Plasma cutter

[john b]

When I use my plasma cutter, Victor cutmaster 42. It will cut great for about 1 to 2" then flame out , release trigger and then NJ it will restart and it will cut for an other 1 to 2". This is all with a contact tip. Do any of you know what could be causing this. Thanks John b . Sw Chicago burbs.

[outlawspeeder]

How old is the tip? I just put a new tip on my hypertherm.. It acted like a new machine.

[john b]

The tip has barely been used. I just may try changing it.

[Bob Engelhardt]

Running out of air pressure?

[chipmaker4130]

Contact tips in general seem to be more problematic. Try a non-contact set and see if the problem persists. If not, there may be intermittent shorting, shroud to internals that is induced by heat.

[CPeter]

Might be a bad ground. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. Wasted several hours changing tips. filters, checking all sorts of things, but never touched the ground. Cleaned off a good ground spot and away we go! It would not switch from start mode to run mode in the simplest terms.
Peter

[BCRider]

Might be a bad ground. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. Wasted several hours changing tips. filters, checking all sorts of things, but never touched the ground. Cleaned off a good ground spot and away we go! It would not switch from start mode to run mode in the simplest terms.
Peter

Along those lines does your machine have a pilot jet function? Could it be that the ground is bad like CPeter is suggesting and it's only the pilot run time that lets you cut?

[CPeter]

Yes, that is what was happening. the pilot jet would start, but never switch over as it never saw the ground.

[john b]

I will try those suggestions tomorrow. Thanks John b

[CPeter]

What did you find? Bee good to know as it might happen to someone else?
Peter

[john b]

Well, according to tech support it's a bad board. $700 + to repair. I am currently looking to get a new machine, either a hypertherm powermax30xp or a thermal dynamics cutmaster 40. Both have a trade in policy. Unlike the cutmaster 42 that I have the cutmaster 40 is relatively new, it is made in Poland not China. Just waiting for the numbers to come in. John b. Sw Chicago burbs.

[wierdscience]

Well, according to tech support it's a bad board. $700 + to repair. I am currently looking to get a new machine, either a hypertherm powermax30xp or a thermal dynamics cutmaster 40. Both have a trade in policy. Unlike the cutmaster 42 that I have the cutmaster 40 is relatively new, it is made in Poland not China. Just waiting for the numbers to come in. John b. Sw Chicago burbs.

My advice is go with the Hypertherm, I have a TD Cutmaster 102, I've spent more time fiddling with it to make it work than cutting with it.

[CPeter]

Hypertherm is made right here in New Hampshire. they are a great company and have great products. A lot of my neighbors work for them. Support the US economy!
Peter

[john b]

CPeter. Thanks it was the ground, but not at the work piece. Like you said it had the symptoms of a bad ground, so I followed it back into the machine. When I pulled the front cover off the ground fell out of the shrink tubing,**** ....., Long story short I was able to repair it. Now to work on my skill, can't blame it on the machine now. Thanks again for all the help guys. John b. SW Chicago burbs.

[CPeter]

Glad you found the problem. Sounds like the "tech" was trying to make a sale. My bad ground was driving me nuts. I changed and checked everything, but never disconnected the ground. I have another smaller unit and it had the same problem. It was then, that I decided to grind an area for the ground and the problem went away. It was a nasty piece of steel with a lot of rust and there just wasn't any connection through the rust. Lesson learned..... need a good ground, just as in welding, but the current in the plasma ground is not as great as the welding ground which will "burn its way to a good connection.
Peter