6 Tips For Improving Plasma Cut Quality

 No matter if you are using a plasma cutter for DIY projects or heavy fabrications, you need to be efficient when it comes to quality cutting. Though plasma cutting is a user-friendly machine, there is still more to meet the eyes. - such as improving quality cutting, maintaining consumable parts, and improving overall efficiency.

You also need to take care of gas and air using in the plasma cutting. For this, you can take the help of Hypertherm hpr260 parts or Hypertherm hpr260 consumables. Below are some other tips you can follow to improve plasma cut quality.

Select Right Plasma Cutter

There are several factors to consider when purchasing the plasma cutter. What is the capacity of the plasma cutter, what are its purchase and operational costs, duty cycle, and much more? Think about the duties you will perform while selecting the machine and select the one that suits your needs.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

• Do you need a portable plasma cutter?
• What is your budget?
• What are the materials you need to perform the plasma cutting?
• How often will you use the plasma cutting machine?
• Will you use generators or local power outlets to power your machines?

Setup Machine Properly

Plasma cutting uses electrical energy to cut the materials. The electric charge melts the surface of the metal, which is why it is mandatory to protect the user and the plasma cutter unit. Lock the ground clamp to clean metal only. If necessary, grind off the rust as it can disrupt the flow of electricity. It's also essential to keep the clamp as closer to the cut area as possible.

It is also necessary to replace the worn spots, cables, loose connections, or anything that disrupts the flow of electricity. Ultimately, for getting the final results, it is crucial to use the correct tip. The right tip can cut the material more efficiently and save your time and money.

Practice Your Cuts

The first cut is significant for any cutting project. Without dragging the trigger, go over the path you want to cut. Practice the movement to make sure you are on the right track. It also gives the freedom of movement to make one continuous cut. If you stop and start again from the same spot, it can create irregularities in the cut.

You can also do a sample cutting on the type of material you are going to work on. This will ensure you are using the correct settings and cutting speed.

Watch the Travel Speed

More the speed of your plasma cutter, more cleaner the cut it will create. When cutting the thicker material, set the machine to the full output and change your travel speed. On thinner material, turn down the amperage and change to lower-amperage tip to keep up the narrow kerf.

With a proper travel speed, the arc should exit the material at a 15 to 20-degree angle opposite the direction of travel. If the plasma goes straight down, it means you're moving slowly. If it sprays back, it means you're moving too fast.

Traveling at the right speed and with the right amount of heat will produce a very clean cut with less dross at the bottom of the cut with no distortion to the metal.

Checkout the Consumables

If the tip becomes worn, the quality of the cut will be affected, so regular inspection is a must. If the tip becomes irregular or develops a pit, discarding is a better option.

The consumables will wear with each cut, but factors like moisture, cutting of extensively thick materials, or poor techniques will increase the wear and tear of consumables. The best exercise is to replace the tip and electrode together for optimum quality cuts.

Make sure not to over-tighten the parts as it moves to create an arc, so only finger tighten the cap. Also, use high-quality consumables like Hypertherm hpr260 parts and Hypertherm hpr260 consumables.

Check Air and Gas Quality

Are you using air plasma? Then make sure your air is dry and clean. The same goes with your gas when using oxygen or a multi-gas system. Always use high-quality gas and the appropriate sized gas lines and regulators. Look over to see if the gas is leaking or any flow is restricted. If needed, consult your gas distributor for help.

Conclusion

Unboxing the plasma cutter might be easy, but it will take time to familiarize yourself with the proper operation. By going through the above tips, you can surely improve the quality of your plasma cutting. Apart from that, have a regular inspection of your cutter parts and consumables to avoid any mishappening.

Source: https://altpartsinc.wixsite.com/altpartsinc/single-post/6-tips-for-improving-plasma-cut-quality

6 Tips to Enhance the Laser Cutting Process

 Laser cutting is an amazing manufacturing process mainly used by engineers in the manufacturing industry. Laser cutters use a focused beam to pierce a material specified by the designers.

Apart from cutting, laser cutters can also raster onto a workpiece by heating the surface of the workpiece. This process makes the prototyping quick.

Laser cutters are a convenient tool for prototyping and manufacturing; they are mainly used in machine shops on an industrial scale to cut huge pieces of materials. They are also used to create cheap and quick prototypes.

Also, laser cutters produce harmful fumes that are very risky. One way to reduce the risk is by using good quality parts like Bystronic laser parts or prima laser parts. Here are some other tips you can use to enhance your laser cutting.

