Plasma cutter settings

Hi all, My plasma cutter arrived last week. I had time to make one cut on some

1/8 inch angle iron. Since it can do up to 3/8 with decent quality I set the power at about 1/3 scale. Anyone have any general power setting guidelines for cutting mild steel, aluminum or Stainless? X amps per thousandth?

Thanks, Michelle

I run my Thermal Dynamics Pak Master 50 wide open most of the time. In general, you need to move faster to get a clean cut at high settings so the only time I throttle back is when I need to move more slowly on an intricate shape.

You can see my welding and cutting table at

and associated files. The gravel lined tray has saved my shoes from many burns.

Ted

Ok, so it's........ fast = clean...... and ..... slower = lower, amps

I have a T-D cutmaster 75 and I'm trying to get clean cuts on 1/2" CRS........ cutting at 60 amps w/ 70 psi dry air, I get a lot of dross on the bottom and "cut surface drag lines" at a 10 -15 degree angle. Also, the angle of the burn isn't very perpendicular to the surface of the material. I wonder if even a very slight wind could account for that? (outdoors) or, I'm not holding the torch right?... or, both.

If I back-off to 40 amps, it doesn't always burn through the 1/2" material. Maybe I should increase the psi, although the book says 70 psi. TIA

Your table looks real handy.

The tech guy I know at Miller told me to run it wide open on anything bigger than about 16 gauge. I've always done that, and never had any problems.

Because of the swirling of the plasma gas as it comes out of the nozzle you will have more of a bevel on one side of the cut. The thicker the metal is the more noticeable this will be. The less amps you use the smaller the kerf will be and your nozzles will last a little longer. Try using only what amperage you need to cut at a comfortable speed. If you cut 1/8 steel with 40amps @ 140ipm you can turn it down to 30 or 35 and cut slower if you need to. Watch the sparks coming out of the bottom of the cut. They should be going straight down if your cutting speed is correct. I wouldn't adjust the psi settings from what the Manual suggest. If you are using a gouging tip then the psi is less depending on the length of the torch leads.

Ah-ha!!!...... that sounds like the golden rule of thumb...... "Watch the sparks coming out of the bottom of the cut. They should be going straight down if your cutting speed is correct."

IOW.......

1) whatever the amps, if the sparks don't shoot straight you're going too fast 2) lower the amps 'til you have straight sparks and a comfortable speed.

Thank you.