My jogging speed is great but when i dry run a program even with the feed rate selector cranked to 50 according to Mach it would be great for 3/4" but not good for 1/4" is there default settings in mach for cutting speeds in different thicknesses of material ? Does the feed speeds always have to come from the program? It would be great to find a screen actually set up for plasma cutting?

MACH does not set cutting speeds it only reads them from the code. Feedrate is g-code specific. Either edit the g-code "F" commands on the G01's (it's modal so often you only have to change a few lines or use a CAM program that will do it for you.
CNC is all about Computer Numerical Control. It means letting the software control the machine Master the software and you master CNC plasma cutting. The assumption is that the person doing the toolpath definition knows what kind of material the cuts will be made on and set the parameters appropriately. If you cut the same exact layouts and jobs in different materials needing different feedrates and settings you need different files.

When you define the cut process in the CAM it allows you to define/change the feedrate. Use the chart from your plasma cutter and plug in the right feedrate. Twisting on the feedrate override creates other effects you may not want. You can use it to finetune but after cutting various materials for a while you should know what feedrate with which tip and settings gives the best cuts.

TOM Caudle
www.CandCNC.com