Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Discussion on 0-21 fault codes
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Jaked937
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Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Jaked937 »

New to the plasma table world and decided to go with a PM65 (within the last 4 weeks) because I was told I could run fine cut consumables and get great quality all while still being able to cut thick material. Sometimes it works great but often it would stop firing during piercing (mainly using 16g steel). The inconsistency was driving me insane especially after spending close to $10,000 to get up and running with the table, plasma, new compessor (I'm a teacher by day so this was a giant purchase). At one point if it wasn't having starting issues, it would throw a code 0-21 during the middle of the cut. This resulted in a lot of ruined pieces. Then the next trick it liked to do was blow apart the end of the nozzle sometimes after only a minute or less of cut time.

After talking to tech support who was great, they suggest a new swirl ring, 45amp nozzle (not fine cut) and a shielded tip. I was told "there is a known issue with the fine cut." I did as recommended and it works great, no error codes, no misfires....... but now I feel that I'm not able to get as much detail out of my cuts as I want. This may be because I don't know enough to adjust the setting correct but I've tried adjusting it multiple ways and still not thrilled with the end result on thinner material.

I'm now not confident in running fine cuts and thinking maybe I overpurchased the larger PM65. Hypertherm has been really great in customer service and has offered to work with me on possibly getting me into the new 45XP which apparently they have not had any issues with fine cuts. I'm kind of a loss at what to do other than possibly switch over to the 45XP.

Anyone has reference pictures of smaller detailed cuts you're able to get with a 65? So far most of my work has been in 16g signs and some 1/8th. I don't see myself cutting more than 1/2 at the most and even that will probably be rare.

What would be your suggestion be?

Thanks,
Jake
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by mechanicalmongoose20 »

Talk with Jim Colt from Hypertherm, he is on this board. The dude will get you lined out. Don't give up on the 65. I had one and it was able to do everything I asked of it.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Brand X »

Going to a 45xp will do nothing for your problems, Same consumables and basic torch setup. You will not be cutting any lower then the 20 amps that the 65 machine runs at.. You need a very good thc, and more time using the fine cuts. There is some new low amp nozzles coming, and it should work well with any machine from the 45XP to the 105...Finecuts work pretty nice and zero codes with my 65..
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Bigrhamr »

The 45 and 65 are both great machines. I doubt switching to the 45XP would fix your problems, you need to keep dialing in the setup you have. Follow the Hypertherm manual,set pierce height and duration, cut speed and cut height to book specs.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by jimcolt »

I'd be happy to help you solve your issues, as other posters said...the torch and consumables are the same between the Powermax45 XP and the Powermax65, cut quality will be identical.

I am not aware of any "known issues" with the Finecut consumables or processes.....other than the fact that they are a bit more finicky as compared to the shielded parts in regards to cut heights, cut speeds, inlet air pressure, etc.

If the power supply gives and 0-21 code often....then you have some sort of an inlet air pressure issue. It can be a momentary issue that occurs only under certain conditions (usually when compressor is at low point in its cycle). It will take a little troubleshooting and requires a pressure gauge is hard plumbed at the inlet to your Powermax....but I am here to help you out with that.

I use a Powermax65 and an 85 (and I also have a 45XP) on my home CNC table....often with Finecut consumables. Have never had an 0-21 code. )-21 indicates that the internal voltage drop in the torch is incorrect. This voltage drop is through the ionized air inside the torch....and is a very accurate indicator of air pressure right at the torch. When inlet air flutters below about 85 to 90 psi....even momentarily, it will change this internal voltage reading and will cause the error code. The fix is not to go buy a different plasma system.....rather it is to solve the air inlet issue.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

Jaked937 wrote:New to the plasma table world and decided to go with a PM65 (within the last 4 weeks) because I was told I could run fine cut consumables and get great quality all while still being able to cut thick material. Sometimes it works great but often it would stop firing during piercing (mainly using 16g steel). The inconsistency was driving me insane especially after spending close to $10,000 to get up and running with the table, plasma, new compessor (I'm a teacher by day so this was a giant purchase). At one point if it wasn't having starting issues, it would throw a code 0-21 during the middle of the cut. This resulted in a lot of ruined pieces. Then the next trick it liked to do was blow apart the end of the nozzle sometimes after only a minute or less of cut time.

After talking to tech support who was great, they suggest a new swirl ring, 45amp nozzle (not fine cut) and a shielded tip. I was told "there is a known issue with the fine cut." I did as recommended and it works great, no error codes, no misfires....... but now I feel that I'm not able to get as much detail out of my cuts as I want. This may be because I don't know enough to adjust the setting correct but I've tried adjusting it multiple ways and still not thrilled with the end result on thinner material.

