Suggestions for 20ga steel with PM45

[binfordw]

Hi,

I've had good luck following the cutting specs listed in my Hypertherm manual, but recently I picked up some 20ga cold-rolled steel, and my table just doesnt cut well at the reccommended speeds. Hypertherm reccommends 320ish ipm feedrates at 30amps, but I get rounded corners at those speeds. If I up the motor acceleration much more to cure that I get too much shake/wobble.

Does anyone have suggestions on what settings to use for a Powermax 45 on 20ga steel? I think feedrates of 220ipm or less would be ideal for cut quality.

Thanks,

Ben W

[jimcolt]

Binford,

I'm not sure exactly what you have for equipment......do you have an arc voltage height control?

For 20 ga, simply turn the amperage down to about 25 Amps, ensure that the torch to work distance remains at .06 (1/16"), and use a cut speed of between 120 and 200 ipm. I would do a test cut at 120....and if it is drossy, keep increasing the speed by about 10 ipm until the dross is minimal. If you have a lot of intricate cutting...and yor machine has sluggish acceleration....then expect some warpage or droos in the slowdown areas.Make sure you are using the machine shield on your torch, even if it is a hand torch. This shield allows the nozzle to be closer to the plate, critical for thin material.

You can also use the 30 Amp consumable setup....the part numbers are listed in your manual. These are the same consumables that are used on the Hypertherm Powermax 30....and with these you may be able to achieve a slower cut speed with less chance of dross....turn the amperage all the way down and experiment as above.

Jim Colt

You could also

[binfordw]

I have a DTHC (bladerunner) setup, and use a handtorch with a machine torch shieldcap. I am using the 45amp consumables however.


I tried to cut alot of test parts to minimize the dross and get the corners as clean as possible, but wasn't able to remove the dross much at all on a straight line cut.

I'll try what you suggested, thanks,

Ben W