I have not had a lot of luck cutting thin plate without a lot of slag and
grinding.
What size tip, and what pressures should I be using for 1/8" plate?
Is there any difference between a vertical attack and one of a slight angle?
Any tips appreciated.
Steve
I'm sure you should use a smaller tip, but whenever I'm cutting something a
little thinner and I don't feel like swapping out a tip, just angle the
flame so that it is pointing in the direction of your cut, and move a lot
faster!
Of course, I use Oxy-Acetylene. A plasma cutter might behave differently.
"Steve B" wrote
Tips designed for use in automatic or bug machine driven torches have
smaller preheat flames (for a given O2 cutting orifice) and result in much
less slag when used on thin (< 1/4-3/8") plate or sheet steel. I prefer
them for normal use for this reason, but they do require a very steady hand
or you will lose the cut.
Always try to lead with a single preheat flame right on the cut line
especially with a 4 preheat tip, and
ALWAYS use a PROPERLY cleaned tip (move the tip cleaner straight in and out
with NO side pressure) that is free of any belling of the cutting orifice
and gives a nice clean straight stream of cutting O2 as viewed from the side
when checking the flame.
Good luck, YMMV
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