Powermax 65 cut quality Question

Hi,

Past few days I've noticed some odd cut behaviour from my PM 65. I have had little to zero extra time to look further into the issue, but would like thoughts on the most possible issues.

Issue is heavy dross on bottom of parts, and light "dross?" on top of cut, but it seems to come and go somewhat. Looking at the cut from the side, it looks like the torch itself is weak- the cut lines curve alot- much like a severed cut in thick metal would look.

These cuts are in 3/16" mild steel. I use 45 amp and 70 ipm for these cuts, have for a long time with good results.

This seems to have started after I cleaned the table out, ie, removed all slats, drained table, scooped debris out, etc. I first thought perhaps it was a poor ground clamp connection, but putting the clamp directly on the sheet made no difference. (I thought this, because while running a long job after cleaning table, I noticed at the end of a slat where it fits into table, a small glowing orange spot emitting smoke while torch cut. As the torch got farther away from that slat, it lessened. I have never seen that before, just assumed it was a poor ground connection for that slat.)


Or- the usual culprit of moisture in air. I had run the machine alot before issue occured. I do have a pretty large dessicant filter bowl setup 2 feet from the plasma however. Changing to new nozzle/electrode gained no improvement. Not even on the very first small cut. I dont want to rule out moisture yet, as its generally the cause of most problems it seems, but from what I've seen so far I dont think its too likely.


The Swirl rings never seem to go bad- but I have never changed mine either, I dont have any idea of what a "bad/worn" swirl ring might do to cut quality- Is this a possible cause?

Only other thing that comes to mind is air pressure. The Plasma is happy with the inlet pressure, but perhaps some debris has blocked something partially in the torch itself?


Thanks for any thoughts

With any plasma....to troubleshoot a cut quality issue use these steps in this order:

1. Air supply inlet. Install a pressure gauge right at the inlet.....you can not rely on the pressure gauge back a few feet, or all the way back at the compressor. Read the gauge while air is flowing at the torch. For your Powermax65 the inlet pressure while air is flowing needs to be between 90 and 135 psi. Lower pressure will make for a weaker plasma arc....almost like turning down the amperage. Every fitting....every filter, every additional foot of hose will creat pressure drops. Remember also that filters will eventually clog or saturate with moisture.

2. Check the secondary air flow, make sure you have set it according to the manual, make sure when you are adjusting the onboard flow regulator that it is adjusted while air id flowing at the torch....totally different than when not flowing. On your Powermax65 it is best to leave the air pressure st in the Auto mode....then you never have to set it or check it!

3. Consumables. The nozzle and electrode are always the first thing to inspect and change in regards to cut quality issues. If changing them does not make a noticable improvement....leave the new ones in and change the shield, the retaining cap, the swirl ring all one at a time. Each of these consumables can affect air flow and air pressure in your torch......and can cause angularity and dross issues, as well as low cutting power. Swirl rings, retaining caps and shields eventually do wear out.

4. Height control. Make sure it is operating as designed. If the torch is too high off the plate you will get top and bottom dross as well as excess angularity.

5. Material. We see this often....there are some steel mills that do a poor job of controlling plate metalurgy. High levels of silicon, carbon, manganese and other materials can affect cut quality as you describe. If you have some steel from another supplier you may want to try it out. Recently we have seen an increase in this issue....especially with magnetized plate.....which causes extremely poor cut quality and short consumable life.

6. Moisture in your air. Drain the compressor often, make sure any moisture traps/filters are checked often. I don't think your problem is moisture.


Jim Colt Hypertherm

Quote:

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Originally Posted by binfordw

Hi,

Past few days I've noticed some odd cut behaviour from my PM 65. I have had little to zero extra time to look further into the issue, but would like thoughts on the most possible issues.

Issue is heavy dross on bottom of parts, and light "dross?" on top of cut, but it seems to come and go somewhat. Looking at the cut from the side, it looks like the torch itself is weak- the cut lines curve alot- much like a severed cut in thick metal would look.

These cuts are in 3/16" mild steel. I use 45 amp and 70 ipm for these cuts, have for a long time with good results.

This seems to have started after I cleaned the table out, ie, removed all slats, drained table, scooped debris out, etc. I first thought perhaps it was a poor ground clamp connection, but putting the clamp directly on the sheet made no difference. (I thought this, because while running a long job after cleaning table, I noticed at the end of a slat where it fits into table, a small glowing orange spot emitting smoke while torch cut. As the torch got farther away from that slat, it lessened. I have never seen that before, just assumed it was a poor ground connection for that slat.)


Or- the usual culprit of moisture in air. I had run the machine alot before issue occured. I do have a pretty large dessicant filter bowl setup 2 feet from the plasma however. Changing to new nozzle/electrode gained no improvement. Not even on the very first small cut. I dont want to rule out moisture yet, as its generally the cause of most problems it seems, but from what I've seen so far I dont think its too likely.


The Swirl rings never seem to go bad- but I have never changed mine either, I dont have any idea of what a "bad/worn" swirl ring might do to cut quality- Is this a possible cause?

Only other thing that comes to mind is air pressure. The Plasma is happy with the inlet pressure, but perhaps some debris has blocked something partially in the torch itself?


Thanks for any thoughts

---

As always, I appreciate your help Jim.

I'm certain your list will fix my issues, It just seems to be a problem I havent yet really ran into. I don't believe its moisture related either- but its been such a pain in the past that I always hate to be too quick to rule it out!

I may order a new swirl ring to try/ or just to keep on hand. I inspected mine, but honestly I've never noticed any damage or wear in hundreds of consumable changes through a PM 45 and now a PM 65. I'm not sure I'd know how to tell if one needed replaced.