Select a Software and Master it

Do you use Adobe Illustrator? Or are you handy with CorelDraw? There is no software that's the best, but if you like one, just stick to it.

There are many design software that supports laser cutter drivers. Such software are pretty standard among the 2D designs or some 3D designs. Here are a couple of software that you may already be familiar with or you may want to try out.

2D Design:

Inkscape: Open source software and free to use

CorelDRAW: Graphic design software with a huge number of tools and features

AutoCAD: Drawing software, primarily used by engineers and architects

Adobe Illustrator: Graphic design software for high-quality designs

3D Design:

SketchUp: 3D designing software comes with 30 days free trial

SolidWorks: 3D design software with multiple design package

Autodesk Fusion: Cloud-based platform for manufacturing process

Settings of Laser Cutting

Before performing the laser cutting process, it is good to know the settings of it. A laser cutter comes with primary settings as per the above image. The power represents the strength of a laser. Speed is how fast your laser will go. If it is too quick, it may not cut all the way, but a low speed can lead to melting or burning. So most of the time, you can stick to the moderate settings for the cutting to be fine.

Frequency determines the laser pulses during a cutting operation. The higher the frequency the cleaner the slash would be. But it is also okay to keep the frequency low to prevent flammable materials from catching fire.

Use the Quality Spare Parts

When it comes to laser cutting, lasers majorly depend upon the consumables and parts. So whenever you are using any part or replacing it, make sure you are using top-quality parts. Bystronic laser parts and Amada laser parts are some of the best ones.

Amada and Bystronic parts come in a variety of ranges like focus lenses, nozzles, lens wizards, and much more.

You can also check out other brands such as Hypertherm, Mitsubishi, Mazak, Prima, etc.

Know the Material You Are Using

While designing with laser-cut, you should start thinking about what materials you will work upon. Are you designing a prototype? Then you should consider cheap materials like cardboard. Else you can use wood or any other metal.

Talking about wood, type matters! Wood could be soft or hard. A harder wood can produce a darker appearance than a softwood.

Another common material is acrylic. It is more fragile than wood. So be mindful of the spacing between the lines. To keep acrylic material nice and clean, putting on protective tape is the best way to go.

Types of Laser Cutters

There are three types of laser cutters:

CO2 Lasers: The generated lasers have stimulated gas mixtures (majorly consists of carbon dioxide). CO2 is one of the most common types of laser cutter because it is inexpensive and can cut most materials like leather, acrylic, glass, wood, plastic, etc.

Neodymium Lasers: The laser consists of neodymium doped crystals. These lasers have small wavelengths as compared to CO2 but they are highly intensive. Which means they can cut through much thicker materials like plastics, metals, and some ceramics.

Fiber Lasers: The laser is usually doped with rare-earth elements such as erbium, dysprosium, and holmium. The laser has a wavelength similar to neodymium lasers. But they are built in such a way that they require less maintenance and can cut materials like metals and plastic.

Though they look very similar, they are distinct in terms of power or how they cut materials.

Thickness of Materials and Kerf

The focal point of the lens of the laser cutter cuts the material. On the other side of the material, the laser isn't as focused and the beam is slightly larger as compared to the focal point. This gap that the laser makes is basically known as kerf.

For example, the kerf on the saw blade is usually a rectangle. The laser cutter's kerf is slightly trapezoidal because the laser beam gets wider after its focal point. The kerf of the given laser determines the maximum thickness of the material it can cut. Because the laser will get thicker after its focal point. When the beam is thicker, then it is unfocused to cut it well.

Time to Cut

Now you might be ready to cut the material. It can take a few tries to find the ideal settings to cut your materials. Also, don't lose hope if your first few projects don't turn out to be successful. Keep in mind the above tips and use good quality consumable parts like the Bystronic parts. If you are happy with the results, don't forget to note them down for future reference.

Source: https://altpartsinc.wixsite.com/altpartsinc/single-post/6-tips-to-enhance-the-laser-cutting-process

Checklist for Preventive Maintenance of Different Machine Parts

 Preventive maintenance of machines and its every part is essential to ensure good quality output. By keeping a check on the machine parts, one can easily know if there is any problem and can subsequently prevent it from occurring. This way, you can save the final output from getting damaged. You just need to replace or change the worn-out machine parts with the new one. Take care of gas pressure maintenance too. Parts like Hypertherm hpr260 parts and hypertherm hpr260 consumables can help you in that. 

