New cutting problem

[Largemouthlou]

1250 hypertherm
fine cut nozzel
090 aluminum and .125 aluminum

Have don a lot of different things to my set up as I had to move the machine from one bay to the next so not sure where to start here.

Been cutting pretty good, till this started, for the time I'm assuming it is the plasma unit or consumables (which by magnifying glass look good)

Here are the pics, you can see where the cut changes and there is a difference in the sound of the cut as well..





Thanks Gang

[abmetal]

Kinda' looks like a change in speed.?

[Largemouthlou]

I thought that as well but the second pic is a dxf that I cut all the time, so I eliminated the file as suspect.. didn't loose steps so I eliminated the mechanics.. But I will go back over all that again.. Thank you for the reply

[Stout]

To me it looks more like gear or drive backlash issues. If you cut a square do you get this issue on two opposite sides? That would tell me that I've got something out of spec on that axis. It would be hard to diagnose the axis on a circular cut.

If you put your hand on the gantry while it is moving, you should be able to feel that jittery backlash and pinpoint the direction.

[Largemouthlou]

Going to recheck the mechanics.. but it was intermittent, if ya look at the first pic you can see the smooth cut then the jagged cut start then stop again.. Then on another cut it did it all the way around, the next cut seemed fine... Okay, back to the mechanics..

[muzza]

To me the fact that you have moved the machine which has brought about this problem indicates table mechanics.

I'd start by checking for level, twist and squareness, dont forget to check your "z" as well, lso make sure all your drives are tight. Then do a test cut which I would use a square as suggested or even better, a octagon that way you can see if the problem is consistent in all travel or worse in certain spots.

Unfortunately it's really trial and error.

Hope this helps

Murray

[Largemouthlou]

Okay, went back over the mechanics and found a very worn belt on the X axis.. I must have had it either too tight or improperly installed for a while now.. Cleaned all that and reinstalled, checked other axis and found no other problems.. Still cut a few things and some had problems and some not.. seems the bigger the pc the less problem.. I'm going to get a few new belts, replace the X belt and re check from there..

Murry, I did re square, level and re tune motors after moving.. But after new belt is in I will recheck all parameters again..

Thanks gang!!