need tips on stainless steel cutting on hpr260

[iron man]

need some tips to get better cut quality on 14-11 ga ss with a multicam 6000 table and a hpr260 plasma. getting bad angle on cut and alot of dross. using 45amp F5/N2 process.

[jimcolt]

If you follow the specifications exactly as the operators manual, exact speed, exact gas mixes, exact cut height, pierce height and arc voltage, then you will get the best dross free cuts. The cut edge angularity on stainless steel is normal.....you will not get the same quality of a cut on stainless as you will on carbon steel, because cutting stainless is strictly a thermal (melting) process, while the cutting of carbon steel with oxygen is an combination of thermal and exothermic.

The normal causes of dross on thin aluminum: Incorrect cut height and cut speed being too slow. Stainless is very touchy with both of these parameters. The parameters in the Hypertherm manual are generallya very close starting point.

Jim Colt Hypertherm