newbie questions Hypertherm 65

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Daddude
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newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by Daddude »

I am new to all of this and tonight I learned you must learn to read the correct info to set up your tooling for your cutter to work correctly and you must have the correct shield if you want to use fine cut. I will purchase the correct shield tomorrow. my question for all you gurus. I'd like to cut 22 gauge with my table. Can it be done and come out looking good? What settings do you use and consumables would you recommend? I am using Hycad and Sheetcam.
I programmed and cut out some awesome brackets to build a bumper with, but this was 1/4 inch steel and they came out great. Now I am trying to learn to cut some thin stuff. Any advice is much appreciated.
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djreiswig
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by djreiswig »

There are cut charts in the Hypertherm manual that are very helpful. For that thickness, I would use the Fine-cut consumables and follow the book settings. I've cut some 28ga galv for some ductwork with my table. Came out good. Went down to 30 amps. With the thinner gauges you can almost get rid of the pierce delay and can also try piercing at cut height.
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Daddude
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by Daddude »

Yeah I am becoming very familiar with the manual. Just trying to fine tune my plasma cutter. On the fine cut consumable do you use a shielded or unshielded set up?
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by djreiswig »

Shielded.
Also use the ohmic setup on my table.
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by Daddude »

Thanks! More fun to come! Love learning new things.
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by tcaudle »

djreiswig wrote:There are cut charts in the Hypertherm manual that are very helpful. For that thickness, I would use the Fine-cut consumables and follow the book settings. I've cut some 28ga galv for some ductwork with my table. Came out good. Went down to 30 amps. With the thinner gauges you can almost get rid of the pierce delay and can also try piercing at cut height.

If you pierce at cut height with a DTHC it will never turn on. There has to be SOME difference (even .005) for it to trigger the DTHC On function
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

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Well tonight we got it to cut 22 gauge but I am not happy with how it looks. I think it is just to thin for the detail I want out of that thin of metal. So we put some 16 gauge under the electric knife and it look great! I am real curious to see what 1/4 inch looks like with fine cut set up? I know if I keep going I will get this down and then the fun will begin. I do appreciate the help. Turned my machine down to 20 amps and cut, not so good, then we bumped up the power some... So how many light bulbs did it take Edison? I love tools.
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by djreiswig »

Yeah, Tom. I guess I forgot about that. I did struggle with that one time, you'd think I'd remember. The DTHC has to see the z plunge to take over.
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by jimcolt »

Again, follow the cut specs in the operators manual, Hypertherm has already done the experimenting for you. Correct amperage , pierce height, cut height, cut speed and consumables choices are written out in the cut charts.

When you look at them....you will see that FineCut consumables are recommended for up to 10 gauge maximum.....so don't be cutting 1/4" with those! The 45 amp shielded consumables at exact book specs will do the best job on 1/4". Jim Colt Hypertherm


Daddude wrote:Well tonight we got it to cut 22 gauge but I am not happy with how it looks. I think it is just to thin for the detail I want out of that thin of metal. So we put some 16 gauge under the electric knife and it look great! I am real curious to see what 1/4 inch looks like with fine cut set up? I know if I keep going I will get this down and then the fun will begin. I do appreciate the help. Turned my machine down to 20 amps and cut, not so good, then we bumped up the power some... So how many light bulbs did it take Edison? I love tools.
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by Daddude »

Thanks Jim. I am also learning that I need to become very acquainted with the Hypertherm manual. I do appreciate the info and the soft corrections to my enthusiasm. I look forward to cutting some nice pieces.
So next question. I cut out a bracket to use on a bumper build. 1/4 inch shielded non fine cut tip. set to the Hypertherm specs. It cut great here's the but, not a big one. The cut was not as straight through as I would like. How do I get a cleaners cut with a 90 degree cut? It appear to me to push off to the side some. If it was a job I was going to be paid to do I would have liked a straighter cut. My thought is to slow the torch down some so it has time to make a cleaner cut?
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by jimcolt »

You will always have a bevel with an air plasma. You can buy a high definition oxygen plasma for a bit over $100k, or a Laser for around $350K....or an abrasive water jet system for around $200k.....and solve your bevel issues.

Excessive edge bevel is caused by the torch running too high off the plate. Be sure that your height control is keeping the torch at the cut chart spec of .06", often you will have to adjust the arc voltage setting (lower for closer, higher for further away) to achieve this accurately. Varying bevel is caused by a worn / damaged nozzle or shield....usually from piercing too close (pierce height and pierce delay times are in the cut charts and are critical).

Here are a couple of pics of cut edge bevels and expected hole taper with a Powermax air plasma on 1/4" steel: First pic shows difference in dimension between top and bottom of holes, due to the bevel expect the bottom to be smaller.. Second pic shows measured edge angularity of 1/4" steel cut at book specs (height and speed out of the operators manual) , 3rd pic shows edge quality when the cnc machine is running smooth (no roughness, proper height and speed).
dimensions.jpg
dimensions.jpg (106.35 KiB) Viewed 564 times
Powermax45 edge angle 004.jpg
Powermax45 edge angle 004.jpg (36.83 KiB) Viewed 564 times
Powermax45 edge angle 003.jpg
Powermax45 edge angle 003.jpg (28.45 KiB) Viewed 564 times
Daddude
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Re: newbie questions Hypertherm 65

Post by Daddude »

Thanks! I REALLY appreciate the pictures and info. I feel better about my efforts. They aren't perfect, yet, but they look pretty good. Especially for a beginner.
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