Cutting Diamond Plate

Share tips and tricks regarding cut cutting, material handling, metal finishing, marketing, or anything you find helpful.
Post Reply
User avatar
JJsCustomDesigns
3.5 Star Member
3.5 Star Member
Posts: 599
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:29 pm
Location: Nebraska

Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by JJsCustomDesigns »

Alot of people may already know this... Cut it with the Diamonds down. That means youll have to flip or reverse your drawing before cutting.

I got an order for a sign out of 1/8" Alum diamond Plate. Not a big deal. I thought just for the heck of it i would make a few sample cuts on the unused end of the sheet. I loaded it diamonds up and hit go. The torch touched off... fired and caught one of the Diamonds as it was beginning the cut. I was quick enough to hit stop before it made it too far and wrecked something. Lesson learned for me.
"There are bigger things planned for you in your life, be patient"

Im on the prowl for a good used Hypertherm Plasma with hand torch.
PM me with details
Thanks
User avatar
BrianMick
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
Posts: 1003
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:00 am
Location: St. Cloud,Minnesota United States of America
Contact:

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by BrianMick »

A good height control will not have that problem and there is less cleanup on the diamond side if you cut with diamonds up.
Sort of a trade off I guess.
Brian
User avatar
JJsCustomDesigns
3.5 Star Member
3.5 Star Member
Posts: 599
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:29 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by JJsCustomDesigns »

I guess it would depend where in the sheet you started. If you start between the diamonds, it would prob be ok. But right next to one....

Potatoe / Patatoe
"There are bigger things planned for you in your life, be patient"

Im on the prowl for a good used Hypertherm Plasma with hand torch.
PM me with details
Thanks
User avatar
Diverdude
2 Star Member
2 Star Member
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:54 pm
Location: Alabama Gulfcoast

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by Diverdude »

I use sheet cam and made a complete differant set of "tools" for diamond plate verses smooth aluminum. a little slower for the thicker part of the diamond and a little higher on the torch height for the start of the cut. works good and keeps the problems away.
PlasmaRoute HD 4x4
User avatar
JJsCustomDesigns
3.5 Star Member
3.5 Star Member
Posts: 599
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:29 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by JJsCustomDesigns »

I also made different tools for Alum.

Since i dont cut whole lot of it. It seemed easier to cut the sign out face down as opposed to diamond up. I dont have a break away torch mount and did not want to take the chance of being without my plasma if i were to break something.

I cut that, pictured above, @ 174ipm - 60amps/140 volts. At that speed with diamonds up... i would think the torch would be bobbing up and down too much.
"There are bigger things planned for you in your life, be patient"

Im on the prowl for a good used Hypertherm Plasma with hand torch.
PM me with details
Thanks
User avatar
Diverdude
2 Star Member
2 Star Member
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:54 pm
Location: Alabama Gulfcoast

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by Diverdude »

when i cut it by hand I do it diamonds down, but like running it on the machine diamonds up. just easier to clean up after cutting, with it down to taking more chance to mess up the polished surface while cleaning dross. What is your cut height setting? I think mine is around .2 which is more than enough to clear any diamonds.
PlasmaRoute HD 4x4
User avatar
JJsCustomDesigns
3.5 Star Member
3.5 Star Member
Posts: 599
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:29 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by JJsCustomDesigns »

:shock: .2? Geeez. I used standard settings. .125 pierce / .0625 cutting

I dont recall if the book called out higher cut setting or not. The only burs i had were on a few of the diamonds going around a corner.
"There are bigger things planned for you in your life, be patient"

Im on the prowl for a good used Hypertherm Plasma with hand torch.
PM me with details
Thanks
User avatar
Diverdude
2 Star Member
2 Star Member
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:54 pm
Location: Alabama Gulfcoast

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by Diverdude »

must be the differance between Hypertherm and Thermal Dynamics on the setting. 1/8" aluminum at 60 amps has a .19 cut height by the book. That gives a lot more clearance than your .0625 when dealing with the diamonds on plate.
PlasmaRoute HD 4x4
jimcolt
5 Star Elite Contributing Member
5 Star Elite Contributing Member
Posts: 3087
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:18 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by jimcolt »

I used to cut aluminum diamond plate with the diamonds down...then upgraded to a machine with a good height control. I run at .060" off the plate at pretty high speeds (around 150 ipm at 45 amps on 1/8", Hypertherm Powermax85)...the height control works hard, climbs over every bump nicely then just as quickly drops down. This makes for a very consistent cut quality with no cleanup. Without height control I had inconsistency wherever the bumps were...a bead of dross that had to be removed.

Jim Colt
PlasmaCambuild 021.jpg

You currently do not have access to download this file.
To gain download access for DXF, SVG & other files Click Here

BTA Plasma
3.5 Star Elite Contributing Member
3.5 Star Elite Contributing Member
Posts: 590
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 4:28 pm

Re: Cutting Diamond Plate

Post by BTA Plasma »

If your cutting it diamond down you risk having a pretty gnarly dross on the frontside when you flip it over if your new to cutting diamond plate and not sure about speed settings. I can tell you when I cut it it is always from the top and I pierce at .2 and let tip volts control the height. The problem I have seen is it the piece doesnt lay entirely flat or has a ridge if you set your cut height at .060 you may be in for a surprise. Most already know this that cut daily though.
Post Reply

Return to “Tech Tips From Other Members”