Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

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stinovation
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by stinovation »

I've only used the hand torch a few times. The 0-50 code will occur if I remove the cap while the machine is on. But every once in a while it will throw the 0-50 code while cutting. But the main issue is the 0-30 code. The 0-30 codes occur when cutting using the plasma table. The 0-30 code always occurs at a pierce when cutting parts with CNC plasma table.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by djreiswig »

I didn't see where you tried a new swirl ring. That seemed to solve my 0-30 problem. Mine looked okay, but I threw a new one in anyway. Also try a new o-ring on the torch body. If you have a leak there, you will have problems.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by adbuch »

djreiswig wrote: Sat Mar 05, 2022 11:44 pm I didn't see where you tried a new swirl ring. That seemed to solve my 0-30 problem. Mine looked okay, but I threw a new one in anyway. Also try a new o-ring on the torch body. If you have a leak there, you will have problems.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by acourtjester »

I'm really at a loss now. Maybe something is wrong with the Hypertherm....
Please let me know what you think. Shipping it back may prove to be the cheapest solution.

As someone who spent 40 years as a Electronics Field Engineer, installing and repairing mainframe computers then C.A.T scanners and MRI systems. Anything is possible. I installed a C.A.T system in a local hospital and before the turn over a weird problem showed up. :Wow After many assemblies being replace, the company replaced the system and it went back to the California facility for further trouble shooting. :Sad It ended up as a flaky power supply.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by weldguy »

If you have seen the 0-50 during cutting then take these guys advice and inspect your torch for loose parts, connections, or other issues. 0-50 should only show up if the retaining cap is removed while the unit is powered ON.

Have you brought up the diagnostic window to see if it has additional error codes which may provide additional insight into the issue?

To enter the diagnostic window turn the unit ON and then press and hold the Auto/Manuel and Gas Selector button at the same time. Take a picture of that and post it here for us to see.

In my opinion it doesn't matter if the torch is new and barely used, I have seen torches delivered brand new with loose parts.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by adbuch »

weldguy wrote: Sun Mar 06, 2022 3:25 pm If you have seen the 0-50 during cutting then take these guys advice and inspect your torch for loose parts, connections, or other issues. 0-50 should only show up if the retaining cap is removed while the unit is powered ON.

Have you brought up the diagnostic window to see if it has additional error codes which may provide additional insight into the issue?

To enter the diagnostic window turn the unit ON and then press and hold the Auto/Manuel and Gas Selector button at the same time. Take a picture of that and post it here for us to see.

In my opinion it doesn't matter if the torch is new and barely used, I have seen torches delivered brand new with loose parts.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by stinovation »

Is this the diagnostic screen?
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by weldguy »

Yes, that is the diagnostic screen. So it actually looks pretty good, one 1 code and that code 2-01-0 is not even listed in the service manual so I have no idea what that might be.

At this point I don't think anything is really wrong with your system. It sounds like the new air compressor has helped out tons and you only get the odd 0-30 fault.

0-30 is more common with the Finecuts, Hypertherm even admits that and suggests paying close attention to your piercing and cutting height to be sure it is correct to help eliminate this.

I see your not using Finecuts but rather 45 amp nozzles, still it's a low amperage nozzle so maybe get out the feeler gauges and actually measure your pierce and cut height to be sure your spot on and it may help further to reduce 0-30 faults.

If you see a different code on that diag window at some point post it.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by stinovation »

weldguy

Thanks for the quick reply. Earlier on the hit list was pierce and cut heights. I did pause the machine at pierce height and cut height. I used feeler gauges to measure and they were both spot on.

1 1/2 hr cut time on consumables is much better than where we started. I was really hoping for longer cut times on a set but maybe that is not reasonable. Now I just need to put the consumable cost into the job cost.

At this point the big issue is the 0-30 code every 30 minutes or less and the machine quits cutting. The original plan for the system was buying a system which would run without needing constant attention. They system has THC and collision detection.

