how long "should" powermax 45 consumables last?

[mkweiss222]

Just curious how long my consumables should last. I know its a vague question but im just looking for a ballpark number. Seems like im going through consumables faster than I should (or maybe just faster than Id like!).
For reference Im cutting .250 mild steel plate running 65 ipm and the average cut time for a whole sheet is about an hour. Also on small inside cuts(bolt holes) im running at 35ipm to keep the taper down. Any input on this will be appreciated.

Also when the electrode needs to be replaced should I be replacing the nozzle as well or does it last longer? Currently I am replacing both at the same time, just wondering if Im wasting nozzles.

[jimcolt]

All good questions!

Plasma consumable life is dependent on a lot of factors:

- Average duration (in seconds) of each cut cycle.
- Number of pierces
- Amperage
- Air purity (moisture and oil)
- Pierce technique
- height control accuracy
- Material thickness

So.....if your average duration is long, expect less total pierces, but more lineal cut length out of a set of consumables. If you have a lot of starts with short cut cycle durations....expect more starts and less lineal cut length from a consumable set.

If you are piercing within the Hypertherm piercing limits, and using the pierce delay time and pierce height from the Hypertherm manual....you will get maximum life from your consumables. One pierce too close, or with inadequate pierce delay...and you may have ruined a nozzle.

Moisture always pops up as the prevalent problem this time of year in North America....due to hot weather and high humidity. Our tech service department is always swamped with calls regarding short consumables life during high humidity weather.....with many callers insisting that there must be a problem with the torch, or must be a bad board in the power supply. Moist air causes extremely short consumable life and poor cut quality.

Assuming everything is being done by the book, and the air is clean and dry....then I normally expect approximately 400 to 600 starts when cutting 1/4" material parts.....with an average cut duration in the 20 second range. Some cuts (holes) are just a few seconds, the perimeter cuts may be more than 20 seconds....but if I average the cut duration.....roughly 400 to 600 starts with this type of cutting, and roughly 5000 inches or so of linear inches cut per electrode and nozzle change....with a Powermax45.

On thinner material and lower power levels, I can normally get double that life...both in the number of starts as well as the lineal inches cut per nozzle and electrode.

I am picky about cut quality and edge angularity....and the above numbers do not indicate when the consumables fail to cut.....but when the cut quality in terms of edge angularity gets outside of my expectations. If you lower your standards....you can cut with a Powermax 45 beyond my expectations of life.

The Hypertherm HPRxd industrial plasma systems produce dramatically longer life due to the gas flow system, the liquid cooled torches, as well as the microprocessor controlled output power. It is fairly normal with these systems to get 1600 or more starts on 1/2" material (cutting at 120 ipm or more) and 2 miles (126,720 inches) of cut before changing consumables.

Often when cut quality starts to suffer....I inspect the consumables, clean the shield and change only the nozzle. Learning what to look for is available in the Hypertherm manuals....even better, check out the free training from Hypertherm for consumables optimization....this may give a better understanding as well....here is a link:

http://www.hypertherm.com/en/Trainin...cation/hci.jsp

Jim

[mkweiss222]

Thanks Jim! I appreciate your help. Now that I have a number to shoot for I can start eliminated probable causes and go from there. Right now Im getting an average of 250 starts and about 2000-3000 inches out of a set of consumables before they just stop cutting. Since I live in central Texas the humidity is about 120% on average, so im sure my air quality is my biggest factor.
Thanks again for all the info!

[DanOSB]

hi Jim,

which nozzle/sheild should i be using.. (ordering consumables and i want to make sure i get all of the parts right..

will be cutting 1/4 and 3/8 materials

on a hand torch on a cnc machine

220673 or 220717 or 220674

for nozzles

220671 or 220718

i saw your post a while ago for those info somewhere and i have searched and searched cant find it..

[DanOSB]

after i did more searching.. found this post..

for others the combo you are susposed to run is

220673
220713
220671
220670
220669

and if you want to use ohmic sensor then replace 220713 to 220719

hope this info is right Jim..

[jimcolt]

That sounds correct, although I do not have the manual in front of me right at the moment!

Jim

[hrfab]

The thing here is Hypertherm consumables are cheap for that amazing quality, cutting speeds and for sure very very long life. Theres a lot of factors wich determines consumables life, follow Jim's recomendations here. Try to find in chinese consumables cutting quality, consumable life, availability, etc. My experience says, hypertherm consumables are very rentable, 15 usd for a pair of consumables pays at least 100 times, my conclusion is pmx45 consumable life is great.

Powermax 45 cutted 140 pcs of c11 304ss, 30 pcs of 1/4 crs for a penitentiary furniture. 15 pairs of consumables - 65k usd cutting service for 3 weeks project and the powermax 45 stills cutting. Aviso de redirección

http://pyrocnc.com/DSC00456.JPG http://pyrocnc.com/DSC00561.JPG http://pyrocnc.com/DSC00564.JPG