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Author Topic: Physical buttons for plasma  (Read 154310 times)

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Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #280 on: March 13, 2016, 03:22:36 PM »
Got a bit more done to the table, mounted the Y axis profile rails, well sort of, only have a few cap screws in them and may have to shim a wee bit.
Got the Alu cut  and bored for the trucks and the X axis, had a lot of interruptions today, think I am going to have to park my car around the corner :D

Oh also got a pendant made, not a huge fan of handheld pendants but as my arms are not 3m long I am going to need it.

Hood

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #281 on: March 15, 2016, 04:58:21 PM »
Had a look at the bellow way covers today, they do not catch fire easily, had to hold a lighter to them for 30 or more seconds before there was anything amiss. They didnt actually catch fire but did start to melt slightly, so not sure how well they would stand up.
I am however wondering how likely I am to get hot sparks on them. For the Y axis the cutting surface would be 100 mm or so below the bellows and I would also have an extra plate of about 100mm between the cutting surface and the bellows, see pic as I may not be explaining very clearly.
 The X axis would be the same height above, maybe slightly more.
Would hot sparks be likely to still get to the bellows?

Hood

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #282 on: March 15, 2016, 05:04:47 PM »
Wont get any sparks up there, there is a fan of sparks from where the jet enters the plate, they travel along the surface pretty much. If doing wiggle or ramp piercing in thick stuff, you can get a rooster-tail at pierce time but the sparks go cold very quick.

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #283 on: March 15, 2016, 05:40:30 PM »
Thanks, sounds good then, just have to haul the bellows out the box and see if I have enough or indeed whether they are all in good condition.

Hood

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #284 on: March 22, 2016, 04:32:56 PM »
Been too busy to get any more done :(

One thing however that I am wondering, do you normally adjust the current for different thickness of material or do you just keep it cranked up?
 I have been doing some hand cutting and all I see is if you use a lower current for a given thickness it means it just cuts slower. With hand cutting I am obviously not getting a uniform feed so cuts will not be as good as when CNC'd, so maybe I am just not noticing the difference when I try lower or higher currents.

Hood

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #285 on: March 22, 2016, 04:47:06 PM »
Some systems ramp the power up and down in the cut, I cut a job tonight where it could have been used apparently - inside square corners on 12mm plate, these usually end up a bit tapered due to the arc-lag in the inside corners. Ramping up the current just in the corner is said to help this, my system is too basic for that feature though.

There is a sweet spot between power density (nozzle size and current), material thickness and speed - get it right and good cuts will follow.

Hand cutting is a mile away from CNC cutting ;)
Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #286 on: March 22, 2016, 05:05:09 PM »
One current setting, just set your feed and go.

My hyperthem 65 from the US fell through... Looking for a 45... Probably better for a home shop anyway
Rob

Albert Einstein ― “If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #287 on: March 22, 2016, 07:35:03 PM »
Ok thanks for the replies, hopefully things will quieten down for me and I will make some progress with the plasma and start having fun :)

Hood
Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #288 on: March 22, 2016, 07:37:29 PM »
Dave, like the choice of picture.... Dr'nk! Haha
Rob

Albert Einstein ― “If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #289 on: March 26, 2016, 03:49:00 PM »
Are you guys driving the gantry from both sides or just one?
I was planning on having a rack at both sides but I got the gantry bolted in place today and I am thinking I will be able to just drive from the one side as it seems to be keeping itself square.

Hood