What does this look like to you?

[gocanes719]

Having all types of trouble. I had a moisture problem, now this. I've got to get this working ASAP. I've tried to adjust my settings but nothing has changed.

[Gamelord]

Well, it looks like crap.....but you obviously know that or you wouldn't be posting.

Some more info would be very helpful in diagnosing the issues.
What thickness, what speed, what type of steel, pierce height, amperage, what cutter?

From initial look, it appears that you are not piercing all the way through and your speed is too fast. I had some crappy steel one time and got this type of results, turned out to be chinese steel. Took it back and got some good stuff and it fixed my frustrations. Bad consumables could cause it. You stated you cleaned up your air so that rules that out although bad air could cause that as well.

[abmagrum]

mine did exactly that.

it was air pressure problems

you have to put a air gauge on back of youre cutter . then cut something while its cutting watch the gauge you really don't want to drop below 90 psi 80's will cut decent below that that's what you get. oh and make sure you have a shielded tip. I was using unshielded when it happened to me

[gocanes719]

Rapid travel speed: 650
Rapid Travel acceleration: .1
Cutting Speed 184
Corner Acceleration .1
Slower on Circles .1
Wait for cutting before moving is checked
Continue cutting after stop 0.05
Torch location adjustment x and y shift is 0
Z axis speed 47.2
Raise and lower between cuts is checked
Height for rapid travel .312
height for pierce .125
material thickness .075
use torch height control is checked cutting height is .454
started at .189
Arc Voltage shift is .8
Z shift is .518

[Gamelord]

What plasma cutter are you using? Make and model?

Other settings appear to be ok, .075 = 14 gauge, you should be able to blow through that pretty easily and if anything, your speed may be a bit slow but not according to the cut and picture.

Are you using new consumables?

[jimcolt]

The cut height is way too high. Always will produce top dross and generally will not cut all the way through. If I knew what plasma cutter I'd offer advice on height.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

[beefy]

My eyes went big and round when I seen the cut height too.

My Hypertherm cuts at 1.5 mm (0.06 inch).

I read to test for moisture and oil in the air try these two methods: put some cool glass or a peice of mirror under the torch outlet and see if any fogging occurs, and for oil buy some of these absorbent paper strips the ladies use to wipe their makeup off with. Put that under the torch for a while and see if you get any staining.

Keith.

[gocanes719]

Spectrum 2050

[gocanes719]

i've messed with the plasmacam for another two hours today. I have adjusted my cutting and arc voltage until I think they are in harmony. Now I am having the tip and electrode problem again. I have fouled electrodes in less than 5 seconds cutting. i just cut half of a star with little dross, went to cut the second half and the electrode is welded closed. I can cut with the jumper on manually and it doesnt seem like I have a problem with consumables. We also used the same air lines in the shop and we have used a miller spectrum 375 hooked up 10 feet away without any consumable issues with no additional filter. I have two filters on the line feeding into the spectrum 2050 and something is eating my consumables left and right. I have only had a consumable problem one time in 8 years and it rectified itself. This time it has not, no matter what I have tried. I'm totally frustrated and I have probably gone thru two full sheets of metal and $200 in new consumables trying to solve this and I am right where I started.

[beefy]

Wow I certainly feel for you.

You've gave a whole bunch of speeds, acceleration settings, etc so lets try and simplify things a bit. A test cut should be a good starting point in this situation, and is what is often recommended when quality issues arise. Many do multiples of these test cuts to find out ideal conditions for the best quality.

What about eliminating THC and pierces from the equation. Put a peice of steel on the table and make sure it's dead level (relative to your axis that is) so that cut height remains constant. Your slats could be dead level but peices of slag on top of them tends to negate that.

Creat a simple gcode file to do a straight line test run. You can set up Z manually at the correct height so there's no need for any Z commands in the code. Have the torch start at the edge so there's no blow back of slag, etc. Make sure this straight cut is long enough to last the 5 seconds in which you say the consumeables will be stuffed. The arc voltage is just an indication of what SHOULD be the correct cutting height. With THC off and the cutting height fixed and no pierce we are at least eliminating some possible causes. The cut height is what is important, not the voltage so the cut height needs to be a constant in the test, and is why THC is turned off. You don't want the controller trying to make decisions for you.

Monitor the voltage during this test cut, is it where the book specs say it should be. Ideally monitor the current too if you have means, because the arc voltage is related to current and travel speed. Are you sure your air is good, no oil and no moisture, which are known consumeable killers. Unlikely but not unheard of is a blockage within your plasma system. I read one post where a guy found a small peice of rubber in his torch (he has no idea how it got there). You can have good pressure to the back of your plasma but a restriction from there onwards can restrict the flow. Just a thought seeing how desparate things are becoming.

This test cut is trying to get everything back to basic conditions under which the torch should make good cuts:

Speed is correct
Amps are correct
Cut height is correct
Air pressure and FLOW is correct
Air is dry & air is clean

Can you send some close up pictures to the plasma manufacturer, who may be able to identify the cause of the consumeable failure. If all the above are good then I'd have a chat with the manufacturers technical guys.

Keith.

[gocanes719]

Keith, I can cut with the torch manually and it's fine. Consumable use seems normal too. I shit it down for 3 weeks and I'm going back tomorrow to try again. It's in my hs Ag shop

[natewelding]

I would say your speed and cut height are WAY WAY too high. .454 is 2-4x higher than what it should be.

[gocanes719]

What should it be then?

[natewelding]

cutting height on my table never exceeds .19 depends on what i'm cutting. i'd say for 14 gauge id go with .16-.18 and keep the speed at about 180.

[beefy]

What should it be then?

I think we need to back up a little bit here.

You said you did the test cut with THC off and it cut fine, but now it sounds like you don't know what your cut height and travel speeds should be. Do you not have the manufacturers book recommendations for these.

Did you monitor the voltage during this test cut. Seeing as the test cut yeilded good results then the parameters during the test cut are also what you need during the cut with THC on. The cut height is the important bit, not the voltage. The voltage is only indicating that you are at the height you need. So you find that voltage by doing the test cut at the correct height. But remember changing other parameters like speed and amps will affect your voltage too so keep them the same once your test cut gives you good results.

So knowing the parameters (from the test cut) that gave good results, use them with a "thc on" test cut. Is the thc keeping the correct volts. If so stop the cut mid-way and measure your cut height to see if the same height is being maintained as when you did the test cut with thc off.

Keith.