get rid of any moisture by itself. It will cause the fine water aerosols to condense into larger droplets....then you can pass this air through a coalescing (kind of like a centrifuge that spins the heavy water droplets and separates them from the air) filter with a manual or auto drain......so much of the water can drain out. This will get rid of the majority of moisture....unless your length of copper pipe is hotter than the air coming out of your compressor. So...often it is a good idea to have a long length of pipe right after the compressor.....but it will do no good unless there is a water removal unit (like a coalescer) right at the end of the pipe.

In hotter, more humid climates.....a refrigerated dryer or a dessicant dryer can cool the air to it's dew point temperature and remove the majority of water, again...it will need a coalescing filter after the air is cooled to remove the droplets. In cooler climates often an after cooler (which is what a long length of pipe is essentially) combined with a coalescing filter is often adequate to remove the majority of water.

Many jump the gun with plasma cutters and immediately suspect water as the cause of their cut quality and consumable life issues. In reality....all air tools will have performance and tool life issues if there is too much moisture in your air. Some plasma cutters are affected more by moisture, some are very minimally affected....depending of torch and internal plumbing system designs. I see many cases where the user has overkilled the suspected moisture with multiple types of coalescers, particulate filters, dessicant dryers, etc. Often their problems come from air flow restrictions that are caused by over filtering!

Where I live (New Hampshire) we have maybe 3 months of potentially high humidity. I have a refrigerated dryer....not because I need it ( a long length of pipe with a coalescer filter would work) but because used refrigerated dryers can be found cheap (if you have patience) on Craigslist and Ebay. Mine was $75, I only use it during the summer months with humidity, the rest of the time I use my 3 Hypertherm units (45, 85, 30XP) directly off my unfiltered compressed air lines. Each of the Hypertherm units have built in coalescing filters with auto drains....and I have an auto drain on my air compressor tank. No issues whatsoever with consumable life or cut quality.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

[KIDTech]

I've attached some images of the cuts that are failing. They start great but fall off the longer it goes.

[plain ol Bill]

Looking at the pics the first thought I have is that you are running out of air. Put a gauge on the back of your machine so you can keep an eye on it when cutting.

[KIDTech]

I will be hooking up to a much bigger compressor this weekend to try and troubleshoot. Hopefully this will help. Thanks for all the help so far guys. I have some bigger cuts I am needing to do.