Aluminum Diamond Plate Questions

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BanksAg
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Aluminum Diamond Plate Questions

Post by BanksAg »

Good afternoon. I have two questions regarding cutting aluminum diamond plate.

1) I have a 4 x 4 Arclight Dynamics table with a Hypertherm 45XP. It was one of the last tables they made before switching to the new Linux-based system in 2017. Does anyone have first-hand knowledge of whether or not the height control on this machine is fast enough to cut aluminum diamond plate with the diamonds facing up?

2) We're going to be cutting 1/16" aluminum diamond plate. The Hypertherm manual goes down to 1/10", but the metric one for 2mm is pretty close to the actual thickness. If I do the conversions, that would be about 121 volts & 310 ipm. Does that sound like a good place to start, or does anyone have a better recommendation? We're going to do some test cuts, but with the price of material I would like to keep those to a minimum if I can.

I know the 45XP's cut best at 45 amps, but does anyone have any recommendations of lower amperage settings I could use that would allow me to slow down the cut speed to insure that my height control can move fast enough to move over the diamonds?

Thanks you in advance for any advice.

Tim
Tim Eggleston
Banks High School
Banks, OR

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Kain_K
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Re: Aluminum Diamond Plate Questions

Post by Kain_K »

I usually put the diamond side down and cut 10% slower than regular .063. As long as you have no weird rules that slow the torch down a bunch dross should be very minimal if any.
Kain_K
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Re: Aluminum Diamond Plate Questions

Post by Kain_K »

Also make sure to clean diamond plate ASAP as soon as it comes off table. It will discolor or tarnish if anything dries on it.
tcaudle
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Re: Aluminum Diamond Plate Questions

Post by tcaudle »

The model just prior to the LINUX version used the DTHC IV torch height so it runs very close tot he same vertical speeds and the new ones do. The tuning in the Hub Utility for the (separate) DTHC UP and Down velocity and the DTHC Response curve in the DTHC Setting in MACH3 determine the top Z speed and response.
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little blue choo
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Re: Aluminum Diamond Plate Questions

Post by little blue choo »

Just cut some Alu. diamond plate with my Arclight 9600 and had no problems. I cut diamond side up.

Rick
Rick
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