I'm now not confident in running fine cuts and thinking maybe I overpurchased the larger PM65. Hypertherm has been really great in customer service and has offered to work with me on possibly getting me into the new 45XP which apparently they have not had any issues with fine cuts. I'm kind of a loss at what to do other than possibly switch over to the 45XP.

Anyone has reference pictures of smaller detailed cuts you're able to get with a 65? So far most of my work has been in 16g signs and some 1/8th. I don't see myself cutting more than 1/2 at the most and even that will probably be rare.

What would be your suggestion be?

Thanks,
Jake
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Jaked937 »

Jim,
I bought a new 80 gallon compressor, water trap, and regulator. My compressor kicks on at/doesn't drop bellow 100psi and kicks off at 155psi. I have it regulated to 125psi coming from the tank to the plasma about 15' away.

When following the manual and speed ratings for my settings, my quality drops noticeably especially when trying to cut letters out that are smaller. Instead of crisp letters I got more like balloon letters. If I deal back the speed on 16g to around 125ipm I get way better quality.

Finicky doesn't come close to the issues I've had with the fine cut. Its become so frustrating at times I've had to just shut it down and walk away and I'm a fairly patient person. I've spent a decent amount of $ on consumables only to have the hole blow out of the nozzle within the first minute of cutting. Switch to a regular 45 nozzle and it runs great. There's another thread on this page describing the EXACT issues( http://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=21032 ) I'm having with the fine cut followed up by another thread with some setting adjustments to "help" with the problem but doesn't seem to be a total fix.

I'm running sheetcam, do you have a screen shot or could send one of the exact tool settings you suggest I run to attempt to get this to cut better with the fine cut? I had the guy that built my table to come out to help work some bugs out and double check my settings last week. After an hour of trying to make adjustments with no results he was convinced something was wrong with the 65. Next day talking to tech and spending another $50 on consumables (new swirl ring, 45amp nozzles) it ran great.

When I called to talk to tech I was told that through testing there has not been any issues with the fine cut and the new 45XP. How is that possibly if you're claiming it to be the same consumables and torch set up. I was also told that the 45XP doesn't appear to have a code 0-21 anymore. Was there something to fix this issue or is the number just changed?
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Bobcat320 »

Jake,
I run fine cut consumables on my PM 65 all the time, cutting mostly 16ga and 14ga. I have been totally satisfied with the machine and the consumables. I have a PlasmaCam table and run everything with Hypertherm book specs except the speed which I keep under 200 IPM, and I set the cut height at .070 instead of .060 like Jim suggested one time. I have cut some pretty detailed and small stuff, all with no issues. I can actually cut 16ga with 14ga settings and keep all of the detail, so I don't bother to reset everything when I switch back and forth from 16ga to 14ga.
I cant offer you any other suggestions, hopefully Jim and the techs can get you fully up and operational!
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Jaked937 »

Bobcat320 wrote:Jake,
I run fine cut consumables on my PM 65 all the time, cutting mostly 16ga and 14ga. I have been totally satisfied with the machine and the consumables. I have a PlasmaCam table and run everything with Hypertherm book specs except the speed which I keep under 200 IPM, and I set the cut height at .070 instead of .060 like Jim suggested one time. I have cut some pretty detailed and small stuff, all with no issues. I can actually cut 16ga with 14ga settings and keep all of the detail, so I don't bother to reset everything when I switch back and forth from 16ga to 14ga.
I cant offer you any other suggestions, hopefully Jim and the techs can get you fully up and operational!
Would you be willing to post a picture of a smaller cut you're able to get with your machine? Just curious of what it should/could look like. Lol
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Bigrhamr »

If the nozzles are "blowing out" in that short of time you are almost certainly piercing at too low of a height, or have the amps too high for the nozzle you are using. Physically measure the pierce height, don't just rely on what the setting is. What table are you running? Does it have THC?
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by acourtjester »

With many others here I say the fine cut consumable work great on a PM65 here are a few pictures from my DIY table. Showing a plaque and the drop out letter and some stars from another cut. Attached is a screen shot of the G-code from that plaque so you can see the volts speed and pierce height.
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code.jpg

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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Bobcat320 »

