daleyd
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- Thread starter Brad93
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- wanna swap 
Hood
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Oh also the extractor fan as well as mine is downdraught because I didn't have time to make a water tray.
Having said that the downdraught is excellent and the only reason I would want water now is for the stainless as I actually fancy trying submerged cutting.
Having said that the downdraught is excellent and the only reason I would want water now is for the stainless as I actually fancy trying submerged cutting.
Brad93
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The water really reduces the distortion.
jordhandson
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Nice
thats another thing on the list, lighting, I have 6 foot double lighting tubes all over the ceiling they are starting to flicker so on the way out, I am thinking of going LED next time, or as soon as it get to dark to work with the strip tubes
Hood
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Distortion isn't normally an issue, what I fancy trying is fully submerged cutting, ie torch under the water as well, that should reduce the oxidisation on stainless.
Hood
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I will probably go LED for the workshop as the tubes die out, that is if I have not died myself by thenNice
Brad93
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On thick stuff I suppose not but ha e you ever cut 1.5mm?
Hood
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2mm stainless is the thinnest I have cut.
jordhandson
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I will probably go LED for the workshop as the tubes die out, that is if I have not died myself by then
You got me thinking now I wonder if its possible just to fit LED tubes in the old florescent fittings
Hood
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They sell them, I have them bookmarked but I have never tried them so can't say more than that
Bladevane
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I'm sure I have read somewhere that submerged cutting really eats up the consumables. Will the THC work correctly fully submerged? Surely the voltage between the work piece and tip will be virtually zero?
Hood
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Submerged cutting does work and has lots of benefits. THC should still be fine as it is the arc voltage of the plasma machine and there has to be voltage whether under water or not, in fact I think the air likely causes a pocket under the water.
Where problems can arrise is with the torch itself, mine is a blowback ignition type torch so it has a moving electrode, I think that can get gummed up through time if used under water.
Where problems can arrise is with the torch itself, mine is a blowback ignition type torch so it has a moving electrode, I think that can get gummed up through time if used under water.
Brad93
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You want the thermal arc type with a consumable starter
Hood
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How does that work?
This is mine, have a spare head here so just took a vid. Basically the air pressure forces the centre bit up and that makes contact and starts the pilot arc.
It is not that clear but if you look at the centre bit it is moving as I pull on the braid at the back.
I've been gradually moving to LED replacements when tubes fail. They only work in ye olde starter type fitments as you replace the starter with a bypass starter (you can use them in electronic ballasts, but you have to strip the fitting and bypass the ballast).
You do however only get what you pay for.
As part of an energy drive at work, all fluorescents were replaced with LEDs, and they were absolute rubbish. An argument ensued between our manager and building services about how poor the lighting was, but BS were adamant they met the required standard. They were quickly upgraded, when he asked how the energy savings would look once he'd popped over to Screwfix and bought half a dozen halogen floodlights so we could read part numbers in the stores
Personally I only buy Sylvania or Energiser tubes with as high an output as possible. Last few batches I've bought from Dependable Trading on eBay, and they work well.
henry Kadzielski
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@Brad93 I shared your grief. When I built mine (from scratch) I had no idea what I was doing. The build was the easy part, the part that did my head in was the configuration of the software to work, the calibration and finally the biggest problem was how to get a drawing and process it to get it out to a part
. I didn't know how close I was to an operational machine and could have poured petrol on it several times. Things have improved now, but it still causes problems sometimes. It is the ability of the operator to resolve them and keep going. Glad to see yours operating and giving you what you need
. I didn't know how close I was to an operational machine and could have poured petrol on it several times. Things have improved now, but it still causes problems sometimes. It is the ability of the operator to resolve them and keep going. Glad to see yours operating and giving you what you need
Brad93
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https://www.rapidwelding.com/files/SL60 and SL100 Plasma Torch Operating Manual.pdf
You have a start cartridge. Last a few hundred to a 1000 starts if I remember.
Hood
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Mine has done way more than that and is still working. No doubt I will fire it up tomorrow and it wont
Brad93
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It’s took some doing for sure but I’ve managed to do two of these tonight and one aborted attempt.
I do need to play around with the lead in and lead out as I’m getting a little arc cutout even though I’m doing a semi circular lead in. I’ve had to take this out of automatic lead in/lead out due to the software putting the starts outside of the “ENGINEERING” letters. They are quite small so it’s understandable.
There is about 25 different types of lead in you can choose from. Plate was 3mm and I was programmed for 4mm too so that might not have helped.
I do need to play around with the lead in and lead out as I’m getting a little arc cutout even though I’m doing a semi circular lead in. I’ve had to take this out of automatic lead in/lead out due to the software putting the starts outside of the “ENGINEERING” letters. They are quite small so it’s understandable.
There is about 25 different types of lead in you can choose from. Plate was 3mm and I was programmed for 4mm too so that might not have helped.
