Hypertherm 65 w/ finecut

[cody14869]

I'm new to plasma cutting and my table. I received my table about 8 months ago and started out using a finecut nozzle for a few signs. I was using it all the way up to 10ga metal with the presets from Arclight cnc and it worked amazing. The last few weeks my finecut has not worked well at all though. It will pierce and then the cut will quit penetrating and just leave a sloppy gouge through the cuts. I have replaced every consumable on the end of my torch and verified my 4 air filters are clean and dry. I have been on the phone with support but with no success. Does anyone have any advice or troubleshooting ideas to try.

P.S. 45A and 65A nozzles cut well

Thank you,

[steel 35]

I found mine was lowering the current - Amps; right on the screen and the display of the Hypotherm randomly by almost 1/2. If you hear it look for it or cut the same thing out ans see if it does it over the same spot every time that's how I found mine. Turned all Path rules in Sheetcam off. Problem solved. & Check Height very carefully.

[jimcolt]

This is a common occurrence with Finecut consumables when cutting thicknesses of 12, 14 and 10 gauge , especially a new set of nozzle and electrode. Here is how to fix it:

Go back to the exact cutting specs listed in your operators manual, this includes pierce height, pierce delay time, amperage (45) and cut speed. Increase the cut height to .08" from the book spec of .06", and increase your arc voltage (height control) accordingly so that real time cut height runs at .08".

We suspect that this occurs with different plate chemistries that need a slightly higher cut height and consequently higher arc voltage in order to penetrate and cut clean.....this only occurs with Finecut, and only seems to affect the thicker cuts 14 gauge through 10 gauge). Let us know how this change works. Jim Colt Hypertherm

[motoguy]

Thanks for this info, Jim. I use .075" as pierce and cut height for my steel Finecut, based on other recommendations I've read from you. I've run into this issue when cutting 14ga (my primary thickness for art stuff). I've found that going to 90% feedrate (200ipm vs 220) and adjusting voltage (88v vs 82) alleviates the issue. I'd love to be able to stay at the book feed rate, just to alleviate the slight increase in dross that occurs by running below book speed. I thought this issue was caused by variances in plate thickness, but perhaps it's chemistry, as you mention. Either way, it's annoying.

[cody14869]

ok thank Jim and colt! I will have time to work with my machine this weekend and see if these pointers alleviate the problem.

[VPT]

I had that problem just the other week as well!

Turned out for me, since I live in WI, -12f freezes any condensation in the lines and plugged the first water separator. But then apon inspection all looks good and clean. After I turned the ready heater on facing the general direction of the plasma cutter, table, and compressor all was fine again.

That was my experience anyhow, you may have something totally different going on. Especially if you set up in a warm environment.

[jimcolt]

I have had my air lines freeze up more than once in the winter....takes a while to figure out what is going on! Jim Colt Hypertherm

[VPT]

I've had some sort of air bypass inside my PM65 open up when really cold too when it tries to fire the torch.

[tcaudle]

One thing is you cannot run withthe pierce height the same as cut height....the DTHC will never come on. Why? because the event that triggers the DTHC to turn on is the move from pierce to cut (no matter how small) . Its done that way so the DTHC turns on at thesame exact place each time no matter how much the pierce dealy and plunge time. Just set pierce hight .01 higher tahn cut height and it will turn on (after the DTHC delay time in the tooltable.

Also always clip your workclamp to the material . Bad conduction from poor contact with the slats will cause the voltage to climb and a resulting dive on the DTHC

Fine cuis have a much more narrow band of settings to get a proper cut. You can be off a lot more with a 45 or 65 set of consumables. Also the Fine cut really needs the full shield for automated cutting.