If I recall, I believe I changed the dessicant in my air drier bowl before starting the last "big" job I cut- the first one I had issues with. The job before it was 800 pcs of 3/16" mild steel, more or less triangles about 7 inches long. They all cut beautifully on 65amp with virtually no dross. I recall cleaning the table out after that- as it was long past due, And Im pretty sure changed the dessicant out as it was due for re-drying. I then cut 400 pieces in 1/4" mild steel, 3 inch long brackets. The majority of those parts had heavy dross, which I just assumed was due to worn consumables, but after changing them and doing a few smaller jobs here and there, I started noticing the issue.

I'll try plumbing a gauge at the back of machine to check for good constant pressure.



One more question, I see it says to adjust air on the machine while its on, but the PM 65 doesnt seem to have a purge setting like my 45, am I just overlooking it? Is there a way to purge gas on a 65?

The 65 has automatic airflow......so there is nothing to set when it is in auto mode....just be sure the ilet pressure is between 90 and 135. If you do put it in manual air pressure mode....there is a way to purge it. It is done on the diagnostic screen with a few key strokes.....I cannot remember how myself. If you want to know how to purge the air on a 65, 85 or 105 let me know and I'll look it up!

Jim Colt

Quote:

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Originally Posted by binfordw

As always, I appreciate your help Jim.

I'm certain your list will fix my issues, It just seems to be a problem I havent yet really ran into. I don't believe its moisture related either- but its been such a pain in the past that I always hate to be too quick to rule it out!

I may order a new swirl ring to try/ or just to keep on hand. I inspected mine, but honestly I've never noticed any damage or wear in hundreds of consumable changes through a PM 45 and now a PM 65. I'm not sure I'd know how to tell if one needed replaced.

If I recall, I believe I changed the dessicant in my air drier bowl before starting the last "big" job I cut- the first one I had issues with. The job before it was 800 pcs of 3/16" mild steel, more or less triangles about 7 inches long. They all cut beautifully on 65amp with virtually no dross. I recall cleaning the table out after that- as it was long past due, And Im pretty sure changed the dessicant out as it was due for re-drying. I then cut 400 pieces in 1/4" mild steel, 3 inch long brackets. The majority of those parts had heavy dross, which I just assumed was due to worn consumables, but after changing them and doing a few smaller jobs here and there, I started noticing the issue.

I'll try plumbing a gauge at the back of machine to check for good constant pressure.



One more question, I see it says to adjust air on the machine while its on, but the PM 65 doesnt seem to have a purge setting like my 45, am I just overlooking it? Is there a way to purge gas on a 65?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by binfordw

One more question, I see it says to adjust air on the machine while its on, but the PM 65 doesnt seem to have a purge setting like my 45, am I just overlooking it? Is there a way to purge gas on a 65?

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I know this thread is old and dead but I found it searching for this answer and had to figure it out the hard way. I'm posting this to save someone else the trouble.

On my PM 85 (and I assume the same exist on the 65, 105, whatever) there are two buttons below the LCD screen. One looks like a cylinder with arced arrows going left and right and one with A / (arrow to cylinder). With the machine turned on, press both buttons for about 3-5 seconds to enter the diagnostics screen. In the diagnostics screen, press the A / Cylinder button (the one on the right) until the blinking asterisk is next to G. The asterisk will be between the letter G and a 0 (zero). Rotate the amperage knob to the right one click and the zero will change to a one and the air (gas) will flow at the torch tip. On my machine, the second line from the top starts with "P 68/<blank>" The 68 indicates what the gas pressure is set at. The blank is what the current flow pressure is (blank at first because the gas is not flowing). When you set G0 to G1 and the gas flows, the blank area will indicate the pressure (in PSI) flowing. Turn the amperage knob counter-clockwise one click to turn the G1 to G0 and stop the gas flow. Press both buttons again for a moment to return to the default display.

I used this today to check if my new compressor would keep up with the torch. It's very handy...and better to know ahead of time than in a cut operation.

HTH

--HC

An easier way is to just trigger the start signal for the Powermax momentarily.....this puts it into "postflow" for about 15 seconds, plenty of time to check inlet and cut pressure.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hboothe

I know this thread is old and dead but I found it searching for this answer and had to figure it out the hard way. I'm posting this to save someone else the trouble.

On my PM 85 (and I assume the same exist on the 65, 105, whatever) there are two buttons below the LCD screen. One looks like a cylinder with arced arrows going left and right and one with A / (arrow to cylinder). With the machine turned on, press both buttons for about 3-5 seconds to enter the diagnostics screen. In the diagnostics screen, press the A / Cylinder button (the one on the right) until the blinking asterisk is next to G. The asterisk will be between the letter G and a 0 (zero). Rotate the amperage knob to the right one click and the zero will change to a one and the air (gas) will flow at the torch tip. On my machine, the second line from the top starts with "P 68/<blank>" The 68 indicates what the gas pressure is set at. The blank is what the current flow pressure is (blank at first because the gas is not flowing). When you set G0 to G1 and the gas flows, the blank area will indicate the pressure (in PSI) flowing. Turn the amperage knob counter-clockwise one click to turn the G1 to G0 and stop the gas flow. Press both buttons again for a moment to return to the default display.

I used this today to check if my new compressor would keep up with the torch. It's very handy...and better to know ahead of time than in a cut operation.

HTH

--HC

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Yes, but not enough time to see if the compressor can/will outrun the consumption for a long period of time like 15 or 30 minutes of constant cuts.

--HC