Off Topic - Sweet Custom Press Break

[Joe Jones]

I beleve one of the guys on the call is going to reach out to you regarding the question you asked about the 30XP so look for that email soon.

The confusion about different products with the same names ... My question was about using HT-30 fine consumables on a 45XP machine torch. I used them on my older HT-45 with great results. But there is no ohmic sensing option for those consumables.

Joe

[HypHyDef]

I beleve one of the guys on the call is going to reach out to you regarding the question you asked about the 30XP so look for that email soon.

The confusion about different products with the same names ... My question was about using HT-30 fine consumables on a 45XP machine torch. I used them on my older HT-45 with great results. But there is no ohmic sensing option for those consumables.

Joe

Ohhh..I see. Did you get back to Jake about that and clear up the confusion? if not I can take what you said here and show it to him.

[Joe Jones]

With the Plasmacam table, you can turn off the height sensing and cut manually. I did those videos so long ago, but I don’t remember how I did them! But I was getting some really nice cuts with the 30 amp consumables. I like my 45 XP, but it still doesn’t produce the kind of find detail I am seeking. That is why I am looking at my finances and looking around my shop for things I no longer use, or never ever used. They could be sold and the money could be put toward a nice laser table.

Joe



.

[HypHyDef]

With the Plasmacam table, you can turn off the height sensing and cut manually. I did those videos so long ago, but I don’t remember how I did them! But I was getting some really nice cuts with the 30 amp consumables. I like my 45 XP, but it still doesn’t produce the kind of find detail I am seeking. That is why I am looking at my finances and looking around my shop for things I no longer use, or never ever used. They could be sold and the money could be put toward a nice laser table.

Joe
.

Have you considered or looked at waterjet? Omax is a great brand to look at.

[Joe Jones]

Have you considered or looked at waterjet? Omax is a great brand to look at.

My home is out in the county. The original owner of this property built ONE HOME here, with 200 Amps of service. The county strung what I consider to be a heavy extension cord across the neighbor's farm for two miles, along a string of rickety wooden poles, to bring power to that ONE HOME from the main highway to the south. It honestly looks like something they bought at Harbor Freight Tools.

That property was divided into two lots, with the home ( which is now mine) on 2.5 acres, and the other 10 acres sold off as a "farm" to a nice guy from Indiana. He did nothing with the property for many years, so power requirements were not an issue.

Across our little road is another two acre property, given to the daughter of another neighboring farmer. She got married and they built the second home on the street, and a nice workshop on that property. Their home and shop each have a 200 Amp service panel. The extension cord across the farm was not changed to meet the additional demand.

Next to her, her dad set aside three 2-acre lots for the grandkids. Meanwhile, I converted the pole barn into my metal shop, with a concrete floor, insulation lights, etc., and another 200 amp service panel. Then I tore down a 106 year old tobacco barn and built the FrankenBarn in its place. This structure has a 400 Amp service panel. The same thin extension cord was now servicing all of this.

When I built the FrankenBarn, the power company had to come out to my property and change out the power transformer on my power pole to one with a higher capacity, since I now had a total potential 800 Amp service. Of course, I would NEVER draw that much power all at once.

Then the farmer from Indiana built a large home on that property. Add another 200 Amp service panel for his home, and yet another 200 Amp service panel for his new workshop.

So the extension cord that was originally strung to provide 200 Amps of power to one home is NOW connected to six service panels totaling 1,600 Amps of potential power draw.

So I called the Electric Company. "Hi Wayne! Can I get three-phase power out here? I want to buy a waterjet table and ..." He laughed ... and laughed ... and laughed.

He said, "Joe, the wire bringing service to your street is now providing EIGHT TIMES the potential power draw that it was originally designed to provide. You have NO three-phase power anywhere near you. The closest three phase power is four miles away, at the truck stop. I asked him what it would cost, to string a new wire across those poles. He replied, "We would have to run three phase power from the truck stop out to your junction, and then change the wire AND the poles from there to your street, and then to your home. Those poles are not up to code for three phase power. It would cost you A LOT LESS to buy a building in town that is already wired with three phase power and put your waterjet into that building.

Then he said, "Your street is absolutely maxed out. If you folks plug in just ONE MORE string of Christmas lights...