Jaked937 wrote:
Bobcat320 wrote:Jake,
I run fine cut consumables on my PM 65 all the time, cutting mostly 16ga and 14ga. I have been totally satisfied with the machine and the consumables. I have a PlasmaCam table and run everything with Hypertherm book specs except the speed which I keep under 200 IPM, and I set the cut height at .070 instead of .060 like Jim suggested one time. I have cut some pretty detailed and small stuff, all with no issues. I can actually cut 16ga with 14ga settings and keep all of the detail, so I don't bother to reset everything when I switch back and forth from 16ga to 14ga.
I cant offer you any other suggestions, hopefully Jim and the techs can get you fully up and operational!
Would you be willing to post a picture of a smaller cut you're able to get with your machine? Just curious of what it should/could look like. Lol
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by motoguy »

Bigrhamr wrote:If the nozzles are "blowing out" in that short of time you are almost certainly piercing at too low of a height, or have the amps too high for the nozzle you are using. Physically measure the pierce height, don't just rely on what the setting is. What table are you running? Does it have THC?
Water contamination? I thought I read somewhere that Jim said the 0-21 could also be caused by moisture in system.

I started cutting in spring of this year, with a PowerMax 85. I too was near my wit's end with finecuts. Constant crashing into the workpiece, not piercing all the way through the material, random raising up while firing, etc. I would sometimes drive one nozzle into the workpiece, right after another. And, of course, these would blow out/elongate/damage the tip, so taper/cut quality was crap after that. It was VERY frustrating. It HAD to be something with my setup, right? I mean, tons of other people were happily cutting with the same hardware, so mine was "messed up" in some way, right?

Long story short...I had a LOT of things to learn about my table, plasma cutting, and the slew of interactions that occur. None of the above was caused by a single component. Finecut cut height (as mentioned above, I run mine at .075 pierce and cut, per Jim Colt), speed (slowed down 10% on my feed, no longer have issue with finecut not cutting through material...had to adjust voltage to match, though), learn how THC works/reacts (adjusted sensitivity, Z accel/speed rates, DTHC delay times, DTHC length minimums, etc), etc. Even small things I never thought about (electrode wear) came into play. Thanks to Jim Colt for bringing that to my attention (adjust as nozzle wears, torch doesn't dive into material now on worn electrode).

My primary cutting nozzle is now the finecut nozzle. I cut primarily 14g, but also 16g and 11g with the finecut. I prefer it to the regular 45a due to the narrower kerf, finer detail, less taper, and lower cut speeds. I by no means have cutting figured out, but I now can look at the cut, the taper, and decide if I need to kick the THC up/down a volt or two.

The equipment is capable. Make sure you have it all set up correctly. I know I'm overkill, but here is the layout of my air system, to keep water/debris out of the plasma:

- outlet from compressor head
- into 60' of 3/4" vertical copper "zigzag", with auto drain at the bottom
- into Hayden 1290 condenser, with auto drain at the bottom
- through Master Pneumatic 1" water separator (bushed down to 3/4"), with auto drain
- into 60 gal air tank (with auto drain)
- out of tank, through another MP 1" water separator
- through MP 3/4" regulator

(system tees to different lines at this point. Plasma line has:)
- another 1" MP water separator
- another 3/4" regulator, with separator
- Motorguard M60 filter
-Wilkerson X24 (I think...2nd biggest one) desiccant filter
- another Motorguard M60 filter
- water trap built into PM 85

That's a lot of "stuff" in the air system. I'm sure Jim Colt just shakes his head when reading that. However, by running -everything- at 3/4" (until it hits the first M60 filter, 2' from the PM85), I've never had a pressure drop issue. I've even got the Motorguard M100 oil filter, and a Harbor Freight refrigerated air dryer, which are not currently in the system (they were "in case" purchases).

Make sure the air going into the plasma is clean and dry. Then, try cutting with the standard 45a shielded consumable. That setup still cuts great, just not as fine as the finecut. Practice, and see how the 45a reacts. As mentioned, the finecuts are FAR more sensitive (cut height, voltage, metallurgy of the material, speed) than the standard 45a. It's a far steeper learning curve.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by motoguy »

Here is where Jim mentions the 0-21 potentially being a moisture issue:

http://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f ... d2#p124297

Postby jimcolt » Fri Aug 19, 2016 7:56 am
The actual air pressure reading in the Hypertherm that can cause a 0-21 error code is an actual voltage reading taken inside the torch. With proper air flow and purity (moisture) this voltage reading stays within a certain range and no error is issued. When the air flow changes...the resistance of the ionized air changes......which is the way the Powermax senses low air flow. When high levels of moisture get in the air line...the water changes the conductivity of the air...and can also cause the 0-21 code. Last, but not least.....a worn out swirl ring can also cause this code.

