New to group and need help

[slewis64]

Hi all, I bought a used Plasma Cam table back in Oct and the guy who delivered it never came back for the promised instruction and a missing piece...
So, I am finally a registered owner in the Plasma cam group also, sent in almost everything from my machine to get what was not working replaced, and now it is finally following simple patterns, but not cutting all the way through the metal. Could this possibly be from the tip being very old and used, or something also in the settings? I was using settings suggested by the plasma tech help. I am using some scraps of old metal that from my calibration measure 6/32" . The metal is about 3 feet long by 10" wide so I am having to make pretty small things to start. The cutting torch is a miller 875. It had cut through 1/2" for the demo before it was purchased. The praying cowboy was done last week before the torch stopped cutting thru the metal all the way..... almost good, but the torch stopped cutting part way through so it had to get cut out twice. I am not always on here and do not know how the settings work so if you can write me at my email- susan-lewis@live.com.
Thanks for your help! Susan

[little blue choo]

Hi Susan and welcome to the forum. If you were to let us know where you're located there may be another Plasma Cam owner in your area who could help you. Just an idea. To me it looks like your consumables are bad. Probably blew out the electrode.

Rick

[Gamelord]

Along with your consumables, check that your air pressure is proper and adequate enough for the entire cutting process. Also make sure you have zero water in your air lines.

[tnbndr]

There are a lot of things that come into play to get things cutting correctly. Air pressure, voltage, consumables, etc, etc, etc. any one of them being bad or off could cause bad cutting.
I would suggest doing some reading in the forums here and then start messing with settings. If it cut for the demo, at his house I am assuming, your air pressure could be insufficient from your compressor, or did you buy that from him?
I would head over to the plasmacam forum on this site and talk to other owners.

http://plasmaspider.com/viewforum.php?f=61

[slewis64]

I am in Bandera Texas, and I bought the whole thing turn key, so I have not dome a thing except from sending all the motors and control panel back to plasma cam. I needed a new control panel, a carriage motor or the gantry, cant remember, and the z axis one. The guy was manually setting the height and did not let me know one of the motors was broke and then took off with the part and let me sit with a non working table until plasma cam finally added me as the owner. I will take a pic of the whole thing and send it. It has a very large air compressor. I have been draining the ait tank before and after I try cutting something. Is there something else I need to do?
Susan

[Simko]

Probably not the problem, but your air hose has quite a kink in it where it goes in the back of the plasma cutter.

Also, you will want to do more to the air than just drain the air tank. Do a search on the forums here and I am sure you will get more reading than you could ever want. You could do a search for terms like 'refrigerated air dryer' and 'desiccant' and 'dry air'

[sphurley]

Pages from spectrum_875_autoline.pdf

(155.04 KiB) Downloaded 78 times

As Steve said your air line (good eyes steve) looks bad. I'm hoping you have the machine torch and not the handheld setup.
I have a Miller 875 but I do not use it on my table only for some hand held jobs.
Your cuts look like the pierce is good but then either the height is wrong or speed.
Here is some pages out of the manual (assuming you are using the machine torch).
Also make sure you clamp the material vs clamping the table.

[slewis64]

Once the air is on there is no kink in the hose, that is just how it is when it is off.
As far as clamping the material do you mean the ground clamp?
The torch is an ICE 60T

[sphurley]

Yes the grounding clamp.
I think the Ice-60T and Ice-60TM take the same consumables but I'm not 100% sure of that.
You should be able to follow the setting from the pages I listed.
What setting did you cut the samples with?
Also look at the consumables, it pays to spray the tips with mig shield spray to prevent clogging. Any damage to the shield or tip will cause cutting issues.

[slewis64]

Ok I will try your suggestions. I did order all new tips, shields and electrodes. Also, I did find the Ag teacher at our local school has a plasma cam table that they use every day. He is coming out Friday to help
Thank you! Susan

[slewis64]

The ag teacher came here twice so far and first thing he replaced the shield, tip, and electrode, did some minor setting adjustments and the machine cut really nice The second time we just went through the computer program. This week we will visit the school and the class he teaches and watch the high school kids in action on the projects they are creating. I feel so much better getting someone over to learn hands on I'm sure I will still have tons of questions though. Thank you to all who responded !

[little blue choo]

Glad your machine is working well now. Jump in and ask questions anytime. I DO!

Rick