Starting at the edge or a hole?

[sawdust1]

I have never had the need to start at the edge. A welding shop friend bought a Hypertherm 85 with a Machitech Silver-cut cnc 7

I have no idea and the manual is thin on specifics. Can someone aim me at a video?
He would like to cut on a 4 by 10, notches down the side every two feet. Notches are approximately 6 by 12.

Thanks
David

[plasmanewbie]

Edge starts are easy, set your pierce delay to zero, do a couple dry runs to be confident your starting at the edge and you should be good to go. Typically this is only done on material thicker than your plasma cutter can actually pierce.

[Ironken]

As plasmanewbie said, edge starts are easy and very necessary for me. I cut profiles in large rec. tube that are on the ends of the tube and open profiles. Part placement is critical (I have a removable fixture that has been trammed in relationship to the machine's movement). I have things set up so that half of the torch shield's diameter contacts the part upon probing. I do disable THC simply because I have about a .060 overcut programmed in so that the blow out is cut completely and drops out before the torch extinguishes the arc. I don't want the torch to dive.

On plate, if I am not trying to end the cut on the edge of the plate, I will set the part up in Sheetcam to where the beginning of a LONG lead in is right on the edge of the material. I then set work zero as usual, make sure the plate is straight with the machine's Y axis and let it rip.

[sawdust1]

Thank you for the suggestions, I have some shop playing to do.