Either Mach2 or 3 will work fine. If you have a manual way to raise and lower your torch, it will work but there are a couple considerations.
-First, metal warps when you cut it, especially the thinner metals. To avoid damage with a "fixed" mounted torch, you should at least set up either a roller that will contact the metal first and guard your torch or even better a floating head spring/type mount to allow the torch to raise if it contacts the metal.
-With hand held plasma cutting you can "angle" the tip for your initial pierce then straighten it out for cutting. A machine "held" torch will normally pierce higher, then lower to cut height. Either keeping the tip at an angle or higher during the initial pierce avoids blowback or splattering molten metal back into your tip. It lowers expendables wearout time considerably and really improves your cuts. If you have an operational Z for your torch mount, you can program in different pierce delays, heights and cut heights to help with this issue. I'd also look into torch height controllers down the road. Using one will save a lot of headaches when your metal starts warping during a cut (and I guarantee you it will).
Have Fun!
-Marc  |