Fixed random gouging - fine cut consumables

[vatso]

Hi all,

Just a quick little learning I did yesterday which I wanted to share maybe it will help some one.

I have a home built plasma table with a Powermax 65 using fine cut - it has been running great the last few months and a week ago I was getting some strange results with some cuts where there would be random gouging which was getting progressively worse. I replaced the consumables with very little improvement. I run a water trap on my line near the compressor and all seemed fine the pressure was correct there was "enough" air.

I remember reading a post where my colt said he ran the line directly from the compressor so I tried that and that was it all fixed now and the results are like they used to be. it seems the water trap in line I had is restricting the air flow.

What I learnt is if there are any cut quality issues try run the air from the compressor directly and see if that helps, as that could save you a few hours of frustration.

I really do like the forum

Mark

[acourtjester]

Jim also said to put a pressure gauge on the rear of the plasma unit so you could see the pressure there.
If there is a restriction before that the pressure will drop when the unit is cutting because of the reduced flow of air.

[jimcolt]

Generally if changes in flow occur (from a restricted filtering device) the issues will first show up when using Finecut consumables. These consumables are very much more sensitive to incorrect air flow and incorrect torch height .....as compared to the shielded consumables.

The pressure gauge is cheap insurance that helps troubleshoot many plasma cutting problems. If you install a gauge on the inlet (of a filter) and another on the outlet....this is a good way to see the restriction. With no flow the gauges will read the same, when air flows the inlet gauge will always read higher than the outlet gauge.....as the filter clogs or becomes moisture saturated, the pressure differential between the two gauges will increase.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

[99guy]

I like these, if you use tubing for the last link to your power supply they are slick.

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Sho ... ors/PGU516

m_pgu516.jpg (13.73 KiB) Viewed 992 times

m_pgu516.jpg (13.73 KiB) Viewed 992 times