I'm just asking questions on this one...What if I run 65amp consumables? Is there some alternate solution of running different settings to keep from having 0-30 codes? In that option, maybe I need to replace the slats more frequently, but then the machine could run 1 1/2 hr without 0-30 code and maybe the 65 consumables would last longer...I'm just looking for a solution.

I will try to look at the torch assembly this week as that was a suggestion also. To make sure nothing loose.

Thanks for your help
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by acourtjester »

With the 65 consumables you will consume more air and the kerf width will be larger. Jim Colt had said to run the amps the consumables are designed for, only differences is with the fine cut nozzle. For thinner metal you can change the cut and pierce height and drop the amps some from 45.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by weldguy »

Ah yes, I remember now you did measure your heights in a previous reply.

1.5 hours doesn't sound bad considering you mentioned 500 pierces in a 40 minute span so 1.5 hour span your over twice as much, sounds reasonable to me. Piercing is a big player when it comes to consumable life since piercing reduces the lifespan more than cutting. Also keep in mind that may not need to replace both the nozzle and electrode at the same time, often the nozzle is worn but the electrode has more life in it. May save you some money there if your not doing that.

That being said I would deem your consumable life to be good, so the only real issue at this point is the 0-30 code. Sure you could cut your 12g material at 65 amps to try and eliminate the 0-30's but that is assuming your machine runs well and accurate at higher speeds. Just refer to the Hypertherm cut charts for the 65 amp consumables and start with those settings. It is possible that the 0-30 issue may go away as 0-30 can be more frequent at lower amps. Certainly worth a try.

Curious how this works out for you.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by stinovation »

weldguy

I spent some time on the phone yesterday with hypertherm Technical Support. They were really helpful. We ended up running a gas test to confirm the air compressor was putting out enough volume. It would have been really good to run this gas test before I replaced the air compressor just to see if the gas test would have failed. He said that the measured pressure needed to stay steady and be within a couple PSI of the set pressure. And then just thinking about this, if the air gauge on the air compressor is increasing while gas test is running…this would mean that the air compressor is putting out more air than the hypertherm is using. Anyway it was a good exercise and the air flow is good.

As far as the 0 - 30 code. He said I need to get back to cutting and go to the diagnostic screen as soon as the machine throws the O-30 code. He said the machine does not store the details of codes. So you have to go into diagnostic while that code is on the screen to get details on the code. We need to find out if it is an 0-30-1 or O-30-0. The 0-30-1 means it is consumable stuck closed and the 0-30-0 means consumable stuck open. He said he believes it's probably the - 0 code which has something to do with a 40 millisecond bleed down timing out. So there is a bit more work to do to try to get this figured out. I'm hoping to be able to get back to cutting in a week or so to read that code because it will happen like clock work. I really appreciate your help. I'll report back soon.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by acourtjester »

thanks for passing the info from the Tech guy on the procedure and more info on the 0-30 error. :Like
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by weldguy »

Thanks for the info, I was not aware the system did not store the codes, more good info. Curious to know which one see next time you check.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by cutnweld »

Not sure if this is off the trail to far... My 85 was being an awful pain on thicker material, wrecking tips and not cutting thru. I finally solved it by putting an oring on the torch body that the retaining cap bumps up against. its not a perfect fit because there is a cap sensing switch there that it goes over but hey, it works! Cuts thick metal with never a hiccup now. The retaining cap doesn't come up far enough and there was copious amounts of air coming out there, new oring on oem location didnt help. Funny thing was it was only my machine torch, hand torch never had an issue.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by HypHyDef »

weldguy wrote: Mon Mar 07, 2022 11:37 am Yes, that is the diagnostic screen. So it actually looks pretty good, one 1 code and that code 2-01-0 is not even listed in the service manual so I have no idea what that might be.
Hello, it looks like you all helped get this system back up and running. I checked with our technical support team about the error 2-01-0 you mentioned. This is what I got from them.

"The 2-01-0 error is an aux switch disconnected error. This often appears when troubleshooting electrical and is usually never because the aux switch is actually disconnected."