My advice: 1. Be sure your inlet air pressure stays above 90 psi at all times....with air flowing at the torch. Check it when the compressor is at the bottom of its on/off cycle. 2. If there is no sign of moisture in the onboard filter bowl....then you probably don't have a water issue. 3. Change the swirl ring to a new one. They do wear out eventually! Jim Colt Hypertherm
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Jaked937 »

Bigrhamr wrote:If the nozzles are "blowing out" in that short of time you are almost certainly piercing at too low of a height, or have the amps too high for the nozzle you are using. Physically measure the pierce height, don't just rely on what the setting is. What table are you running? Does it have THC?
Table is made by a local guy (Detrick Design and Fabrication) but it does not have THC.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by gamble »

Not having a thc can mess things up quick. Ask me how I know, I ran my table without one for 2 years
Are you measuring your pierce or cut height?
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by sphurley »

16ga without a THC and you are thinking the PM65 is the issue? You might rethink that some.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Jaked937 »

sphurley wrote:16ga without a THC and you are thinking the PM65 is the issue? You might rethink that some.
Then explain why it will cut just fine when not using the fine cut?
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Jaked937 »

gamble wrote:Not having a thc can mess things up quick. Ask me how I know, I ran my table without one for 2 years
Are you measuring your pierce or cut height?
I have not. I've made adjustments in Sheetcam. I understand this could be a setting issue but I'm also looking for answers as why I was told "there is a known issue with the fine cuts" directly from Hypertherm. I also see Jim calling the fine cuts "finicky" yet on there is a thread with him introducing the 45XP with pics of the displays made using fine cut saying they still look great after all the cuts. I was also told by the Hypertherm tech that he didn't see a code 0-21 even as a possibility in the 45XP. So did they make some chances to alleviate that issue or did they just give it a diffent number? He also called me back and said after talking to the engineers that they have not experienced issues when using the fine cut on the new machine.

I'm sure my inexperience isn't helping but when I spend close to $3000 on a machine and set it to factory specs and have it ruining nozzles in less than 2 minutes it seems like something is wrong. Now I'm spending a bunch of $ on nozzles to figure out what my setting need to be. And yes I understand there are a lot of factors that go into getting perfect cuts.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by sphurley »

Which shield are you using on the fine cuts? Shielded is what you want.
What amps, pierce heigth, cut height, speed are you running on the 16ga
I use FC a lot, Finicky yes a little. You are trying the worst of all worlds for you first setup.
Thin metal and fine cut is great once you get rolling with a THC
I do spray MIG shield spray on the tips and nozzles to help prevent ruining consumables.
If you drop the tip into molten steel you will eat consumables.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by Bigrhamr »

Go back to the basics. Physically verify that you are piercing and cutting at book height. Until you have that part handled things will not improve. With no THC you are in for an uphill battle unfortunately. If the CNC table is letting the unshielded nozzle drag or contact the steel it will ruin consumables almost instantly. That is not due to a problem with the Powermax but a problem with the table.

I'm not sure if there are consumables for a Powermax that are designed for drag cutting, if there are they might help. A hand cutting shield maybe? Does anybody know?
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by littlefatbuddy »

I have had many of the same issues and been beyond frustrated. I might have launched a few things across the shop in anger. It has been a very large learning curve for me. My table has THC but I have never been able to make it work. Jim has been an invaluable source of information and the Hypertherm folks are top notch in my opinion. I cut dross free 14 ga today without THC. My settings were PM65, Finecut, 44amps, 200ipm, and .060 cut height caluculated by zeroing to the material. I cut mostly 20 and 22 gauge. The settings that are different are the amps at 22 and the speed at 350ipm. I do not use a pierce delay on any of them and pierce at cut height. It seems eliminating the pierce delay helped some. I do occasionally still get an 0-21 code but not very often. I made two changes that completely changed the constant codes. I am not sure which one fixed but is was the only thing I did different. I updated Sheetcam. I added a desiccant dryer at the compressor outlet, drop legs in my air system everywhere it came down from the ceiling, and another desiccant dryer after the motor guard. I feel like drying my air out fixed the problem. I also never realized there was a different swirl ring for Finecut consumables. I recently changed that as well and it just seemed to clean the cuts up and further reduce the 0-21. Not sure if the swirl ring affects that code or not. Stick with it and know that experience isn't cheap and doesn't come fast. I can't offer anything on the blown out nozzle issue, I feel like mine last way longer than what they should since I basically don't follow any of the rules for cut height, pierce height, THC, or delay.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by beefy »

I was told to check for moisture in the air by letting some compressed air blast on a piece of mirror.

