Anything welding

I figured as much, but had to ask anyway.

When I worked electronics in the Air Force, we had a term for things like this: FM (Fucking Magic). I know it doesn't make you feel any better or make your shit work properly. I hope you find something soon.

 

If you're getting holes that aren't circular, this would mean your gantry is not perfectly square IE your X axis needs to be perpendicular to your Y axis

If you loosen the bearing blocks, you can slowly undo the set screws to position it as close to 90 as you can

Once one set screw provides the appropriate angle, tighten the bearing until it just touches the tube

You do this all the way around, moving and adjusting as needed - I went as far as panning the torch to the far end and placing shims underneath it (if needed) to ensure it stayed in place while I tightened things up

I too used to run a Crossfire with XL option

As for the Hypertherm 45XP - I know two people that have one and one of them happens to live within 15mins of me and she runs a truck parts/accessories shop

I sent her the file to cut out, and afterward she took pics, and ran a video showing me her cutout all the way around

It had extremely minor bevel if any, and really would pass for most as being really square all the way around

Then the other guy cut it out a few hours later and it was square all the way around - he bought his machined USED for cheap and still managed square cuts on the same exact table as me

 

Ah you're good

It'll bug me all night, and tomorrow, and the next day

But the initial "What the fucking fuck is fucking wrong" is over, and I'm looking forward to the bolt kit that arrives tomorrow to bolt together my fixture tables

Once that's done, I'll finally be able to place my press brake back on top and start coming up with ways to make a shelf underneath

 

Oh and to add to this, she uses cheap knock-off consumables she buys in bulk





The other person's were better, but those are lost in conversation now as I was bouncing all of this off of him too

 

Is it possible the geometry of the plasma jet is somehow irregular? What makes the jet, just the consumables or is there something else in the torch that helps form it?

 

It's just a simple arc

The consumables only fit one way, and when the torch fires, it produces a flame

If you're suggesting that the arc isn't perpendicular to the steel, this was debunked since I've physically rotated the torch within the mount itself

If the internals, or something was offset within the torch, having rotated it 45 degrees would move the bevel to the sides of the metal away from the top edge

 

So I just got off the phone with Hypertherm.

They were impressed with the level of thoroughness however I did get one suggestion I've yet to do.

Holding the "mode" button on the front of the machine for about 5 seconds will make "PC" appear on the display.

Once that appears, let go of the button.

This will conduct a pressure test and will state a static pressure, as well as working pressure.

They said these two readings should be within 1-2psi and anything larger than that can cause an irregular cut. However, he thinks air pressure could be fine since the test was conducted in a manner where the top edge was cut as the "second" edge and another test where the top edge was the "fourth" edge.

Still, going to check pressure a little later as well as doing a test cut and video for Hypertherm.

 

Got the header apart gonna start welding it up tomorrow

 

my work has 2 hypertherm 45's, and 2 hypertherm 85's.

i recently cut up--by hand-- an entire 4'x6' 1/8" stainless sheet for parts to built a salt chute for 3 different jobs, using one of the 45's--i usually just leave it on max settings all the time. everything needed to be fit to the job later, so 1/4-1/2" deviation anywhere was no big deal.

while doing it, i noticed that no matter the angle or speed i ran the gun across at, i always got a bevel on both sides, unless i intentionally angled the tip to increase the bevel enough on one side, it took out the bevel on the other side...

i wonder if you need to try some of those off-brand consumables...

 

Has anyone bent aluminum tube? A coworker wants me to build some boat parts. Allegedly my bender should be able to do

 

Mig welding upside down, 1/4" frame, 0.35 wire, C25, the puddle just keeps dripping off the work. The internet says to turn down the heat, but how far? My weldPro has presets for 1/4", 3/16", etc.


-Grinder by day, welder by night-

 

So, I understand we have varying levels of experience in this group.

I am not discounting any of the questions or comments mentioned here, but I also want to address the "bevel = normal" thing that's been mentioned a few times.

1. Slight bevel/taper is normal, it happens, and it should be expected. I know this and I think I mentioned it already.

2. Excessive bevel/taper is not normal, and it should go away when many different parameters are changed (including physical changes in the torch mounting, gantry squaring, etc).

With that said, here are the edges of an item cut within days of adding the Hypertherm, but cut on my chinese plasma cutter with chinese torch and chinese consumables on the same 3/16" steel that I used to cut my test pieces for my Hypertherm -











Let's not forget the above test piece (the small 2" square) that was cut on an identical machine and machine torch that provided results like my CUT60 does here.

So again, slight taper is normal and expected.

But excessive beveling is not.

 

On the plus side, even though I bought my Hypertherm "used" (it was new old stock someone bought and never used), Hypertherm says it's still under warranty so that's awesome to know.

Torch being less than 2 weeks old is also under warranty.

 

I use the same setup.

I just do a series of long Tack welds when upside down. I'm lazy and never change my settings. I'm not a fan of dropping large chunks of slag on my body.

So, the tack weld method is my go to style for upside down mig welding.

 

I'd stick weld it if you can't rotate the item to run it vertical.

Otherwise what helps is turning the heat down a bit but also having an even gap/bevel to fill with weld deposits. It'll fuse and fill in the gap before it puddles and falls.

 

That's basically what I did persisting through and not wanting to crawl out from under

 

that is a good thing, I will be very surprised if it turns out to be an issue with your table itself, the only difference was the hypertherm and duramax machine torch.

when you are changing out the consumables are you doing the swirl ring, shield and retaining cap as well? or just nozzle and electrode?" reason I ask is I found a post from Jim colt of hypertherm fame talking about a similar issue to yours, and those where mentions as a possible cause.

https://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?p=100606&sid=2787bb3dcbb36ca127a59d17a3029116#p100606

 

Only the nozzle, electrode, and swirl ring.

I do not have another shield cap, but I can go out and buy more. I would think if it was the shield cap, that it would change the side the bevel occurs if the torch was rotated though.

The shield cap has holes that all look identical to one another on the cap itself. It was brand new and is a genuine Hypertherm product like everything else.

 

Going to take my mind off the CNC table for now until either calls me back

The bolts for my fixture tables arrived so going to grab those now from my mail box and put together my tables

 

another thing I saw mentioned was the O-ring on the retaining cap


https://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?p=132259#p132259

how long would it take to put the cut60 and UPM150 back in place? it would rule out the table for sure if it cuts like it did before.