I hope that helps.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by Mazda Carnage »

Stinovation
My experience with plasma cutters is all manual cutting. But I have cut lots of galvanized duct work. Using a Powemax 85 always set at the highest amperage I would get about 12hours of cutting out of the tips before the orifices got distorted by air, we ran a very poor filtration system, incandescent filter and separators (No air con air dryer which is a must for any air system). I could get another 6 hours of cutting out of the tips before the arc was so distorted it slowed productivity. And at the cost of consumables I found that ridiculously expensive.

I don't have the answer to your problem but I suggest when you start your day of CNC work, put a set of the barely used tips you posted pics of on page 1 of this thread on the torch and see if it takes 30-45 minutes for the machine to throw codes or it takes 5 minutes to throw codes.
If it takes 30-45 minutes than its not the tips the problem and it could be wiring/heat related, the more heat a wire/piece of copper/brass or any conductor absorbs the less current it can flow. Does the ground clamp get hot when the machine starts throwing codes?

Others mentioned having issues with the Machining torch whip but not the manual torch, do you have a manual whip/torch? Find something that need cutting or that you want to fabricate and use the plasma cutter manually for 45+ minutes, if no codes come up the problem is in the machine torch line, send it and all your used tips back to Hypertherm and tell them to make things right.

The material being cut should not play much of a role in how long the tips take to wear out, the setting on the plasma cutter would but the arc does not know what material it's cutting and as long as it's not spraying back at the tip it should last the same amount of time cutting steel, galvanized or aluminum, the amount cut in that time will be different (material and thickness) but with the same plasma cutter settings and no splatter on the tip it should always take X hours/minutes for the passages to wear out. Might be different with fine cut tips or CNC machines but I always got two full 9hours days of cutting of thick cast (up to 4"), steel, aluminum or galvanized out of the tips on average, at the end of the first day I would pull the tips off the torch and put on a set of warn out tips on in case the other employees went in early the next day and used the plasma cutter, they would hold the torch straight when trying to pierce thick metal and destroy the tips within minutes.
Hyperthem states consumable life span to be 2-3 hours arc time manual cutting. Here in Canada that's about 65$ every 3 hours, that's insane.
3-5 hours for mechanized cutting.


You mentioned adding a 3stage filter helped your run time.
You can get timed automatic drain valve and run it on the bottom of your compressor, you set it to open every X minutes for Y seconds to drain condensation out of the tank. Much easier than manually draining the tank every morning. Just shut it and the compressor off when your done for the day.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by stinovation »

I appreciate all of the help from the members. And thanks to weldguy sticking with me on this. I am back to cutting without throwing the 0-30 code every 30 minutes. The machine will run for an hour on a new set of consumables with what I am cutting and no errors. As a side note, each hour includes 500 pierces. I'm getting about 1000 pierces on a set of consumables.

Anyway, the last piece of the puzzle was the 40 millisecond bleed down that is programmed into the hypertherm. It turns out the sheetcam program was not allowing enough time to allow the bleed down. Of course I had to get help on this, but there is a "pause after cut" setting in sheetcam. Mine was set at 0.5s. I increased the "pause after cut" to 1.0 second and that did the trick. Attached screen shot where I made the change. I then outputted a new NGC with the setting change, and all is good....No error code every 30 minutes.

Now on the next issue....water table and pre-galvanized material...what a mess!!!

Thanks for all of the help
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by weldguy »

That's fantastic. Glad to hear everything is working really well now. Thanks for the info on the bleed down time, very interesting that .5 sec delay caused the problem and 1 full sec fixed it. I am super curious if a 0 sec delay would also solve the issue and also cut down on your run time with all those extra delays being eliminated. Torch should still fire during this bleed down time, maybe the previous timing was just too close and throwing it off.
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Re: Powermax 65 consumables only last 30 minutes

Post by SegoMan DeSigns »

This is interesting as I have my pause at end of cut set to 0 to eliminate dibets and have not seen this code.
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