Dotn know which way to go guys

[rbmedic75]

ok I have a Plasmacam DHC2 gotta say it is nice for a lot of things but I am not happy with the quality of cut on material any thicker than 3/16 and cutting holes suck. I know the holes are not plasma strong point but ??? I mark them way undersize and then drill them all. Looking to start cutting a lot more brackets and either need to get this thing dialed in find it a new home or convert it to Laser.

I have the hypertherm Power max 1000 and cutting 3/8 i am at about 25 IPM and still cant get a clean cut

My pierce heights are .150 ish and cut height is .108 for 3/8

can someone give me settings that have worked for them on

1/4", 3/8", 1/2" I have not done any bigger than that yet but if ya have them 5/8 and 3/4 would be cool. I do not mind not cutting fast but I need more accuracy and cleaner cuts.

I have the big paper filter on the top of the Hypertherm adn then the canister style where it actuall goes into the machine and of course a glass canister at the compressor with a dedicated line to the plasma unit

also I am going throught 60 amp tips in less than 300 inches of cutting 3/8 is this normal

at a loss here guys need some help or suggestions for a laser system conversion

ill post pics up later if that would help. jsut seems like the hypertherm is loosing power over time and the whole set up is less than 1 yr old

[rbmedic75]

NO one has any suggestions? wow!

[geo4932]

I presume you are using the 60 amp nozzle and a machine shield? Arc Voltage Shift will be 1.25
When is the last time you changed the retaining cap? When that wears the consumables get misaligned and causes beveling.

George

[jimcolt]

First.....start with the recomendations in your Hypertherm Powermax1000 manual for cutting 3/8" steel. Start with the optimal (not the maximum) speed settings.....with a new set of consumables (electrode, nozzle and shield). Hypertherm spent a considerable time designing and testing your system.....the specs in the manual are the best starting point.

From your post....you are cutting with the torch too high....which will cause a severe bevel, and you are cutting too slow....which will cause heavy dross.

Using the 60 Amp shielded consumables (also use the ohmic retaining cap if you have the PlasmaCam DHC2...as this allows for accurate pierce height)...set your cut speed at 34 inches per minute, pierce height at .120", cut height at .060" and pierce delay time at .75 seconds. You will get a nice cut on 3/8" with these specs.....which come right out of the manual. If you do not have the manual for the Hypertherm...it can be downloaded as a .pdf from the www.hypertherm.com website. Attached are some pics of cuts from my PlasmaCam using a Hypertherm plasma.

Jim Colt

[rbmedic75]

thanks guys I tried cutting at the specs listed in the Hypertherm manual but even on the 1/4" and 3/16" it doesnt cut through. I have played with it some and gotten it to improve some. I am sure a large part of it is me and the learning curve but. Like right now I am cutting 1/4" at 27 IPM and the cut is clean with very little (virtually none) Dross maybe a little on the shrot ends but thats it. But according to the manual 27 ipm is way to slow. the pierce heights I have set are .120 and cutting at .08 or .09 and does good but when I first got it I was cutting 1/4 at like 45" just seems liike it is loosing power could I have a capacitor going bad seems like every week or so It needs to be slowed down a bit to maintain the cut quality.

Also Is ther anyway I can set it to just pierce holes for location marking adn then I can drill them. I have tried setting it to cut a small circle like .125" but it still tries to cut a hole.

Thanks for the help guys.

[geo4932]

To mark the points, go to the Settings and check the box for "Pause before Cutting". Select CUT. The torch will go to the pierce point and Pause. Press the "TEST" button on the controller and the torch will arc and mark the pierce. Select the next hole and repeat.

George

[rbmedic75]

So after about 2 years of being less than completely satisfied with my cut quality right off of the machine, I had had enough. I went to get the camera to take a bunch of pics of what the machine cuts were looking like. I had been watching the Plasma flame (through my welding hood) and noticed it was coming right ouf of the torch at an angle (about 20* angle or so which really upset me as it was obviously why i was getting bad cuts) so I dialed up Hypertherm Tech support (yeah should have done that long ago) told the tech guy what the torch was doing, he replied easy your not getting enough air flow to the tip. But the regualtor was at the high side of the rec settings for cutting. he had me dial the amp knob all the way down and air pressure didnt move a bit but was flowing so we knew we were getting enough air into the machine. so he said well ya got a restriction between the machine and the torch head. Well how did i get that and how do I fix it LOL. so got off the phone and started taking it apart form the head back. Very leary about this because its a first and I dont know what to expect but hey gotta do something. take it all apart unscrew the fitting for the head take it all off blow it out, flow seems fine nothing noticed in it couldnt find anything. SO I start to put it back together thinking/hoping that something blew out and fixed the problem. when I get the wire and tubes all set in the molded handle and go to put the other half on I notice the back doesnt fit well at all. get to lookng and the rubber around the back that sits in the molded handles is like 3/8" from sitting flush in there, so i play around with it try and squeeze it closed and could really force it but just wasnt right the angle of the rubber was off and holding it apart. So i screw around a few more miuntes and then decide to try and rotate the rubber 180* and WALLA fit in handle fit togher like it should, beautiful put it all back together and back in the machine, new tips and everything still hoping somehting changed. fired it up to cut and MAGIC the flame was straight, I'm very happy at this point so I open up a part file and setup to cut (1/4" plate and about 400" of cut) my normal cut speeds had NEVER been close to what the book or guys had told me they should be 1/4" was at fastest 32-35 IPM machines starts cutting and looks great cuts look beautiful little heavy on dross but square and NICE so I dial the cut speed up keeps cutting great. Cut speed is now up to 52 IPM vs 32 and cut is SO MUCH BETTER. I am now a very happy Hypertherm owner. Moral of the story the handle was pinching off the air flow and killing my torch, turning the rubber around 180* made it a new machine. still gonna dial in new cut speeds as everything else had always been close (pierce heights, cut heights etc just could not get a good square cut and cut speed sucked) WOHOOOOO going back out to cut some more..