Checklist for Preventive Machine Maintenance

1. Clean the Torch Body

• Remove the torch parts to examine the inside part of the torch.
• Check if there is any sign of mechanical damage to threads.
• Clean the inside part of the torch with an electrical contact cleaner and a cotton swab.
• Disconnect the torch from the mounting tube and slide the tube back to see the torch-lead fittings.
• Check if there are any leakages or any damage to any of the connections.
• Blow out any accumulated metal dust inside the torch

2. Clean the Torch Leads

• Wipe down or blow off the full length of the torch leads for removing the accumulated metal dust and dirt. Metal dust causes dissipation of the high voltage required to start the plasma arc.
• Check for kinked or worn hoses, cracked fittings, exposed wires, or other damage.
• Check high-frequency shielding to form a proper connection to earth ground.

3. Clean Out the Power Supply

• Blow out all the accumulated metal dust using clean, dry air. Because metal dust can cause damage to power-supply components, especially to the PC boards. Even the contactors, relays, and spark-gap assemblies can malfunction due to excess buildup of metal dust.
• Check all the air filters on the power-supply housing and replace if necessary.

4. Check Torch-Cooling Components

• With water-cooled torches, you should check the coolant stream in the tank for signs of reduced flow or aspirated air. Ensure that the return flow is set at the specified gallons per minute. Check if the flow switches of the return line are functioning properly as insufficient coolant flow causes the torch to overheat.
• Check if the coolant filters and pump screens function properly. Also, clean or replace if necessary.
• Check coolant resistivity by a conductivity meter. Resistivity should not exceed more than ten micro-ohms for most of the systems.
• Flush and replenish coolant every six months.

5. Check Water Quality

• Secondary water quality is essential with water-injection torches. Water hardness should not exceed more than 8.5 ppm or 0.5 grains. Because hard water causes mineral deposits to build up on nozzles which leads to shortened life.
• Use a commercial water softener if required. Water quality in water tables is crucial. Because the water in the table is heavily contaminated with metal dust or slag, it can cause the hard-starting of the plasma torch. It may even cause rust accumulation on the cut pieces.

6. Check Plasma

• Gas quality is crucial and tricky to maintain good parts life and serve good cut quality. For this, hold a clean paper towel under the torch and start purging air through the system in the test mode to check air quality.
• Check for excess water, oil mist, or particulate contamination and clean if you find any.
• Check filters weekly and empty moisture traps whenever they start to accumulate water.
• Also, make sure the gas quantity is neither more nor less than required. For this, you can use consumables like Hypertherm hpr260 consumable to ensure the gas quantity.

7. Clean Machine Components- Rails, Racks, Gears

• Use an abrasive pad and a degreasing agent to remove grease, dirt, and metal dust.
• Lubricate gears with a dry lubricant like graphite powder. If bearings have grease fittings, lubricate them too.
• Do not lubricate any rail sections as lubricants will attract contaminants that lead to excessive wear.
• Level and align rails.
• Check joints where the rail sections meet with a piece of tool steel for checking if it is not misaligning. Rail alignment will prevent any drag on drive motors. Distances between the rails should be kept constant across the entire length of the system.
• Align and adjust gears and bearings.
• Avoid the gears overlapping above or below the rack.
• Adjust gear alignments to remove ply between racks and gears. Make these adjustments for cross drives and rail and both. Alignment bearings need to have minimal ply between them and rail surfaces. These bearings are mostly mounted in an eccentric shape.
• Adjust them until no light is seen between the bearing and rail surface. Remember to not over-tighten the bearings.
• With drive gears disengaged, you need to roll the beam across the rails to check for binding. Adjust it accordingly until the beam rolls with little resistance and minimal vibration.

8. Check Safety Limit

• Ensure operator safety with preventing damage to the machine. Check the machine to each limit even test the switches.
• Inspect mechanical stops to ensure that they are in proper working order.

You can keep this checklist with you as a detailed guide to check machines regularly. This guide is to ensure that you do not miss any of its parts. Hypertherm hpr260 parts, powermax65 parts, Hypertherm hpr260 consumables, plasma cutting consumables, plasma cutting torch, etc., are some of the parts you can consider while replacing or changing machine parts.

Source: 

https://altpartsinc.wixsite.com/altpartsinc/single-post/checklist-for-preventive-maintenance-of-different-machine-parts