Newbie Here Think my ATHC is Off...

[Rox]

Hi!
New to plasma cutting. A little background first.

I was a Piping Designer for 9 years. CADWORX, Autocad, Navisworks.. etc. Construction background but never welding. Recently married and quit Piping Design to build world class BBQ's with my husband. ( peacemakergrills.com ) Take a peak, these will blow you away! Husband is a 40 year fabricator artist and is very efficient with the amp/volt stuff. I however am not. And to be honest the table intimidates me.

Our Table was originally shipped and set up in another location to a different user. We obtained the table and moved it home with us. So all the configuration files etc were initially set up under another user. I pretty much made a DXF and ran with it. Also this machine is currently OFFLINE and has had no updates

ArcLight Pro 9600 4x8 REV 11.11.2021
Hypotherm 65
COMMAND CNC P2 Plasma (ATHC)
Sheetcam

Question:

Can the Automatic TORCH HEIGHT CONTROL be modified and reconfigured? Or maybe I need to understand how those settings all got applied to the system when it was out of the box.

Here is my scenario.
We cut 1008 Holes on Angle Iron last week. Jigged up the table and it was very successful. Coming back to a sheet on the table my cuts were crap. High dross and hard to remove. WTH? So we sped up to max speed. That did help. But things were still not right. My husband eyed it while running and the torch seems to high.
I lowered the voltage a few time to get it to even being close to a normal cut. Lengthening my arc correct?
But still clinging at my pierce point. So I adjusted my pierce height. Then I adjusted my Torch to work Cut Height. Obviously now I am adjusting everything to compensate whatever changed. Can I fix this in configuration or settings anywhere so I am not fine tuning? Or I fine tune each tool and save that tool set?
NOTE: Husband noted this is Canadian Steel, they were out of the other Cold Rolled I think? . That wouldn't cause this much headache. The Canadian Steel is a very small fraction thicker.

My consumables are good.
My Air is Good.
My Volts consistent while running on a straight cut to set volts.
I've got a good ground.

65A 1/4 Inch
VOLTAGE Bump down from 127 preset to 110
ipm bumped way up from 90 preset to max 116
Pierce Height down from 0.15 preset to 0.1 ( still not happy with this)
Work Height down from 0.06 preset to 0.5

I couldn't find manual or information on Command CNC. What I read is it is still in the making stages?

I will take all and any advice. This thing intimidates me! With my design background I have ample computer experience. I haven't dug into G code very much. Maybe I should.
I feel like after punching all those holes we got off somehow on the ATHC. I do have a folder with the original set up and configuration files. I am just not sure how to use them or install/config.

Thank you and sorry for the long draft!
Roxanne Parent
Peacemaker Grills

[acourtjester]

there are some here that have Command CNC that may chime in. With my Hypertherm 65 using 45 amp nozzle and cutting 1/4" mild steel I run 48 inches per minute pierce time of .6 seconds at 136 volts pierce height of 0.150" and cut height 0.060" Here is a video showing how to check and set the THC, it should work fine with the unit you have, this is fairly standard. Be sure to have the work lead from the plasma directly connected to the steel you are cutting.

[adbuch]

For your Hypertherm 65, my best advise is to run at "book specs" using the values specified in the mechanized cut charts contained in your operators manual. For 1/4" thick mild steel, these settings would be as shown below. I would recommend you check your configurations files and edit as necessary. I would not necessarily rely on the configuration files created by a previous owner. I also expect that you need to calibrate for proper z shift and arc voltage shift in order to obtain the proper cut height for your thc. Some systems such as the Plasmacam have the capability to do this automatically (auto calibrate). Others need to have this done manually. Also consider reaching out to Arclight Dynamics technical support.

You might also consider posting some photos of some of your problematic cuts so we can see exactly what you are dealing with and perhaps make some suggestions.

David

[Rox]

Thank you so much for the response.
I have attached some cut photos for reference. Took me a moment to figure out how to upload them.
SO this is one factor that changed. Canadian Steel. Appears to be a ridged bottom to it. But I don't have enough experience to say that. Could be the heat from the torch at the incorrect height causing it to look like that?
I also attached some photo of my settings. Please let me know if you see something way off. Still getting familiar with where all the settings are and what them mean and how they work.

The photos of the cuts are with the speed at high production level. Max according to the cut charts. I do reference those always. Sits beside my work bench. I do try to stay with pre set. The only time I ever adjusted anything before was just a small bump down voltage on both 45A & 65A trying to gain a straighter edge and better hole cuts.
I do have a few rules set. Slow on Circles, Corners and small shapes.

