Plasma Cutting Machine

What Is A CNC Plasma Cutter?
CNC plasma cutter is a type of computer numerical controlled metal cutting machine with CNC controller that adopts plasma torch to cut different metals into different profiles and shapes, including mild steel, stainless steel, carbon steel, galvanized steel, hot rolled steel, cold rolled steel, iron, brass, copper, alloy, aluminum, bronze, titanium. A CNC plasma kit is composed of machine frame, plasma CNC controller, plasma power supply, plasma torch, blade or sawtooth plasma table, driver, motor, plasma CNC cutting system, harbor freight tools (harbor freight generator, harbor freight air compressor parts - pump and motor), plasma CNC cutting software, guide rail, ball screw, optional parts and consumble parts. CNC plasma cutter is also known as plasma CNC cutter, CNC plasma table, CNC plasma cutting machine, CNC plasma cutting table, CNC flame cutting machine, CNC oxy-fuel gas cutting machine, CNC flame plasma cutting machine, CNC oxy fuel cutting machine, CNC plasma & oxy-fuel cutting machine.

What Is A CNC Plasma Table?
CNC plasma table is a type of plasma CNC cutter with custom welding workbench table top, which can be well adapt to cut metal projects with different sizes. There are slide rails on both sides of the workbench table frame, and the cutting mounting seat is slidably connected to the two slide rails above the workbench frame. The cutting mounting seat is slidably connected with cutting components. The workbench frame includes a sink and multiple supports column, both sides of the sink are fixedly provided with flanges, and a pressing structure is installed at the flanges. The pressing structure includes a pressing plate arranged above the supporting column and a pressing assembly connected to the flange position. The pressing assembly includes a rotating The screw rod connected to the flange and the compression ring threadedly connected to the screw rod, the screw rod passes through the compression plate, and the compression plate is located below the compression ring on the screw rod. A pressing mechanism is set on the workbench table frame. After the plate is placed on the workbench frame, the pressing ring is rotated to make the pressing plate compress the plate on the workbench frame, which can flatten the plate with poor flatness and tendency to roll, saving the labor of sheet metal fabrication, and the cutting is more convenient and safe.

How Does A CNC Plasma Cutter Work?
Plasma cutting is a machining method that uses the heat of a high-temperature plasma arc to melt at a metal workpiece, and to eliminate the molten metal by high-speed plasma momentum to create a slit. Plasma cutters send an electric arc by using gas like oxygen, nitrogen or compressed air. This turns the gas to plasma, as well as it promptly blasts through metal to cut it with broadband. A flame cutting torch works by adding a blast of oxygen to the flame which oxidizes the metal and turns it into slag. The plasma torch moves with a tool path directed by a computer. The term "CNC" means "Computer Numerical Control", which implies that a computer is used to control the motion supported G-code in a program. Compared to handheld plasma cutters, plasma CNC cutters realize automatic machining with high efficiency, high speed, and high quality.

What Is A Plasma CNC Cutter Used For?
What materials can a plasma cutter cut?Plasma CNC cutters are used for cutting sheet metals, square and round metal tubes, including iron, cold rolled steel, hot rolled steel, stainless steel, galvanized steel, carbon steel, copper, brass, alloy, bronze, aluminum, titanium. Plasma cutting machines are widely used in the industries of machine tool manufacturing, petro-chemical equipment, light-industrial machinery, pressure vessel, shipbuilding, mining machinery, electric power, bridge construction, aerospace, steel structure, etc. Plasma cutters can be applied to hobbyists, home shop, home business, small shop, small business, school education, industrial manufacturing.

How Many Types Of Plasma Cutters?
The most common types of plasma cutters include handheld plasma cutter (portable plasma cutter) and CNC plasma cutter (hobby CNC and industrial CNC). The most common plasma power supplies include Huayuan plasma cutter and Hypertherm plasma cutter. According to the appearance types, plasma CNC cutters can be divided into desktop CNC plasma, gantry CNC plasma, portable CNC plasma. According to the working methods, it can be divided into dry plasma, semi-dry plasma and underwater plasma. According to the cutting quality, it can be divided into ordinary plasma, fine plasma, laser-like plasma and so on.