I asked about a phase converter, but he said, "You are STILL drawing the amperage, even with a converter. If all three of you are running AC units, and two ovens are cooking turkeys, and your powder coat oven is running, and you fire up a welder and an air compressor, the wire across Al's farm will probably MELT! It was never intended to provide so much power all at once.

One of the three lots left to the grandkids now has a new home and a shop on the property, and it was expanded to a four-acre parcel. He could not connect to our power source, so he had to bring power across another farm from the north highway. He spent a ton of money to have the power buried several feet down, rather than using poles. It was quite a project!

I looked at diesel generators to provide waterjet power, but I abandoned the whole idea when I bought the retail store on the Square in town, and started into that fiasco. So now, ten years later, I am considering a laser table.

Joe



.

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Just cleaning up server space to give Joe more room for his rants, hijacks and non documented posts..

[abmetal]

Back in 06 when we were setting up our business, I contacted our electric company about 3 phase power which is about 50' from our building and when he gave me an estimate I almost _ _ _ _! I said IT'S RIGHT BY OUR BUILDING! He gave me a smug reply saying it didn't make any difference. I already had some 3 phase equipment so I just bought a 3 phase converter and figured the heck with them.

Allen

[HypHyDef]

Have you considered or looked at waterjet? Omax is a great brand to look at.

My home is out in the county. The original owner of this property built ONE HOME here, with 200 Amps of service. The county strung what I consider to be a heavy extension cord across the neighbor's farm for two miles, along a string of rickety wooden poles, to bring power to that ONE HOME from the main highway to the south. It honestly looks like something they bought at Harbor Freight Tools.

That property was divided into two lots, with the home ( which is now mine) on 2.5 acres, and the other 10 acres sold off as a "farm" to a nice guy from Indiana. He did nothing with the property for many years, so power requirements were not an issue.

Across our little road is another two acre property, given to the daughter of another neighboring farmer. She got married and they built the second home on the street, and a nice workshop on that property. Their home and shop each have a 200 Amp service panel. The extension cord across the farm was not changed to meet the additional demand.

Next to her, her dad set aside three 2-acre lots for the grandkids. Meanwhile, I converted the pole barn into my metal shop, with a concrete floor, insulation lights, etc., and another 200 amp service panel. Then I tore down a 106 year old tobacco barn and built the FrankenBarn in its place. This structure has a 400 Amp service panel. The same thin extension cord was now servicing all of this.

When I built the FrankenBarn, the power company had to come out to my property and change out the power transformer on my power pole to one with a higher capacity, since I now had a total potential 800 Amp service. Of course, I would NEVER draw that much power all at once.

Then the farmer from Indiana built a large home on that property. Add another 200 Amp service panel for his home, and yet another 200 Amp service panel for his new workshop.

So the extension cord that was originally strung to provide 200 Amps of power to one home is NOW connected to six service panels totaling 1,600 Amps of potential power draw.

So I called the Electric Company. "Hi Wayne! Can I get three-phase power out here? I want to buy a waterjet table and ..." He laughed ... and laughed ... and laughed.

He said, "Joe, the wire bringing service to your street is now providing EIGHT TIMES the potential power draw that it was originally designed to provide. You have NO three-phase power anywhere near you. The closest three phase power is four miles away, at the truck stop. I asked him what it would cost, to string a new wire across those poles. He replied, "We would have to run three phase power from the truck stop out to your junction, and then change the wire AND the poles from there to your street, and then to your home. Those poles are not up to code for three phase power. It would cost you A LOT LESS to buy a building in town that is already wired with three phase power and put your waterjet into that building.

Then he said, "Your street is absolutely maxed out. If you folks plug in just ONE MORE string of Christmas lights...

I asked about a phase converter, but he said, "You are STILL drawing the amperage, even with a converter. If all three of you are running AC units, and two ovens are cooking turkeys, and your powder coat oven is running, and you fire up a welder and an air compressor, the wire across Al's farm will probably MELT! It was never intended to provide so much power all at once.

One of the three lots left to the grandkids now has a new home and a shop on the property, and it was expanded to a four-acre parcel. He could not connect to our power source, so he had to bring power across another farm from the north highway. He spent a ton of money to have the power buried several feet down, rather than using poles. It was quite a project!

