Air Hose Requirement

[8Ball]

I am the proud owner of a Hypertherm Powermax 85. Stupid question, what diameter air hose do I need for this beast. The air compressor is 80 gal. 5HP 2 stage. The outlet is 3/4”. Be kind and gentle in your answers. LOL.

[motoguy]

It only flows 7.5cfm IIRC< so that is your limiting factor. I run 1/2" rubber to mine.

[djreiswig]

I'm using 3/8" on my 65. Just make sure you maintain correct pressure at the back of the plasma.

[CGT80]

As stated, Pressure matters most. I run 3/8" part way and 1/4" the rest, about 125' or so total. The pressure is always between 135 and 175 psi, straight from the tank, then a regulator down to about 125 at the filters mounted right before the plasma, and a T at the outlet of the last filter with a pressure gauge. The gauge never goes below 95 psi and I seem to get away with it, but bigger certainly would be nice just to know it isn't a potential problem.

I used what I had, but will go bigger if I change it out. For my air hog tools, I recently upgraded to 3/8" hose and V series high flow fittings and did away with restrictive plumbing parts and coupler/plugs at the wall, where not really needed. 3/8" barb fittings are a very close match to the 1/4" V series plugs for diameter. It really helped my blast cabinet and die grinders and I may do the same for the plasma table.

That will be a great size compressor if you are running cnc. Mine is an old Westinghouse 5hp 80gal 17.3 @175 psi with an average of 20 cfm and I wouldn't want it to be any smaller, otherwise it would run all the time.

[jimcolt]

Hypertherm recommends MINIMUM inside diameter of 3/8" up to 50' length, 1/2" ID up to 100' length. Be sure to also install a pressure gauge hard plumbed at the plasma air inlet. Note that your compressor specs do not indicate the most important thing, the flow rate at 90 psi. If your compressor has a flow rate of 6.5 scfm (or cfm) @ 90 psi and you plasma cut continuously, expect that the compressor motor and pump to run continuously. It is wise (for compressor life) to size the compressor at least at twice the flow requirement for the plasma, so the compressor should be arount 13 or 14 scfm@ 90 psi. One more thing, compressor horsepower ratings are generally a sales ploy by the manufacturer, they tend to use "locked rotor) power ratings to make the horsepower number larger. It is best to look at the Full Load Amperage that is on the motor nameplate, which for a true 5HP motor would be around 16 Amps at 230 volts input power. Higher F. L. A. is better, more power, cooler operating, longer life. So, when choosing a compressor and comparing them, look at Full Load Amperage and the scfm flow rating at 90 psi......these are more important than Horsepower and tank size. Jim Colt