Likewise I use those little cloth thingys the girls use to wipe makeup off there face to test for oil, just blast the air at one and see if you get any contamination.

How are you doing initial height sensing. For every pierce the system has to find the work surface first so that it knows where it is relative to the top of the metal.

This is the one I often suggest but most times it falls on deaf ears, maybe many put this in the too hard basket. READ YOUR GCODE !!! for the start of a cut. Everything is there telling you what your system is being told to do. The initial height sensing, the pierce height, the torch on command, the pierce delay, the move to cut height (and at what speed), and finally the moves into the main cut (and at what speed).

When all that gcode appears correct you can then do a dry run and single step through each line of gcode. At each stage you can MEASURE e.g. the pierce height, the pierce delay, the quick move to cut height, etc. You can also do a "normal" dry run (not single stepping) and watch the torch up close to see all the moves happen. With thin steel there should not be any "hanging around" once the torch is on, otherwise a big hole will be blown and the arc has nothing to burn on, then it just goes out.

When I hear some say things like they updated Sheetcam, I shake my head. That's treating a system like a black box and HOPING something is corrected by changing software. Gcode is easy to learn and follow for what I've mentioned above, and it greatly simplifies this type of troubleshooting. If you can learn to do what I said you will KNOW if the problem is in Sheetcam, simply by what gcode it gives you.

Everything I mentioned so far can be done without a torch height control. You can even manually do the initial height setting for every pierce if you don't have a floating head, ohmic sensor, etc on your Z axis. BUT once cutting starts you need a THC to keep the correct cut height, especially on thinner steel which can warp with the heat of cutting.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by motoguy »

Jaked937 wrote:Then explain why it will cut just fine when not using the fine cut?
Because finecut are non-shielded nozzles, and are much more sensitive to both speed and cut height than the shielded 45a nozzles? Those are a couple of possibilities.
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by motoguy »

Jaked937 wrote:
gamble wrote:Not having a thc can mess things up quick. Ask me how I know, I ran my table without one for 2 years
Are you measuring your pierce or cut height?
I have not. I've made adjustments in Sheetcam.
This is a huge red flag. Finecuts are known to be picky with cut height, you are having height related issues cutting with finecut (burning out nozzles), yet you say you have not measured your cut height. Does your machine have ohmic touch-off? If not, how is it determining the work surface, in order to set pierce/cut height? If you don't know, you need to be manually checking with feeler gauges. Ohmic is of particular use on thin material (such as 16ga) that flexes easily. The ohmic can sense the top of the material with little deflection, due to the electrical (vs mechanical) connection. If you have a floating Z that uses a mechanical switch, the pressure necessary to trip the switch may be enough to deform the metal. Then, by the time your switch trips, your tip may actually be at (or below!) the material height. As such, the machine may immediately run the torch down into the material at pierce/cut time.

Also, thin materials (like 16ga) can warp/bow a LOT when cutting. Do you have a water table? If so, is the water level at /near the base of the metal? If so, this can go a long way towards keeping the metal cool, and reducing the bow. If you do NOT have a water table, or you do, but the water is not touching/splashing the metal, I suspect you'll have quite a bit of metal warping. A THC will be able to sense this through the voltage feedback, and adjust the torch height to compensate. If you do not have a THC, then your table continues cutting at a fixed height...which may ram the torch head directly into the (now warped) material, and blow out your nozzle.