I looked at diesel generators to provide waterjet power, but I abandoned the whole idea when I bought the retail store on the Square in town, and started into that fiasco. So now, ten years later, I am considering a laser table.

Joe

wow! joe. That's quite a story.

[HypHyDef]

I ran into a similar situation on my big table as I thought a 125 would be the ticket for the heavy metal projects. The problem I ran into was the 125 required 480 3 ph power my shop is only 240 3Ph. the transformer to make this happen is less than a block away, my electrician friend laughed at me with $$ signs in his eye..

Did I mention how happy I am with the 105 ?

The Powermax105 is a heck of a system. have you run into any jobs where you feel you are missing out not having the 125?

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Just cleaning up server space to give Joe more room for his rants, hijacks and non documented posts..

[Joe Jones]

Before I went to that, I think I would just mount an acetylene torch on my Samson CNC table and cut the metal with that. Drill starter holes where needed, and let the machine take it from there. A whole lot of thick metal was cut with acetylene before plasma torches ever came into being.

Joe

[HypHyDef]

1" requires a slight delay in pierce time but it gets the job done, edge cutting of 1-1/4" sure makes the cooling fan run fast.

3/4 & 1-1/4


IMG_20201105_152733112_HDR.jpg


1"


IMG_20201103_121310372_HDR.jpg

That is some serious material there.

[HypHyDef]

Before I went to that, I think I would just mount an acetylene torch on my Samson CNC table and cut the metal with that. Drill starter holes where needed, and let the machine take it from there. A whole lot of thick metal was cut with acetylene before plasma torches ever came into being.

Joe

Very true, oxy torches still have a place in the industry for sure. It sounds like there really isn't a good cost solution for you to get the power in your shop for the Powermax125.

[cutnweld]

I am a little surprised that there is no ohmic sensing available for the new sync systems. I use ohmic on my homebuilt table, and im sure there are thousands more out there that do. When you are cutting 16 gauge aluminum a heavy floating head just doesnt cut it. Also I wonder about the new cutting heights, the higher you cut the more voltage is required to maintain amperage. So if i switch to Sync, I will be upping my power consumption, as well as making my unit work harder on thicker material. On a positive note i do like the look of the edge, although on thicker metal the duramax already makes a smoother edge than any laser edge i have seen.

[djreiswig]

https://www.hypertherm.com/en-US/hypert ... hmic-ring/

[adbuch]

ohmic contact ring.jpg

[adbuch]

1" requires a slight delay in pierce time but it gets the job done, edge cutting of 1-1/4" sure makes the cooling fan run fast.

3/4 & 1-1/4

IMG_20201105_152733112_HDR.jpg

1"

IMG_20201103_121310372_HDR.jpg

Those are some really great looking cuts!
David

[Joe Jones]

Very true, oxy torches still have a place in the industry for sure. It sounds like there really isn't a good cost solution for you to get the power in your shop for the Powermax125.

Nope. Three-Phase power is only a pipe dream for my and my neighbors.

Joe



.

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Just cleaning up server space to give Joe more room for his rants, hijacks and non documented posts..

[robertspark]

nice

[Joe Jones]

I really like this simple design. It uses hydraulic power, multiplied by leverage. I might be inspired to build something like that myself!

Joe



.

[Joe Jones]

I really like this simple design. It uses hydraulic power, multiplied by leverage. I might be inspired to build something like that myself. The design has an engineering flaw in it though.

Joe



.

[Joe Jones]

I really like this simple design. It uses hydraulic power, multiplied by leverage. I might be inspired to build something like that myself. The design has an engineering flaw in it though.

Joe



.

[adbuch]

1" requires a slight delay in pierce time but it gets the job done, edge cutting of 1-1/4" sure makes the cooling fan run fast.

3/4 & 1-1/4

IMG_20201105_152733112_HDR.jpg



1"

IMG_20201103_121310372_HDR.jpg

Those are some really great looking cuts!
David

Thanks David,

That entire sheet of 3/4" was harvested (less than a 5 gal bucket of scrap) with one 85 Amp electrode & nozzle so basically $10 bill in consumable cost

All of this heavy metal went onto the Odd Ball Bender so now I can get bent into shape:

O B B.jpg

That's a fantastic build! Is this your design or built from plans? Looks very nice indeed.
David

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Just cleaning up server space to give Joe more room for his rants, hijacks and non documented posts..