After researching, is it possible THC card is bad?

I will be testing and trying your suggestion and will return with my findings.

Much appreciate the support!
Be blessed!

[Rox]

For your Hypertherm 65, my best advise is to run at "book specs" using the values specified in the mechanized cut charts contained in your operators manual. For 1/4" thick mild steel, these settings would be as shown below. I would recommend you check your configurations files and edit as necessary. I would not necessarily rely on the configuration files created by a previous owner. I also expect that you need to calibrate for proper z shift and arc voltage shift in order to obtain the proper cut height for your thc. Some systems such as the Plasmacam have the capability to do this automatically (auto calibrate). Others need to have this done manually. Also consider reaching out to Arclight Dynamics technical support.

You might also consider posting some photos of some of your problematic cuts so we can see exactly what you are dealing with and perhaps make some suggestions.

David

45 a.jpg
65 a.jpg

Arclight Dynamics Support. I think I need to reach out to them. I am certain I can update the config files. BUT I don't know how yet! Is there direction for that somewhere in the original folders sent with the machine?
Thank you!

Also I posted photos in post before my reply to you.

[weldguy]

I have had some steel that just cuts like crap, it happens more with cheap HR steel than anything else. If you suspect this is the case get some scraps of steel you know has cut well in the past and do a quick side by side cut comparison before you spend too much time messing around with your machine configuration.
Sounds like you have a good handle on your machine operation but eyeing up the cut height is not good enough on my opinion. I like to pause the machine mid-cut on the straight section of cut and measure the height with feeler gauges and adjust if needed.
Let us know what you find out about the steel.

[Rox]

we are getting ready to try this. Pause mid cut . I haven't done this yet. What's the proper way to RESUME? We had issue where using scrap and I ran out of material. Cut stopped of course. Basically I haven't been able to recover yet successfully.

[Rox]

I wanted to share the Jig and the hole cuts on the Angle we did. 1008 Holes in a day. Then we came back down to work on the table and thats when we started with the Cut Height issue. Also when we started with Canadian Steel.. Be back soon.

[acourtjester]

IMHO the 2 attached images show cut travel speed to fast, the bottom of parts shows arc following behind the top pattern.
But the bottom dross seems to be slightly more then it should, some say due to slow travel speed, in first cut image.
You may look at dropping back to 45 amps and a 45 amp nozzle and 48 IPM cuts for 1/4" steel, I know speed is everything for production.

speed.JPG (39.43 KiB) Viewed 2948 times

speed.JPG (39.43 KiB) Viewed 2948 times

speed 2.JPG (27.1 KiB) Viewed 2948 times

speed 2.JPG (27.1 KiB) Viewed 2948 times

[Rox]

yes these were cut at the highest speed recommended because the cuts were so bad. Trying to make up for it. This is the Canadian Steel also. I will get pictures of it before we turned the speed up.

[Rox]

Hello!
Last night I went through Operations manual. Some Trouble shooting diagrams were in the back. Said to check all the plug in connections on the THC and at computer. I did this. Then shut down for the night.
Husband and I went out this morning. I did a run on a part with torch off. We paused and took a measurement with Feeler Gage. It was on the money. So I went back to out of box pre set and it cut like butter! Thank the Lord because we have 12 BBQs to finish by June.

I think it was bad connection from THC to Computer is all I can think of.

Thanks so much guys for the assist and information!

I will be here often. Seems to be the place to be for information and tips!

[acourtjester]

Thanks for the reply, feed back is good for other who may have similar problems. Using the search function can help when questions are not answered quickly, and this is where the feed back is really good.
Great your back in good working order, many members here are happy to help, questions are welcome.

[adbuch]

Happy to hear the problem is resolved. Loose connections like this can often occur when equipment is transported and/or moved around the shop. I seem to remember a recent similar situation where the OP had just relocated the table to a different part of the shop and had similar problems. It turned out to be a loose connector as well. Thanks for posting your solution.

David

[Rox]

Great feedback here! I love it. And I will be around with more questions I am sure. I will be shutting down resetting and checking connections and Ground for starts now. Apparently the Machine Isn't always broken immediately. Just some trouble shooting.
Thanks Again!

[Rox]

Oh I wanted to add about the Canadian Steel. After we solved our THC issue it cuts good. It is a little thicker, ten thousands. I dialed that into material thickness thinking that could be a culprit when we had the issue. But nope. The dross is a wee bit heavier, different. But still cuts fine.