Water vs Plasma

what damage will water or moisture in the air used for plasma cutting do? I sometimes use more electrodes than other times and thought it may be moisture.

It will eat up you consumables and cause poor results in cutting. Yes, it probably is the moisture.

yep it's moisture fore sure. one of my old shops where i worked had a climate control unit and humidity control was a big factor . you may also want to make sure you have a really good moisture trap and mount it as close to your cutter as possible, preferably on your cart before the unit.

I installed a small, inline "dessicant" filter in my air line on the back of the unit where the air goes in for plasma usage. Combined with ditching the shade 9 arc welding helmet lens (and using a more appropriate for plasma, shade 5) so I could actually see how far I'm holding the torch away from the surface, I immediately got much better plasma cutting results and longer consumable life.

I use 2, one cheap HF right at the compressor and the MotorGard on the plasma. Motorgard has the highest level of protection and the HF works as an inexpensive prefilter. Hopefully, the prefilter will extend the life of the expensive Motorgard unit.

Yes moisture is a large culprit in the early failure of plasma cutter consumables; you must have clean air as well. This includes rust and other particulate contamination from the lines and from the compressor. Older and wore compressors can also introduce oil mist to the air lines. I have made a air system that works very well, in condensing the moisture out of my system. I will take pics and post a description of it soon. But I still use a particulate filter and a desiccant filter that I built, in which I can remove the desiccant media and bake it to regenerate it. I will be listing and adding pics to all of my setup soon.

P.S. I did find this as a cheap way out for now.

http://www.usaweld.com/Super-Dry-for...rs-p/25300.htm

also it helps to drain the water from your compressor tank often

I had considered the desiccant filter units but found their rate of flow too slow/restricted for my uses. My solution was to run 3/4" copper from the compressor up (always use a slight incline) to a large plastic culvert I converted to a five foot "water tower" by having a plastic bottom welded on after I had run my copper lines and drain run down into it. The bottom horizontal run is an 1.25 copper to expand the air and drop the moisture out. It is always full of water and stays chilled. For painting I will add snow or ice. Out the top and a sloped run to my filter and regulator. Straight run to a T trap and then more sloped runs head out to the different access points around the shop. All runs end with water/contamination traps as well. (all traps of course have drains) All air couplers are plumbed out of the top of the feed lines so any contaminates should pass by and not get fed into the equipment but should flow to the traps.

I don't have a plasma at this point. But I do use this setup for my sandblasting. I haven't conducted any humidity tests but my medium stays very dry and reusable.

Do you have a picture ?

Thanks,
rivets

thanks for the link robert i ordered a couple just incase

This is my compressor set up. As noted earlier all lines run on a slope towards a drain. One pictures shows the feed out the top of the line to reduce moisture or contamination following. The high pressure short hose is to isolate any vibration. Before everyone gets all over me, I know there is no guard. Never was one, it is one of the reasons I am looking at getting a TIG. Until my guard is in place the compressor is run, with the door locked, then shut off when full. A royal pain, but this has resulted in no injuries or near misses.

Attachment 1658Attachment 1657

Moisture sucks, for plasma cutting or welding. It will lead to more consumables being used and it can damage your machine. Filter, filter, and filter. Just watch out for flow restriction. As far as using a desiccant filter, you can ruin a small filter within minutes depending on pressure and moisture content in the air. Not to mention if the desiccant gets into your machine it makes for a really, really bad day.

This thread offers for info on filters.

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...siccant+filter

I switched to the HF mini inline desiccant filters based on price and cut quality (I still have a larger dryer/filter at the compressor). I put a regulator right before the filter, right at the back of the plasma cutter, and note 90 PSI rating). I was quite pleased when they worked as well as anything similar I tried. I caught them on-sale once for $4.99 each and stocked up (normally $7.99). The brand name and HF have only on difference I can see, but they work quite well (brand name is better built of course).

http://www.harborfreight.com/inline-...ter-94733.html

Here is an easy way to maintain the right distance from the work for straight cuts.

Remove the wire standoff and use a piece of 1/4" aluminum as a guide. It fits into the notch formed by the cup and tip for the style of torch shown in the clip. This gives 1/16" gap between the work and the tip, perfect for a clean cut. A bigger gap makes for a sloppy cut, any closer is hard on the tip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9HSk...eature=related

Glen

well i've been using 1 of the filters robert provided a link for and i've noticed a huge increase in cut quality and i don't seem to be having as many problems with the torch cutting out in the middle of a cut. i was actually about to send the unit back for repair because of the hf flickering out during cutting. i've even been able to turn my amperage way down. now if i could just figure out why the tig was giving me issues but maybe that's from water in the line also. anyways that's gonna have to wait till i can get an argon bottle

wish the filters would last longer but i guess living on the texas coast and less then a mile from the bay has it's draw backs

check out this set up on this site.....http://www.dune-buggy.com/webs/Off-R...ompressor.html

I am in the process of making the very same set up for my compressor. Best to get the water out before it gets to the tank. Cooling the air down and removing the water before it gets to the tank is the best set up IMHO. Saves the tank from getting rusty and drains the water away before it does its damage.

I'm glad you posted that....I've been thinking of doing the exact same thing but have yet to source a condenser. I started looking around and it looks like a heater core may be the way to go. Cheap and can handle 175 PSI