Hypertherm 1000 Not Firing

[HK designs]

Hi all, my dad recently purchased a CNC table with a Hypertherm 1000 G3 plasma cutter. For the first few weeks everything worked fine but now we have some problems. The torch isn't firing when it goes to make the first cut or it will make one cut, move to the next spot and then stop. We've checked the ground, changed the cut mode switch (it was on expanded metal and was working fine, then this started and we changed it to cut plate and that worked for a bit and now neither works), checked that the swirl ring and electrode weren't too tight, and put in new consumables. Does anyone have any ideas to fix this? Thanks..

[Metal Lee]

Check your air pressure?

[lewi444]

I just had that problem was told torch head was wore out or my problem was on top of electrode ther is a spring loaded plunger I had some wires in torch body in the way not letting it come down all the way sometims it would fire sometims not. I had little black spots on top of the electrode and plunger where it was arking. took body apart moved wires polished plunger made sure plunger worked good new tip and electrode good to go. I have a hypertherm 1000 machine torch. Hope this works for you. keith

[HK designs]

Checked the air pressure and it's good. And maybe the torch problem mentioned above is the thing. We took the cover off the plasma cutter and when the fault code light came on we found that the diagnostic light for 'start signal valid' comes on and stays on and the light for 'torch stuck open' comes on for ten seconds. Going to call the hypertherm guys tomorrow...

[speedbow20]

What did you find out HK? I had this problem on my Hypertherm, my problem was my pierce setting was too high and my torch height was too low and i was burning up consumables at an alarming rate!

[HK designs]

Well we talked to one of the hypertherm guys and he said we probably needed a new torch. The fault light that we kept getting said the torch was stuck open so instead of getting a new torch we changed the swirl ring and that seemed to fix the problem for awhile. We cut a few pieces using 1/8 steel and things were fine then we switched to 1/16 and we had some more trouble. Once we started a cut the torch would touch the table and not come up so I'd have to hit page up. Then it would either finish the piece or just stop. Switched back to 1/8 and tried cutting the same design a couple times and it stopped on the same line every time. After that I took the file back to autocad and changed the size by an inch and it works again. We're really new to this so everythings kind of an experiment! when we cut the 1/16 the torch was kind of dragging on the table but we don't know how to change the pierce setting or the torch height. Thank you for your replies we really appreciate any advice!

[pony]

when we cut the 1/16 the torch was kind of dragging on the table

If my Thermal Dynamics plasma cutter torch tip drags on the table the plasma cutter shuts down and throws an error that the torch has shorted. Are you sure that is not what it happening?
I'm new to this too, so just throwing out experiences I have had...

[lewi444]

I have tried a number of things I even bought a brand new torch I still have the same problem torch touches down but then won't fire. I run dyna cnc sheetcam mock3 hypertherm 1000. please help. Keith

[jimcolt]

The best bet is to call Hypertherm or Dynatorch tech service. The issue could be in either system....both companies are eager to help their customers get the plasma and cnc machines working.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

[lewi444]

I have talked to hyper teck still have no answers it will fire every other time the lightning bolt comes on if iput on hold till light goes out then it will fire. DynaCnc is no longer in buisines so i cant call them. i do have air pressure i do have it grounded.

[HK designs]

We found out that our problem was in the torch head. It was distorted and the swirl ring was out of round so the electrode wasn't able to move as it should. We ordered new parts for it but my dad also sanded the swirl ring and we haven't had any problems since.

[admin]

Thanks for posting your solution, I am sure this will be useful to someone else in the future and thanks to everyone who helped out.