How Many Types Of CNC Plasma Tables?
The most common types of CNC plasma table kits include 4x4 plasma tables, 4x8 plasma tables, 5x10 plasma tables and 6x12 plasma tables in feet, some user may call the CNC plasma cutting table kits as 48" x 48" types, 48" x 96" types, 60" x 120" types in inches, some user may call the table kits as 1212 types, 1325 types, 1530 types, 2040 types in millimeter (mm).

What Are The Advantages Of Plasma Cutting?
Plasma cutting is an efficient metal cutting method for sheet metal and metal tubes, which has made it to be widely used in many different industries. You can get benefits from 10 best advantages with fast cuts, ease of use, lower cost, safe to use, multi-tasking, expanded versatility, wide range of material and thickness, eliminated plate warping, raised inside piercing speed, and diminished dross. Compared with traditional semi-automatic and manual cutting method, automatic CNC metal cutter has greatly improved the efficiency and quality. CNC metal cutting system is an exponentially controlled plasma, flame, water jet and laser cutting machine. It performs automatic, full-time, high-quality, high-utilization and efficient cutting according to the CNC nesting software. In industrial production, metal thermal cutting generally includes gas cutting, plasma cutting, and laser cutting. Compared with gas cutting, plasma cutting has a wider cutting range and higher efficiency. The fine plasma cutting technology is close to the quality of laser cutting in terms of the cutting surface quality of the material, but the cost is much lower than that of laser cutting. It has shown great advantages in saving materials and improving labor productivity. This has promoted the development of plasma cutting technology from manual or semi-automatic to numerical control, and has become one of the main directions of the development of numerical control cutting technology. 1. It can cut thicker metals, such as stainless steel, aluminum and its alloys, copper and its alloys, cast iron and other metal materials. You can also use a non-transferred plasma arc cutting gun to cut non-conductive non-metallic materials and insulating materials with a cutting thickness of more than 150mm. 2. The cutting speed is fast, and the production efficiency is high, especially when cutting thin metals with high power, the production efficiency is improved more significantly. 3. The cutting quality is high, the slit is smooth and flat, the incision is narrow, and the heat-affected zone and deformation are smaller than other cutting methods. 4. Low cost, due to the high speed, the use of cheap gas such as nitrogen requires less raw materials and labor than other methods to cut the same material.

Plasma Power Supply & Cutting Thickness Original

What Is The Voltage Of Plasma Cutter?

When the CNC plasma cutter completes the whole set of cutting work, the CNC plasma cutting system completes the control of the mechanical precision, and at the same time completes the control of the cutting and kerf quality with the plasma power supply. It can be said that a good plasma power supply has the ultimate cutting quality and the impact of accuracy is extremely important. In the actual use and operation of the CNC plasma cutting machine, due to the brand of the selected machine plasma power supply, the power of the plasma power supply, the cutting gun of the plasma power supply, the cutting nozzle electrode and other consumables, and the thickness of the metal sheet, etc., it also includes various plasma arc cutting process parameters directly affect the stability, cutting quality and effect of the cutting process. The power supply of manual plasma cutter must have a high enough no-load voltage to easily start the arc and make the plasma arc burn stably. The no-load voltage is generally 120-600V, and the arc column voltage is generally half of the no-load voltage. Increasing the arc column voltage can significantly increase the power of the plasma arc, thereby increasing the cutting speed and cutting higher thickness sheet metals. The arc column voltage usually can not be achieved by increasing the internal contraction of the electrode and adjusting the gas flow rate, but the arc column voltage should be less than 65% of the no-load voltage, if not, it will lead to the instability of the plasma arc.

How Thick Can Plasma Cut?
CNC plasma cutting machine: According to the size of the configured plasma power supply, the cutting thickness is generally within 0.5-100mm, and the high-power plasma power supply can cut to more than 100mm; CNC flame cutting machine: Ordinary cutting torch 6-180mm (maximum 250mm), special cutting torch generally does not exceed 300mm, of course, it can also be customized to be higher.

