Can a Powermax 45 cut 1.25" steel plate... Kinda

[elvenhome21]

I had to make drop plates for some trailer axles and the only plate I had available was 1.25" plate. Originally I was going to laminate 2, 1/2" plates together for a 1" thick plate but for the price of 1/2 vs what i got the plate for it was cheaper to use the 1.25.

I knew it would be REALLY maxing out the machine but I seen a youtube video of chucky cutting 1.25 by hand so I figured id try. A painfully slow 1.8 IPM seemed to cut best, sometimes had to slow down to .8-1 IPM if the bottom of the slot got plugged so it would catch up blowing thru on the bottom.
total cut time was about 4 hours with all the predrilling pilot holes and trying to repierce filled up holes.
Heres the results.

Ill probably have another hour in hand torch and grinder cleaning them up. Then one part needs to be welded, something went haywire in the post processor on the last part that made the torch go perpendicular to where it should have been traveling.

[jimcolt]

You may want to try posting the pics again. Considering the Powermax45 is advertised as a 1" severance machine (max factory rated severance with an edge start) then I guess you did well on the 1.25". Surprised you did not exceed the duty cycle!

Jim Colt Hypertherm

[I Lean]

The pics exist, they're just hosted on Garage Journal, so you can't see them unless you're logged into that board.

[jimcolt]

I could not find them there....

[elvenhome21]

didnt realize hot links didnt work

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... p?t=192386

[elvenhome21]

You may want to try posting the pics again. Considering the Powermax45 is advertised as a 1" severance machine (max factory rated severance with an edge start) then I guess you did well on the 1.25". Surprised you did not exceed the duty cycle!

Jim Colt Hypertherm

The only major problem I had was the first inch of the cut. If the slot closed up on the bottom then I had to dick around for half hour trying to open it back up. But if it stayed open then it was just a very long babysitting project, occasionally having to slow it down if the sound changed to much like it was starting to close up again. My THC didnt work for squat so I had to turn it off. I think voltage ran between 160-175 depending on how much torch height I had and how hot the plate was. Seemed like the hotter it got the more problems I had with the slot closing up.

[elvenhome21]

Finally had some time in the garage today. First challenge was just trying to get the plate off the slats, which proved to be pointless so I had to take the plate and slats off as one piece to flip over. Then try and knock off any dross that I could but wound up just plasma cutting the dross off the slats and the plate because it was so thick and whooping on the plate with a sledge didnt budge hardly any of it.

[jimcolt]

You would have had better results on a dry downdraft table. Water splashing on the materials definitely sinks a lot of necessary heat from the cut edge and creates heavier dross......add that to the fact that you just do not have enough power......hence the results.

Attached is a pic of a log splitter wedge that I cut about 6 or 7 years ago when I used a Powermax45 on my cnc table. The wedge is from 1" steel, the bevels were cut as well with the 45. These cuts had heavy, yet very easy to remove dross, and the cut edges were dead square.

Jim Colt

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