Consumables not lasting

[MillersSteel]

Good afternoon I have a Hypertherm Powermax 85 and awhen cutting with 45 amps and 65 amps my nozzle wear out very quick electrode still looks very good but it wont make a spark anymore the nozzle is still good on the outside but the inside is worn ? Anybody have any ideas as to what is going wrong? I am new to this site and I have a Torchmate 4800 table with a Hypertherm Powermax 85. Any help would be appreciated as I am going through a lot of tips right now.

[djreiswig]

Dirty or moist compressed air is the first thing id suspect. Do you have any air treatment?

[plasmanewbie]

I am with djreiswig, most commonly air supply. If you see dark staining inside your nozzles and around your electrode shaft that is a good indicator that your air is not clean enough and you may need better filtration. Most of the filters available at hardware stores are good enough for air tools but not for plasma.

[MillersSteel]

I have a air dryer plus a motor guide air/moisture filter. There is no dark staining inside the nozzle or the electrode. The electrode looks fine but then then the nozzle looks like it is flaked or chipped from making contact with the electrode.

[plasmanewbie]

Can you upload pics?

[MillersSteel]

I am not sure how to uploads pics I will see if I can figure out how to upload pics.

IMG_20240319_135234.jpg

IMG_20240319_135144.jpg

sorry the pictures have a little haze.

[djreiswig]

That nozzle looks pretty normal to me. Have you ever replaced your swirl ring? It acts like a bearing for the electrode to slide in. I was getting a lot of stuck electrode faults and they went away after I replaced the swirl ring.

[plasmanewbie]

Ya those consumables look pretty clean to me also. Certainly never hurts to replace the swirl ring and orings, I do every year just to keep things fresh. What size nozzle is in the pic? Is it possible you were pumping 65 amps through a 45 amp nozzle? Is your nozzle coming into contact with the material during cutting or piercing?

[MillersSteel]

The picture is a 45 amp nozzle and electrode and the 65 amp nozzle and electrode look the same when I run 65 amps as well. I am going to replace the o-ring and the swirl ring once and see if that helps. I also have a shield cap on the torch so it shouldn't be touching the material but I am going to check in to that as well. Thank you for help.

[plasmanewbie]

Sounds good and if your running a shield cap be sure none of the holes are plugged, it can cause issues and they can be cleaned out with a oxy/fuel torch tip cleaner.

[SegoMan DeSigns]

When was the last time you checked all of your O-Rings?

Here is a thread on them:

https://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic. ... ng#p224740

[tnbndr]

Are you running Hypertherm consumables or the aftermarket ones? aftermarket will not last anywhere near as long as Hypertherm.
Those don't look that bad.

[MillersSteel]

I was running aftermarket one at one point but switch back to hypertherm they last a little longer but not much. I ran with a sync cartridge the other day and that seemed to work pretty good so I might switch to just running those.