Robby here with DMS, a newbie to this forum. I thought I would share pictures of our very first cuts using Hypertherm PowerMax125 on a 5x10' Bulltear running CommandCNC. The test material is 5052-H32 1/16" Aluminum with mill finish and we ran the cuts using FineCut Consumables at 250IPM using 35A @ 100V, 75PSI, and 0.125 lead-ins (standard pierce/cut heights as per the manual). Dross was very minimal and we used a knot wire cup brush to give it that finish. My biggest lesson learned with this experience is to avoid cutting such thin gauge aluminum on a water table by all means...specifically, when using FineCut consumables. We had to stop and go many times becuase the PowerMax125 kept throwing the 0-30 fault code (specifically 0-30-1 for anyone that knows this). After reading through several posts by JimColt, we started an in-house process of elimination to find the root cause of the problem. We buy all of our consumables through AirGas locally and run our air with an Atlas Copco GX11FF (15HP) rotary screw compressor with built-in dryer over AirNET aluminum piping. So, we ruled out those 2 items. Next up was the air pressure drop locally to the PM125. We have an additional air filter/regulator/gauge at the PM125 and tried to let air in at 90-110PSI with approx. 5-10PSI drop each time the torch went ON and did not see any major difference. We also tried switching out between 3 sets of brand new FineCut consumables. While each new set allowed us to go a few extra seconds, we determined that the only thing constant in the entire setup was the water mixed with baking soda. Now, I could be completely wrong but I strongly believe that the water (mixed with Arm & Hammer baking soda) splashing directly at the torch had significant role in causing this error. We also tried the same cut using standard 45A shielded consumables and did not exhibit this problem. This leads me to believe that the FineCut consumables are more susceptible to malfunction when cutting thin gauge metal on a water table. Would love to hear your input!
