65amp hypertherm with shope sabre sidekick/ losing arc

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Munnin88
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65amp hypertherm with shope sabre sidekick/ losing arc

Post by Munnin88 »

Hello and happy Friday everyone!
I keep running into the issue of arc loss with my plasma set up, it seems to happen at random with long stretches of uninterrupted cuts before a failure, but occasionally it will lose its arc and stop cutting after one or two cuts. I have tried replacing the consumables, adjusting water table depth and air pressure with little luck. It seems to happen regardless of the consumables being new or not. Needless to say I'm confused, is this just part of plasma cutting? If anyone has any tricks or tips it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
weldguy
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Re: 65amp hypertherm with shope sabre sidekick/ losing arc

Post by weldguy »

Well you have great equipment and this is not uncommon but not something you should have to put up with, it can be resolved. With the info you have provided it sounds to me like your air supply may not able to flow enough volume. In a situation like this you can turn the air pressure up all you want and the problem won't go away since once that pressure is used up it cannot be replaced fast enough. Often this is due to a plugged air filter, or an air supply line that is too small in diameter. i also suspect you will be seeing an error code on the front of your Hypertherm LCD screen, what error code are you getting ?
Munnin88
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Re: 65amp hypertherm with shope sabre sidekick/ losing arc

Post by Munnin88 »

the error code I'm getting is 0-30, stuck consumable. Now that you mention air supply, I may have a line that is to small running to the powermax. I will swap that out and see how it treats me. Thanks!
adbuch
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Re: 65amp hypertherm with shope sabre sidekick/ losing arc

Post by adbuch »

I would recommend placing an inline air pressure gauge directly at the entrance to your machine. I have mine set on my Powermax 85 for 100 psi at the gauge while the air is flowing thru the torch.
David
Munnin88
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Re: 65amp hypertherm with shope sabre sidekick/ losing arc

Post by Munnin88 »

Hi everyone, Thanks for the advice, I just wanted to touch base and say the air pressure and cfm seemed to be my issue. I stepped up my line from a 1/4" to 3/8" and set up a gauge like adbuch suggested coming right out of my water and oil filters. I currently have the psi set to 90 and have been cutting all day without a single issue (knocks on wood). So thank you all for the tips! That all being said I still think I am getting to much water build up and some may be passing through the filter system. I have a small triple tsunami set up, but being from New England and this time of year, the air moisture is ridiculous, does anyone have any air dryer recommendations?

Thanks again to everyone who posted! Cheers!
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Re: 65amp hypertherm with shope sabre sidekick/ losing arc

Post by adbuch »

One thing I have done is to run about 100 ft. of 3/4" rigid copper air line from the compressor along the wall from my main shop out to the machine shop where the cnc plasma is set up. This goes to a refrigerated dryer very close to the plasma table, and then 3/8" flexible air hose connecting thru regulator/dryer trap directly to the plasma cutter. I have the 3/4" copper air line run sloping very slightly back towards the compressor tank. This helps to condense out any moisture from the compressor and let it run back to the tank and out the drain valve.

So I think you are on the right track increasing your air supply hose size. If you can maintain your 90 psi at the entrance to the plasma cutter while your torch is cutting, then you should be ok.

David
weldguy
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Re: 65amp hypertherm with shope sabre sidekick/ losing arc

Post by weldguy »

Excellent, glad that worked. So many folks have struggled with this and often ends up being nothing more than too small of an air line or a plugged filter. Have a look at the Sharpe 3 stage filter here shop/dryer_sharpe6760.html it is a great all in 1 solution.
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