Problems with plasma cutter

[zoama]

Ok now Ive got it grounded but for some reason my amps arent staying where I want them. I have it at full 50 amps but when i start cutting (had my wife watch the digital read as i was cutting) it drops to 22 and hangs there causing the cut to take longer. What could be the cause of this?

Possibly poor ground.

[Jef_Replogle]

Possibly poor ground.

Its latched on there tho... ugh frustrating.. it jumps to 22amps then as soon as i let go of the trigger it creeps back up to 52. Ill play with it some more but that ground is on there and metal is clean.. shouldnt matter that its on hot rolled right? I didnt think the carbon coating would really take away from the ground.

[performance]

Yes, it will drop to 22 amps as long as the pilot arc is in play. When the arc transfers to the metal during the actual cut, it will jump back up. IF not, you may have done damage to the torch or the pilot arc circuit trying to use it without the clamp for so long. The Pilot arc is NOT designed for running continuously as you had done previously.

[Jef_Replogle]

Yes, it will drop to 22 amps as long as the pilot arc is in play. When the arc transfers to the metal during the actual cut, it will jump back up. IF not, you may have done damage to the torch or the pilot arc circuit trying to use it without the clamp for so long. The Pilot arc is NOT designed for running continuously as you had done previously.

I did it without a clamp for mere minutes. I didnt continualy use it for days or something without. Ive already emailed customer support I really dont think this is from user error. Im going to be really disapointed if my warranty is voided because i didnt have it grounded for a few short occasions (a mistake every noob makes along with forgetting the gas is not turned on)

[Jef_Replogle]

POSTED ON WELD WEB AFTER I GOT OFF WORK AND HAD A CHANCE

"Thanks for all the input guys and moving it to the right thread. Since i started this thread ive found out a lot and mike the sales rep has brought to my attention that it could be my fault but I hope its not because like assassin_works said im broke as a joke because im married haha.

The problem started way before I posted on here like a couple days ago. I've been welding for years but not to big on plasma cutting. Just lots of oxy settling burnin'. Well this whole "pilot arc" ordeal was a bewilderment to me because normally on the plasmas ive used in the past if its not grounded its not gonna do more than give u a little arc and go out. Well the pilot arc kept goin and on accident i realized i didnt need the ground to cut through thin sheet metal when i was playing around with it trying it out. Then i realized i do need the ground becuase when it came to thicker material it just wouldnt cut. (biggest noob mistake ever i know) well now they are thinkin Ive ruined the torch and now made it so the pilot just stays on at all times. Reason i didnt come out and say anything about it on here was because i didnt think it was related if you look at my original post I thought i just wasnt running enough power to the unit.

Not sure if i caused it but just had to clear the air because people on the other forum were accusing me of spamming since i have two different usernames on this and everlast and had two similar threads going. "

[performance]

Jef,
Don't worry, if there is a problem we will help you out.

[Jef_Replogle]

Jef,
Don't worry, if there is a problem we will help you out.

Thanks mark. I got names flipped and accidentally called mike today but after walking him through the problems we came to the conclusion that it wasn't going off the pilot arc (because it was going through the 3/8" steel but the reason it may be losing momentum and getting slaggy was that my compressor is right at the minimum for the machine and may not be keeping up. He said the digital read out isn't always showing right during the cut. Also gonna try a part he recommended for a secondary way to keep water out of the line. Very helpful! Sorry again for all the craziness on here.

[sportbike]

Its latched on there tho... ugh frustrating.. it jumps to 22amps then as soon as i let go of the trigger it creeps back up to 52. Ill play with it some more but that ground is on there and metal is clean.. shouldnt matter that its on hot rolled right? I didnt think the carbon coating would really take away from the ground.

The mill scale is likely insulating the clamp quite a bit Should be ground off.

[performance]

Mere minutes, is enough to melt down a consumable and possibly a torch head. The arc is being carried through the torch body on tiny wires and the being fed back through a sensitive series of circuits. The pilot arc is designed for mere SECONDS of continual use. OE is a large cause of issues. Having a work clamp left over is a should be an immediate warning that something isn't right. 80-100 psi is way too high, and that is discussed in the manual I believe as well as some of the basics. The coating on the steel is mill scale, and probably oil. It can interfere, but not usually if it is fairly clean metal. What model do you have?

[Jef_Replogle]

Its a powerpro 205 and yes metal is clean.

[performance]

Is your torch in the negative or positive?

[Jef_Replogle]

Negative. I assumed the ground is always in positive.