plasma cutter tip drag bypass?

1

1eleven

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Mar 1, 2011
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I bought a Cheap China made cut 50 plasma cutter about 3 years ago and I use it about as much as I thought I would, It's always worked OK but the thing I don't like is the fact you have to drag the tip to start the plasma flowing. Most of time this is not a problem when I am just cutting a piece of clean metal. But when you tried to blow out an old weld or cut through a weld the plasma gas would shut off and you'd have to restrike the tip to get it going again. So I thought if I just take a small alligator clip with wire attached, clip it to the brass tip, then the other end of the wire to ground it should keep the plasma stream going. It does just as I'd hoped, You can start the plasma torch and it does not go out. 3 questions arise why didn't they make it like this to begin with? Is there any safety issues I should be aware of? and is it going to be a problem for the machine? I'll say it sure works good on welds and dirty or painted metal.
 
I dont have any experience with that brand of cutter but my Hyperterm has a switch that sets the HF for starting the cut. It can be set for continous, intermittent and start only. I would set it to cont and see if that won't stop the need to keep retriggering the torch. I have a machine torch on mine too so retriggering has to be done through the interface and that is a big PITA so I just leave mine on continous all the time. Take a look at yours and see if you can make that change on the panel. The owners manuals are a little less than most of us expect so if that does not work I would give the tech line a call and see if they can assist you. Hope this helps.
Wheelchair Bob
 
Thanks for the reply Bob I believe your machine is USA made with a good operators manual and support people. This particular plasma cutter called a Cut 50 is one of many called the Cut 50. All it has on the front panel is an off-on switch and and amp power knob. The owners manual is for all purposes useless as it is a bad Chinese interpretation of English. they say things like "Make sure tube of air is connected to copper by high pressure rubber tube firmly"or "NOTES:Exhaust shutter must not in block or covered, it is very 0.3 m from machine to environment objects. Make sure keep improving ventilated situation, It is very important to machine". And to call for technical help is, well it's not going to happen. That's why I posted here in hopes of some good advice from someone more learned than I.
 
Yeah my machine is US made so I have some advantages there. If you only have one knob then thats going to make retriggering neccessary. Try to make sure you keep your air dry too. Water in consumables causes all sorts of sputtering and poor electrode life. Nozzle damage is also very hard to see visually so if you can get a jewelers loupe it helps to determine when to replace the tip and the electrodes. Doesnt take much for them to quit cutting good. One missed start can ruin a tip. Sorry I cant help on the cut 50's but they seem to do OK once you get em figured out.
Bob
 
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