New Powermax45 plasma - Heavy dross/slag issue

[rquinn]

I'm new so could anyone please help me, I have a Powermax45 with Mechanical torch hooked up to a Shop Sabre Sidekick 4896 CNC table, When cutting 1/8" plate I'm getting so poor results (see pics) I'm getting tons of dross/slag....I hope this is not normal or I will use my saws awl....any advice please?

The attachment dross-3mm.jpg is no longer available

The attachment dross-3mm.jpg is no longer available

[jimcolt]

Can you let me know what cutting specs you are using?

Amperage
Consumable set (shielded or unshielded, 30 amp or 45 amp?)
Pierce height
Cut height
Arc voltage (do you have a height control?)
Cut speed

Without knowing......but just looking at the pictures I would say the speed was way too slow and the height may have been too high.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

I'm new so could anyone please help me, I have a Powermax45 with Mechanical torch hooked up to a Shop Sabre Sidekick 4896 CNC table, When cutting 1/8" plate I'm getting so poor results (see pics) I'm getting tons of dross/slag....I hope this is not normal or I will use my saws awl....any advice please?

dross-3mm.jpg

dross-3mm.jpg

dross1-3mm.jpg

[rquinn]

Thanks for replying so fast, I played with the settings for hours and hours...it seems to cut 1/4" plate better then the thin material??? I don't have a filter or Air dryer\filter do you think that could be the problem?

Amperage : I tried 30-45 amps
Consumable set (shielded or unshielded, 30 amp or 45 amp?): Shielded
Pierce height: 3.8mm
Cut height: 1.5mm
Arc voltage (do you have a height control?) Yes, 115-117
Cut speed: 3800-4000mm per min......slows to 500 mm per minute in the corners, if I speed up more it skips across the straight portions and doesn't cut thru.

if I use the hand torch I get similar results.

Bob

[jimcolt]

Follow the specs exactly as the manual says. The cut speeds listed in the manual are correct. From your description.....I suspect either the height is way too high (must be .060" , 1.5mm) or you are using damaged consumables...or your machine speeds are way off. 1/8" steel (3mm) cuts very well and very clean at the listed specs.

Since you have some of your listings in metric, some in imperial....I'm not sure exactly what you are doing for speeds, etc.

Here are the specs for 1/8" (we'll use 3.4mm):

Consumables (use new electrode and nozzle)
Shield: 220673
Retaining Cap:220713
Nozzle: 220671
Swirl Ring: 220670
Electrode: 220669

Settings on your machine:

Amperage: 45
Pierce Height: 3.8mm
Pierce delay time: .4 seconds
Cut Height: 1.5 mm
Arc voltage: 117 (note....this voltage is just a starting point.....it must be adjusted during the cut so that the distance betwen the torch shield and the material is exactly 1.5 mm during the cut. Higher voltage will raise the torch, lower voltage will lower the torch. Don't worry if the voltage is way different than the manual suggests.....this varies based on the design of the height control on your machine)
Cut speed: 3550 mm/min

Also, Make sure the incoming air pressure to your Powermax45 is between 90 and 135 psi whe n the air is flowing at the torch. Set the front panel air pressure by turning the amperage knob fully counter-clockwise (this starts air flowing at the torch) then adjust the regulator up or down to satisfy the pressure indicating LED's on the front panel, then reset the Amperage to 45.

I cannot stress enough how important the cut height is. You will get cuts like the ones in your picture if the torch is higher than 1.5mm (.06") during the cut. Speed is critical as well......slowing down in corners to 500 mm/min will cause serious low speed dross (cutting too slow is the way to produce dross).....so speed up your corner speed to at least 60% of the suggested cut speed.

Your Powermax45 will cut very well from gauge materials to 1/2" (12.5mm) if the cut specs listed in the manual are followed exactly.

If you want...forward your .dxf for the part in the pictures (your first post)....I will cut it on my machine using the specs listed above...and will post the picture here so you can compare results. send it to jim.colt@hypertherm.com


Jim Colt

[rquinn]

Thanks Jim,
I will try again to speed up the corner speed somehow....I guess this is how you become experienced
and I will post the DXF. file for you to try, I would love to figure this out

coil pack bracket 3-29-12.prt.dxf

coil pack 3mm thick

(99.08 KiB) Downloaded 157 times

[jimcolt]

Here is the part as cut on my machine at book specs. The material I had was .120" hot rolled steel (typically produces more dross than cold rolled), so I used a speed between the book setting for 12 ga and 10 ga from the Hypertherm manual, 175 inches per minute. Cut height was .06", 45 amps, Powermax plasma with shielded 45 amp consumables. The edges would be even better if the 30 amp non shielded consumables were used.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

[rquinn]

Jim your parts look really nice!, it?s a tricky part for the first part I ever cut on my New CNC table / Plasma cutter system?.???
So I?m still stumped since I used the numbers out of the book? Shop Sabre gave me 2 different patches to help speed up my corner speed and none seemed to help. Thanks for going out of your way for me?.I can say how much I appreciate this.

Robert

[jimcolt]

Robert,


Looking back at your pictures....you can see the heat shadow (this shows up on cold rolled steel....not on hot rolled) which gives an indication that there was way more heat input....caused by slower speed (plasma has constant output power, slower speed puts more heat in the plate). There has to be a way to get your machine to produce more constant speed while on radii. On some of the straight sections your cut looks decent...as it is likely achieving the correct speed..

Jim

Jim your parts look really nice!, it?s a tricky part for the first part I ever cut on my New CNC table / Plasma cutter system?.???
So I?m still stumped since I used the numbers out of the book? Shop Sabre gave me 2 different patches to help speed up my corner speed and none seemed to help. Thanks for going out of your way for me?.I can say how much I appreciate this.

Robert

[CNCCAJUN]

Robert, who built your CNC Table?

Just curious . . . nothing to do with your results . . . just curious . . .

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[rquinn]

Shop Sabre - Sidekick 48x96"