How To Choose A Dust Collector for CNC Plasma Table?
A material receiving and dust removal device for a CNC plasma cutting machine includes a workbench composed of a bracket and a grid-like work surface fixed on the top of the bracket. The bracket is provided with a material receiving plate that can move horizontally relative to the workbench and is located in the grid The bottom of the grid-shaped work surface is parallel to the grid-shaped work surface, and the material receiving plate is a steel wire mesh plate, the bottom of the workbench directly below the material receiving plate is provided with a dust removal water tank, and the bottom of the dust removal water tank is provided with wheels. The material receiving and dust removal device enables the workpieces and wastes cut by the plasma cutting machine and dropped below the working table to be easily taken out, and at the same time, it can greatly reduce the metal dust pollution generated when cutting the workpiece.

Troubleshooting

1.The working air pressure is too low. When the plasma CNC cutter is working, if the working pressure is far lower than the pressure required by the instructions, this means that the ejection speed of the plasma arc is weakened, and the input airflow is less than the required value. At this time, a high-energy, high-speed arc cannot be formed. As a result, the incision is of poor quality, imperviousness, and incision buildup. The reasons for insufficient air pressure are: insufficient air input from the air compressor. The pressure adjustment of the air regulating valve of the plasma CNC cutting machine is too low, there is oil in the solenoid valve, and the air path is not smooth. Therefore, it is necessary to check these aspects one by one, and find the problems and improve them in time.
2. The working air pressure is too high. If the input air pressure is too high, after the arc is formed, the excessive airflow will blow away the concentrated arc column, disperse the arc column energy, and weaken the cutting strength of the arc. The main reasons are: improper input air adjustment, over-adjustment of the air filter pressure reducing valve, or failure of the air filter pressure reducing valve.
3. Improper installation of wearing parts such as electrode nozzles. The electrode nozzle is threaded and needs to be tightened in place. Due to improper installation of the nozzle, such as the thread is not tightened, or the vortex ring is installed improperly, the cutting will be unstable and the vulnerable parts will be damaged too quickly.
4. The input AC voltage is too low. Before commissioning, check whether the power grid connected to the plasma CNC cutting machine has sufficient carrying capacity and whether the power cord specifications meet the requirements. The installation location of the plasma CNC cutter should be far away from large-scale electrical equipment and places with frequent electrical interference.
5. The ground wire is in poor contact with the workpiece. Grounding is an essential preparation before cutting. If no dedicated grounding tool is used, insulation on the surface of the workpiece, and long-term use of a ground wire with serious aging, etc., will cause poor contact between the ground wire and the workpiece.
6. The cutting speed and verticality of cutting gun clamping. The cutting speed should be fast or slow according to the different material and thickness of the cutting, and the current size. Too fast or too slow will cause uneven cutting surface and dross on the upper and lower edges. In addition, the cutting torch is not held vertically, and the sprayed arc is also sprayed obliquely, which will also cause the cutting surface to have a slope.

Plasma CNC Controller & Software
The most common controller and software combination is Starfire CNC control system and FastCAM nesting software. Of course, you can choose Mach3 CNC controller and FireControl CNC controller, Sheetcam plasma CAM software and Autodesk Fusion 360 plasma CAM software.

Starfire Plasma CNC Controller
Starfire CNC controller is designed with plasma interference, lightning protection, high reliability, and surge capacity. It has features of automatic breakpoint memory. It is suitable for all types of plasma & flame cutting machines. Optional wireless remote control can be used to realize long-distance operation.

FastCAM Plasma CAM Software
FastCAM is a fully automatic common edge continuous cutting nesting software. The software is mainly aimed at CNC cutting machines, including flame, plasma, laser and waterjet CNC cutting machines, used for drawing, programming, nesting, verification and CNC cutting of arbitrary shape parts. Using FastCAM can increase the rate of steel nesting and effectively save steel; improve the efficiency of programming, nesting and cutting, and effectively improve the efficiency of cutting production. The automatic co-edge nesting function is to realize rectangular parts and non-rectangular parts in the automatic nesting process, that is, the automatic co-edge of any part with different side lengths, without manual editing, and automatically process the co-edge and continuous cutting of different parts, in order to prevent And to avoid thermal cutting deformation, automatically process the cutting direction and the position of the perforation point, and use the cut edge to directly preheat the cutting to avoid perforation.