New member in Texas

[rmyatt]

Howdy!

I am an Agricultural Mechanics teacher and I'm glad to be a part of the group here, not only for the cool file shares, but also for the vast amounts of knowledge you have to offer. I've been teaching for several years; I had a 4x4 PlasmaCam at my first school that worked great for a few years, had to do things the old fashioned way for several years at my next school (no plasma table), and now I'm having to teach myself how to use the Torchmate system in my first year at my new school. I've got a Torchmate 4x4 Growth Series that's in rough shape that I'm hoping to replace with a 4x8, or even a 5x10, if the district will pay for it! I'm not brand-loyal, so I can look into other brands if y'all have a preference.

What I plan on using the machine for is to give my (upper-level) students a little experience in designing and running CNC systems, cut parts for student projects, and also to create & cut custom designs to sell to help supplement my budget. That's where I'm really looking forward to everyone's designs!

Currently I'm waiting on a replacement filter bowl for my Hypertherm 45 so that I can get back to using my machine...the plastic drain on the old one twisted right off when I was trying to clean the funk out of the bowl. I had a problem of the machine cutting just fine, then it would ignite the torch but not pierce/cut. I've replaced the ground clamp, added a water separator upstream of the machine to remove moisture from the lines, and now I'll be replacing the machine filter as well. I've also run a wire wheel on the steel to clean off rust & mill scale. Any other thoughts? This torch and table were pretty beat up when I got to this school, so I'm learning as I fix things!

Thanks in advance for the help!

Robert W. Myatt

[acourtjester]

Welcome aboard. for school you may look at school mascots or scheel related items for the students to draw and cut, getting local support and help with the budget with selling them. If you had funk in the bowl you may need to check you compressor and the lines. As that filter is the last resort you hopefully should not have funk in it. Also showing the students how to maintain a plasma unit and table as an example for when they get in the real world.