HyperTherm Cut Speeds

[Kane17752]

I always cut close to book values and have minimal dross except for detailed areas. My system is not that smart to automatically slow down for those cuts and change amperage.

The only solution would be to lower the amperage and the speed for the whole project (which is not a problem for me). Is there a rule of thumb or a formula that can be used to calculate where I should be, such as 35 amps @ 100ipm?

I can do a bunch of test cuts, but wanted to find a starting point. Using finecuts.

[acourtjester]

I think there is a small misunderstanding about the reason for slowing down for details. It is to maintain sharp cornering not for dross problems. If you slow down for the other parts of the cut you will increase the locations of the dross. Just keep using the charts for the cut speed for different thickness of metal and clean where you have dross. One of the things Jim Colt says is if you are using a 45 amp nozzle cut at the amps, I use 45 amps for the fine cut nozzles I use.

[adbuch]

I cut at the settings recommended by Hypertherm. Not all FineCut uses 45 amps. 16-18 ga. uses 40 amps, and 20 ga. and thinner uses 30 amps.
David

Low Speed FineCut Mild Steel.jpg (75.94 KiB) Viewed 1295 times

[weldguy]

I always cut close to book values and have minimal dross except for detailed areas. My system is not that smart to automatically slow down for those cuts and change amperage.

The only solution would be to lower the amperage and the speed for the whole project (which is not a problem for me). Is there a rule of thumb or a formula that can be used to calculate where I should be, such as 35 amps @ 100ipm?

I can do a bunch of test cuts, but wanted to find a starting point. Using finecuts.

I think that what your seeing is perfectly normal, minimal dross except for in detailed areas where the torch is moving at a slower cut speed. If you trn down amperage and slow down I believe you will see the same results but it will simply take longer to complete the cut. I'd stick with what your doing and look into a muratic acid/water bath to remove remaining dross and prep your parts for finishing.

[Kane17752]

I never Have seen that chart before. I guess I should of flipped a couple of more pages. Will try those settings. I only use CR. I am not going back to acid.

[djreiswig]

My book stays open to that section. And I flip back to the kerf width chart frequently. I have a lot of the tools programmed in SheetCam already, but I still like to check the chart.

[Haye]

So my table has finally arrived and I started to experiment with some different material thicknesses ect. While starting to use the finecut consumables and using the THC, I get poor results. In the sense of not cutting completely through the material (especially in corners). Using regular consumables and switching THC off everything is fine. I just saw this threat with a 'low speed FineCut' chart. My manual has the chart below (problems occurred with 2mm material, cutspeed of 5250mm/min). However quality improved slowing down to 4500mm/min. Is this an old manual I have? typo? anything else wrong? I have a HT 65A plasma, fangling controller and THC f1628D.

[acourtjester]

Some have problem with the "Fine Cut consumables" you can do a search here for info. Are you supplying enough pressure to the Plasma cutter, it is recommended to attach a pressure gauge at the rear of the Hypertherm to monitor the pressure while cutting.

[Old Iron]

I'm one of those that have trouble using Fine Cut so, I just stick to the standard consumables, have very good results and very little to no easy to remove dross at book specs.
I'm even running a cheap ole Proma that does an acceptable job.

[Haye]

A I see my last post was not clear enough. David posted a "low speed finecut chart", however I could not remember this chart from my own manual (quite sure because I had problems with the 2mm 5252mm/sec). So I looked for a manual that did inude this low speed chart. However when I found this manual, also the 'regular' finecut table was different than the screenshot I posted! It showed speeds of 4800mm/min instead of 5250! right in the ballpark where my tests showed best cut quality. So for others that might have problems with finecut consumables, make sure you have the correct manual

[Rodw]

A I see my last post was not clear enough. David posted a "low speed finecut chart", however I could not remember this chart from my own manual (quite sure because I had problems with the 2mm 5252mm/sec). So I looked for a manual that did inude this low speed chart. However when I found this manual, also the 'regular' finecut table was different than the screenshot I posted! It showed speeds of 4800mm/min instead of 5250! right in the ballpark where my tests showed best cut quality. So for others that might have problems with finecut consumables, make sure you have the correct manual

Its actually quite mad how crazy fast hypertherm cut charts are. My Thermal Dynamics A120 quotes cuts for 2mm mild steel as being 2219 mm/min @ 40 amps. I'm quite sure everything must be perfect @5252 mm/min.

[ScottRa]

I’ve looked at the chart David posted before and wondered about the footnote posted about 14 and 16 ga not being dross free. Voltage and speed change some around those settings. The amperage makes a 5 amp step there but makes a 10 amp step between some of the lighter gauges with no comments about dross. Anyone know or wanna speculate why those two gauges act that way?

Scott