replacement tip problem

[chrisg3103]

evening, im having a lot of grief trying to get some cheap chinese plasma tips to fire, ok i know there cheap and nasty but i have 9 left so ideas are welcome

its a hypertherm max 20 with a pac 110 torch for what its worth

got some spare tips but they just will not spark up no matter what, the hf is squeaking away and it wont scratch start. only once have i got it to fire by getting annoyed and hammering the torch agaist the steel
nothing to loose so thought id see what was inside

ignoring the crumbs in my keyboard, the unobtanium (cant remember its name) bit is only about 3mm long, theres about 5mm of copper behind it then hollow right to the base

original burnt out one seems to have the unobtanium all the way through. any ideas on why its failing to make a peep? got more tips on order but its taking forever and i need the pesky thing running! put the old one in and it sparks up on the hf no bother, just a bit sputtery as its totaly fubar by now

 

[Country Joe]

I think it's called an "electrode".
My cutter uses the PAC 110 T torch too, but I've not seen one in this state before!

Just realised you've chopped it open - I thought at first it had come out like that!

As far as I remember, mine says that when the hole through the centre is no longer circular, (eventually becomes oval, I think!) it's time for a new one.

Mine came from here:-

http://www.rapidwelding.com/dynamic/Category.aspx?c=PAC110TPARTS&o=0&zl=3

Must admit, I very rarely change them, though!

All The Best,
CJ

 

[chrisg3103]

yes i cut into it put an order in at a local welding supplier, said would be in the next day..... on thursday. that site looks quite handy, better than the £10 delivery from plascom

my electrode is a smoking crater about 4mm deep at the moment forgot to say the spare tips are dimensionaly perfect to the original

 

[astro_al]

I bet 50 quid you're trying to cut with moisture in your air supply.
Al

 

[RapidResponse]

It sounds like your torch is knackered. It has a moving slug in the head to initiate the arc and they can fail dure to using non genuine parts.

 

[chrisg3103]

nope, its got a high frequency pilot arc thingy.
got some parweld electrodes, look exactly the same with the hole down the middle. fired first push of the button, plasmas cutting like new again

got 9 useless electrodes though? maybe weigh them in and get 10p for the copper

 

[astro_al]

That's irrelevant - my Hypertherm has a moving section in the head, and various levels of pilot arc etc. The two are not mutually exclusive. (I know there are the manually activated arc type, but that doesn't mean that HF equipped plasma do not have moving parts).

If it happens again, look at the condition of your air - it'll make your cuts nicer too.

Al.