what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

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anarc
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what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by anarc »

I am sick of the chinese crap and want to get more serious.

What should I keep in mind when I want to use a powermax 45 xp with the proma THC I own?
I would like a 230V version and 180° torch what about the port for the THC, do all 45 xp have these?

thanks !
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by acourtjester »

do a Google search for hypertherm 45xp manual and you will see all the info you need, it does have 180 torches and CPC port for CNC.
You should be able to use the Proma, you may need to run test cuts to find the correct operating voltages for different thickness of metal. Not hard to do you just burn up some metal cutting straight lines.
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Ironken
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by Ironken »

Building on what Jester said, remember that there are quite a few configurations and packages of the 45xp that are sold. Some have the CPC installed at the factory and some do not. If you end up with a unit without CPC, it is an easy field install.
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by Rodw »

Check the 45XP brochure for the partnumber with various options.

I'm in the same position and looking at some recent quotes, I think you need the
088141 with CPC Machine torch with 25" cable
088139 is as above plus RS485 interface which lets you set air pressure and amps from your controller (if it supports it)

There is also a 3 phase version of the 45XP which surprised me. I'm considering buying it. Its 088015, in the same config as the 088141 above.
anarc
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by anarc »

Thank you guys,

@ acourtjester, I just wanted to make sure the CPC isn´t a default config. I did google that one but the results weren´t quite clear
So I better watch for this. Usually I´d expect an offer with 180° torch to have the CPC but it obviously isn´t that easy ;-)

@Ironken, that is good to know, gotta check how much the CPC part is and if I can get a used 45xp without it maybe.

@Rodw, I´d probably get the 3 phase version too but I just don´t get the power where the table would be at the end. At least not with a lot more complications. Pressure and amps from the controller would be a neat feature but isn´t really required for my usage. Depends a bit on the additional costs. The quotes for these are sort of horror here, best I can get is about 3200 EUR (about 3500 USD) and I am not sure it has the CPC, need to check back with the vendor.


Actually a smaller unit would do it for me as I probably won´t cut material stronger than 1-4 mm but the smaller units are not really made for CNC as I read and I don´t want to switch from one trouble to another and I am tired of workarounds, I built a neat and fast table and now just the chinese crap is keeping me from enjoying it ;-)
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by Rodw »

It all goes back to the part numbers on the brochure. The 088015 includes the CPC port but you need to factor in a 223595 work lead (clamp) and a 228350 CPC cable. All that together will be about AUD $3550 plus our GST but I think you'd also need to factor in some consumables so won't be much change out of AUD $4k.

If it helps, I have a contact who can sell Hypertherm in Holland. PM me your email address and I'll refer you. He makes his own CNC plasma tables so he will get it configured right for you!
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by tcaudle »

I will differ a little from the suggestions. The RS485 is only usable with a control system that supports that in hardware and software. You can't use it with the Promo THC. In addition what you have to ask yourself is how many times will you NOT be cutting at 45A t All you can do with the RS485 is remotely set the AMPS and Air pressure so the value; seems less useful than if you have a 65 or 85 machine. Machine torches when ordered with a machine will have the CPC connector and voltage divider installed . You may find with the Promo that the 50:1 connect will not read the correct voltage and you have to still use the undivided raw volts to get the correct voltage Part of that is because the 50:1 ratio makes your average cutting voltage around 2,5 volts and every .02 volt is one volt of change. Just a few feet of wire and you open up a potential for noise to be part of the signal. They suggest you mount the PROMO at the plasma for that reason or to keep from having the full raw volts running in wires outside the plasma cutter.
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by Rodw »

I will share with you some part numbers my friend Michel in the Netherlands sent me. He manufactures plasma tables and uses proma THC's. This was an alternative configuration for the 45 XP because I wanted to cut 8mm mild steel. I did get it priced up and it was not really significantly more expensive.
hypertherm quote.png
Michel is working hard to come up with a Linuxcnc config that works with Proma. He says he has already surpassed Mach3 performance. As I said, I can introduce you to him if you PM me your email address. If you are in Europe and wanted to bu a Hypertherm plasma cutter, it would make sense to buy it from him as you will get good support.

I have to agree with Tom though. There is not much point mucking about with the RS485 interface which is quite an expensive upgrade. The only reason why you might want to do that is if you wanted to write a software module to communicate with the Hypertherm plasma cutters.

So now I have some questions. Today I had an electrician at my new shed to wire in a vehicle hoist and get power to my air compressor. He found that the 3 phase power point I had earmarked for my 45XP was not wired up and the switchboard is full so it will be quite expensive to restore power where I want it. When I looked at the 45XP manual again, it said you needed a 50 amp breaker for single phase and only a 20 amp breaker for 3 phase.

