Plasma table

[My Old Landy]

That is an amazing finish straight off the machine!!

 

[ukracer]

Cut some 8mm stainless today, this water table is excellent, pic of the flange straight off the plasma.

View attachment 288226

Strange..@doubleboost has just drilled a great big hole in his water table for extracting the fumes... I suppose he can weld a big plug in

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Good evening @Hood. It is rather unnerving that you can achieve that result on stainless. Could it be the speed that you are cutting at, that may be making the difference. Your previous plasma machine, could you go as fast as you are now. What speed are you doing that Stainless at, must try next time t cut some s/s at 65amps or greater and see how that goes

 

[Hood]

Initially the previous plasma could do similar speeds but it was always a lot lot slower on pierce.
That is the first time I have cut heavier than 5mm stainless on the new plasma so I just had a guestimate of what figures I would need for 8mm. I went for 94v, 1500mm/min and 0.5s pierce and all seemed good. The results certainly seemed fine
I could probably go a wee bit faster but...

 

[Hood]

Actually I just looked and the voltage was 100v rather than 94v, not that that would be relevant for you as it will likely be a lot different on a Hypertherm, I know the TecArc was usually a higher voltage than the Jasic is.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

I've got some 6mm to cut, some small discs and will have a go at the 65amp setting and see how that goes. I don't have any 85 or 105 nozzles, the next up is 125 . Anyway got a new body starting tomorrow, will be concentrating on him, so don't know when the s/s will be done. Once done I will notify

 

[Hood]

Mine was done at 80Amp with 80-100 amps nozzle.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

@Hood. Good morning to you. I had a go on some 6mm stainless 316, cutting at 65amps. Speed from memory was about 2.3m/min, any way what the major difference was the amount of bottom dross. It was virtually non existant. Taper on the cut edge was about the same and dare I say cut edge finish was arguably better. I will get some 85amp nozzles and see what happens at that current range. If the same happens on alli as it does for you (reduced distortion) and I can't see why it shouldn't, the I will be cutting alli at the higher rate. Just had a look on the net for 85amp consumables and they don't make any. For the Hi amp torch it's 45, 65 then 125. Can have a go at 125 at 6.5m/min. That should see some sparks fly

 

[Hood]

@Hood. Good morning to you. I had a go on some 6mm stainless 316, cutting at 65amps. Speed from memory was about 2.3m/min, any way what the major difference was the amount of bottom dross. It was virtually non existant. Taper on the cut edge was about the same and dare I say cut edge finish was arguably better. I will get some 85amp nozzles and see what happens at that current range. If the same happens on alli as it does for you (reduced distortion) and I can't see why it shouldn't, the I will be cutting alli at the higher rate. Just had a look on the net for 85amp consumables and they don't make any. For the Hi amp torch it's 45, 65 then 125. Can have a go at 125 at 6.5m/min. That should see some sparks fly

[You should be able to use the 125amp nozzles at lower current if you want, then again if the table is capable of the speeds required then I would be using the 125Amp if I had that. What you will have to consider though is the 125Amp nozzle will likely have a wider kerf, so your code will have to reflect that.
Mine is an 80Amp plasma and I always run it at 80 Amps. I see no reason reducing the current as my table is plenty fast enough, 20m/min rapids. The only time I would ever think about reducing the current was if I needed a thinner kerf and thus had to use smaller nozzles.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

The CAM software I use is sheetcam and in the settings we have the setting for the kerf, so that is not a problem. The 125 nozzle can also be used at 105, for alli that speed would be min 6.5m/min. So at least would be interesting to see if that works or I get motor issues at that speed, possibly the table my start walking around the workshop floor

 

[Hood]

Tuned the servos a wee bit today and tripled the acceleration.

 

[Brad93]

Rapid

 

[Hood]

Rapid

Might crank it up a bit yet but will use it for a wee while at this acceleration to make sure there are no issues.

 

[Revs1972]

You positioned that plate on the bed well. Now that's making full use of materials