First things first, you need to determine that your finecut nozzles are actually at correct pierce/cut height before the torch fires. Everything else is irrelevant, until you can confirm this. Too high, you get crappy/wide/incomplete cuts. Too low, you blow debris back into the nozzle, drag the nozzle in the molten pool, or otherwise destroy the nozzle. Literally, everything else is irrelevant until you can confirm the nozzle is at the correct height when cutting.
Jaked937 wrote:I understand this could be a setting issue but I'm also looking for answers as why I was told "there is a known issue with the fine cuts" directly from Hypertherm. I also see Jim calling the fine cuts "finicky" yet on there is a thread with him introducing the 45XP with pics of the displays made using fine cut saying they still look great after all the cuts. I was also told by the Hypertherm tech that he didn't see a code 0-21 even as a possibility in the 45XP. So did they make some chances to alleviate that issue or did they just give it a diffent number? He also called me back and said after talking to the engineers that they have not experienced issues when using the fine cut on the new machine.
I know you want this to be fault in the Hypertherm hardware, but I'll bet you $1 it is not. Take the fact that you haven't measured, or confirmed, correct cut/pierce height. This means it's possible (even likely) that you are trying to cut outside of the finecut design parameters (too high/too low...you don't know). Yes, the finecut are "finicky", or perhaps more accurately..."less tolerant of cut variables". "Finicky" implies they may behave randomly, but I don't believe that to be true. They are just more demanding of all cut parameters to operate correctly. Cut height, speed, voltage, moisture in the air, metallurgy, etc. Finecuts react more drastically to changes in these, than the regular 45a/65a/85a nozzles.
Jaked937 wrote:I'm sure my inexperience isn't helping but when I spend close to $3000 on a machine and set it to factory specs and have it ruining nozzles in less than 2 minutes it seems like something is wrong. Now I'm spending a bunch of $ on nozzles to figure out what my setting need to be. And yes I understand there are a lot of factors that go into getting perfect cuts.
To be blunt, I think your inexperience is 90% of the issue. And I'm not trying to point fingers, just state a fact. Hell, I was in the same position 11 months ago, except I spent over $20k on my setup, and THEN had to keep ordering nozzle kits to stay ahead of the ones I trashed. Stressed? Angry? Frustrated? Needing to bring in $ after dumping so much in a table, only to ruin $5 nozzles on the first attempt to cut? Thinking "everyone else is cutting fine with the same hardware, so MINE MUST BE MESSED UP?" Yeah, I get it.

Keep in mind, the finecut book specs are determined using a commercial table, with commercial software running it. They use a table with an independently controlled Z axis/commercially controlled THC (I suspect they're running all Hypertherm commercial controls). As Jim has said before, "the book specs are a starting point." They'll be dead accurate, if...IF....***IF*** your table is performing exactly like their test table. Here are but a few areas where our pro-sumer tables could be set up differently:

work lead is connected directly to material (do you rely on your slats for the connection?)
your table can match the speed/acceleration of their table (lower speed increases arc dwell time, which increases voltage, which will cause a pro-sumer (CandCNC, etc) DTHC to try to drive the torch down to correct, possibly into the metal)
your material is the same as theirs (many here have seen variations in metallurgy in sheets, even from the same supplier or same batch)
your air equipment is functioning properly (no moisture or debris, adequate pressure, etc)
your material height is accurately determined (how are you doing that?)
your Z is being accurately adjusted during the cut, to maintain a constant distance between the torch and the material (or, more accurately, to maintain a constant arc length, and place the material at the correct spot in the arc). How are you doing that?

These are but a few examples. That's before we even get into things like sheetcam rules, etc. Plasma cutting is full of variables. It's not a "press the button and walk away" process. Hell, even if EVERYTHING about the cut process is repeatable and perfect, then you get screwed by a tip-up! lol

The people here are very knowledgeable, and will be happy to help you get on track. However, you need to understand that they've already been where you're at, and have likely been through the process with many others. Start where they suggest you start. Inspect/confirm the basics, first (like cut height). Once the basics are confirmed, they'll walk you through other things to check, until you're where you need to be. That's what they did for me!
Bulltear 6x12 w/ Proton Z axis & watertable
CommandCNC/Linux w/ Ohmic & HyT options
Hypertherm Powermax 85 w/ machine torch
Solidworks, Coreldraw X7, Inkscape, Sheetcam
littlefatbuddy
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Re: Not really happy with PM65. Thinking of going with 45XP

Post by littlefatbuddy »

beefy wrote:When I hear some say things like they updated Sheetcam, I shake my head. That's treating a system like a black box and HOPING something is corrected by changing software. Gcode is easy to learn and follow for what I've mentioned above, and it greatly simplifies this type of troubleshooting. If you can learn to do what I said you will KNOW if the problem is in Sheetcam, simply by what gcode it gives you.
Sheetcam is part of the system. When I am trying to diagnose a problem I look at all parts of a system. Turns out I had been given a pirated version of Sheetcam and could not update it at all. They routinely update and improve the program. The version I had was at least two years old. If I would not have looked into it I would have never known and therefore not been able to address at least that problem. I don't think it affected the issues I was having with 0-21 but it sure made it where I could cut a circle rather than 100 little lines. No, I do not know how to read gcode yet. It is all part of the process. So Jake look at all aspects of your system you never know when you might find something you weren't even looking for that will help in another area. You are not less of an operator because you can't read gcode.
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