So my question is : What are people really doing with power circuits and breakers when they install a single phase Hypertherm 45XP?
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by anarc »

Lot more questions come up now instead of clearing things out :-/
Usually the breakers here are at 16A which means in most cases a single phase powermax45 would be impossible to use.
The chinese Cut-50 and clones demand a 30A breaker for 110V, so the 16A @ 230V was fair enough and was not the problem. It never switched off
though I never did run this thing at 50A. 4000 AUD is about 2500 EUR... If THAT would be possible I´d say instantly yes (as long as I can use it with my 230V lines).

About the RS458, I would take it if it doesn´t increase the price too much but because of the rare usage it probably isn´t worth 100 EUR for me.
So no, I don´t need it.
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by Rodw »

anarc wrote: About the RS458, I would take it if it doesn´t increase the price too much but because of the rare usage it probably isn´t worth 100 EUR for me.
So no, I don´t need it.
Let me assure you costs a lot more than 100 EUR
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by tcaudle »

It's about 180 USD for the RS485 but its useless without having a software and hardware interface to your THC or control software.

The Promo is never going to be really fast. It uses mechanical relays for the UP DOWN isolation signals. There has been a parallel port LINUXCNC solution for the conventional UP DOWN THC's for several years.
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by Rodw »

Never ceases to amaze me how USD $180 becomes AUD $671 plus another 10% tax. Thats more than double what the exchange rate says it should be!

Yes, there are 2 ways to incorporate the Proma and other up/down external THC's into LinuxCNC. One is a complete working config that has good success in Europe. The other is to use the THCUD component that responds to the Proma up/down signals. There is also a complete solution for it. There is a python RS485 module that talks to Hypertherm controllers and I think it would be possible to use the RS422 interface on the popular Mesa interface cards but I'm not sure if I want to spend $671 just to play with a feature of little benefit. The Mesa solution would negate the need for a serial port on your PC and keep all connections to the plasma on a seperate controller board. Plus using mesa, you can use a USD $69 THCAD board to read torch voltage directly into linuxcnc and not need any external hardware.

Plasma was never in the LinuxCNC developers minds and there are some weaknesses and bugs in the system but most of them are being lined up for mainstream inclusion in the next version. eg. Reverse Run (imagine backing up to to the last cutting error with a Jog Wheel), external offsets, state tags and another obscure trajectory planner bug that bites in some circumstances that causes the TP to pause briefly between segments leading to divots. This will never show up in normal rectilinear parts many people make for industry but can be an issue with complex and decorative items. These are all enhancements that will ensure LinuxCNC will have kickass plasma support moving forward.

Anyway, we are a bit off topic here!
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by Grotius »

Hi guy's

Rodw sent's me an invitation.

The Hypertherm machine system's are different in configuration as handheld plasma system's.
I have sent a price quote to Rod in the past, wich configures his system setup numbers. Rs485 is a quite expensive option. So for starters,
it's not a option that easely is connected to the software. I prefer to only use the CPC port option if you are starting.
The XP45 is very, very good. It is technically beyond the 65, 85 and 105. It can engrave on 10 Amps, it is auto resetting when changing consumables, etc.

It is what Rod say's. I have made a Linux plasma version that is far beyond the Mach plasma.

It can do a negative program pat'h for restarting automaticly.
It can do torch height control as a freak. It has more than the Proma paramter's inside the software.
It can do all parameter's from the main screen, you can select from a Hypertherm Powermax library, and save your tools automatic in excel.
It can do height measuring (probing) on a certain distancy x,y value from main screen.
It has a RS485 interface to a powermax
It need's no post processor.

The Linuxcnc real time component's are witten in C language. It is so fast.

At the moment i am writing a Ethercat interface for Linuxcnc Grotius plasma.
So the future is Linux and will be Linux. WIndow's is already 2 year's past away for me.

I like Elon Musk, he is almost a one man show : :lol: See video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra3fv8gl6NE
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Re: what is important when choosing a powermax45xp ?

Post by anarc »

It is quite similar here, it is worth to import sometimes. Customs + Tax ~ 29%, depending on the customs value.

About the THC, I don´t really want to do experiments with expensive hardware. It is okay to solder some cheap stuff but if it goes up to the hundreds I´d rather buy a working solution instead. Currently I am using Mach3 but I can´t tell that I am a fanboy.
So it doesn´t matter if it is Linux CNC instead.
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