I am 1/2 way done building a plasma table/ wood router, and was thinking about how I may increase tip life. When I hand hold my Hypertherm torch, I often tip the head a little when I start the arc, so that the puddle that is formed before it blasts a hole is less likely to splash back up into the tip to cause wear. Am I kidding myself that it actually helps? If it should help, should I consider adding a 4th axis to my table to do the same thing while automated ?
Thoughts?
Thanks!
-Les

OK, so nobody has feedback on tilting the torch to extend tip life.
How about this:
About how many hole starts in 1/4" steel can I do with a Hypertherm 380's tip? 200 ? 2000 ?
Some of the patterns I want to cut have hundreds of hole starts, is the reason I'm asking all these tip life questions.
Thanks!
-Les

one thing we do at work is punch starter holes before cutting ...since you are going to have a router head also you might be able to drill starter holes so you dont have to pierce...it would give you a place to lead in and lead out..

just a thought
Mark

The best thing you can do to increase tip life is install a good quality air dryer. Moister will kill a tip quicker than any pierce point.

In my humble opinion Aksess had the most valuable input to this question. Hi quality (dry) air is essential to consumable life. It is intresting to think of angle piericing metal but it seems to me that the pierice point would require that the tip stay perfectly in place while the torch traveled to vertical position and the arc distance maintained. Perhaps it could be done but it looks like a programing nightmare to me, especialy in one off situations like I often encounter. Pre-drilling a pilot hole would certainly solve the problem but would the extra time involved be cost effective? Everyone would have to determine that for themselves.-------------DRY AIR---DRY AIR---DRY AIR---

Never set a pace that you can't maintain
Traveler