Powermax 65 fine cut

[Kev03]

I have a plasmacam and running a powermax 65. I swapped from thermal dynamics to hypertherm for the fine cut consumables. I seem to be having issues. I am trying to run at speeds posted in manual but seem to have to run around atleast 50 ipm slower than posted speeds and sill not the best cut. Allot of angle in from top to bottom on 16g.

Tried cutting letters for a customer in mirrored 16g diamond plate and top has allot of dross and its hard to keep it polished since that is how customer wants it.

I'm running hand torch and dhc2 on plasmacam. I'm running machine swirl ring rather than hand torch swirl ring, that's what hypertherm recommended. Machine swirl ring is the same for all tips and hand torch swirl ring have half the holes for fine cut. I'm stressed. I've been fighting with it for weeks now and wanted to ask for help.

Maybe setting I need to check on design edge

[abmagrum]

you need to ask Jim colt
I think the fine cuts are for a machine torch only. but I could be wrong

do you have a shielded nozzle ? plenty of air ? did you set the volts and amps for fine cut ?

[Kev03]

I cant change volts in plasmacam. Atleast I haven't found where to yet.

Plenty of air

[acourtjester]

From what I was told by Jim Colt the fine swirl ring was to be used only for the hand held torch. It was to help with jumping kerfs and expanded metal cuts. That sounds like it is not for CNC plasma table cutting.
I would directly contact Jim for the final words on that.

Her is Jims answer from my question on the fine cut swirls ring.

The operators manual does not explain the fine cut swirl ring...

This swirl ring has a modified swirl that allows for easier arc transfer for edge starting when using the torch in the hand held mode. There are some cases with hand cutting where the arc will not transfere quick enough if the nozzle to work distance is too far away, or if the material is dirty, painted or extremely rusty, the swirl ring halps with thet issue. There is no reason to use the hand swirl ring for machine torch cutting that I have ever found, in fact if you use the special FineCut swirl ring for mechanized cutting I would expect a slightly wider kerf, and slightly shorter nozzle life.

Jim Colt Thanks for buying the 65! Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions at all. jim.colt@hypertherm.com

[icmplasma85]

Shanecustom, you need to post all of your machine and height control settings. Pierce height, cut height, cut speed, etc. Post as much info as you can so we can see where the problem is. I have the exact same set up you have, DHC2 with Powermax 65 with hand torch and fine cut, I cut 12 gauge and thicker all day everyday at book specs and my cut quality is excellent. One question, do you have advanced height control with ohmic sensing? I just upgraded not long ago and was kicking myself after I got it for the fact I didn't get it when I first bought the table. If your trying to cut diamond plate without advanced height control you're pissing in the wind. You would have to cut it upside down and that eliminates that nice polished side, it will have dross all over it. Give us some more info and we'll see if we can figure it out. If your settings are good you may have a lot of moisture in your air.

[Kev03]

I do have the ohmic sensing. Here is all my settings for 16g mild steel. Fine cut on 45 amps. Ground clamp to grates. Tried to move it to metal no difference

Kerf width .05
Pierce lead in .2
under cutting .02
Cut to the right of paths
Rapid travel 1000
Rapid travel accel .1

Cut speed 180
Corner accel .02
Slower on circles under 1"
z axis speed 104.5
Time to mark 0
Time to pierce .4 sec
moving pierce 0
Time to cont cutting 0
Cutting signal
1.9v min
12v max

Material thickness 16g
Raise and lower between cuts checked
cut height .06 verified off of metal with feelers gauge
rapid travel height .5
Pierce height .15
use torch height control checked.
Sense material to zero checked
over travel 1 inch

Machine config
Standard

And Auto configure port.

These are all my setting in designcam. I posted everything to see if something is off that I should check. I started this job and boss said here's the plasmacam figure it out. His son bought everything set up some stuff and then moved away. So I got the keys to a brand new plasmacam and figuring it out as I go. Im close after 3 weeks. Got the hang of software just trying to figure out why I cant match cut speed in the manual.

[Kev03]

any hole under 1" is out of round and jagged. I will try to post pics tomorrow of a piece with above cut settings.

[icmplasma85]

OK, all of those setting match mine except for cutting signal, I have 3 for min cuttin signal. Who put the machine together? You may have mechanical parts that aren't moving in a tight motion. Do you have a machine torch or hand torch? Is the torch square to the plate? With your settings looking OK, it almost seems like its the table motion that isn't working correctly. Have you tested this with brand new consumables? I can see a 3/8" hole not being perfect, but a 3/4 should look almost perfect with your settings, esp in thin plate. I literally just cut these holes with 65 amp tip out of 1/4" plate, from left to right 3/8, 1/2, 5/8 and 3/4" holes.

[icmplasma85]

Third hole (5/8) is straight from camera, the others may appear to have bevel but its just camera angle, they are all pretty close to perfectly round with hardly any bevel.

[jimcolt]

The speed specs in the Hypertherm manual are correct...the fact that you cannot achieve them indicates something else is wrong. While there is always some cut edge angularity with air plasma...if it is excessive then that indicates yoiur torch is running too high off the material. You should verify that you are achieving the physical height of .06" with these consumables. Use the consumable part numbers listed at the top of the fine cut mechanized cut chart in your manual.....that holds true with hand and machine torches, and use the shield.

Their are no cut charts for cutting aluminum with the FineCut parts....so not sure where you got your cut specs!

Jim Colt

I have a plasmacam and running a powermax 65. I swapped from thermal dynamics to hypertherm for the fine cut consumables. I seem to be having issues. I am trying to run at speeds posted in manual but seem to have to run around atleast 50 ipm slower than posted speeds and sill not the best cut. Allot of angle in from top to bottom on 16g.

Tried cutting letters for a customer in mirrored 16g diamond plate and top has allot of dross and its hard to keep it polished since that is how customer wants it.

I'm running hand torch and dhc2 on plasmacam. I'm running machine swirl ring rather than hand torch swirl ring, that's what hypertherm recommended. Machine swirl ring is the same for all tips and hand torch swirl ring have half the holes for fine cut. I'm stressed. I've been fighting with it for weeks now and wanted to ask for help.

Maybe setting I need to check on design edge