got a new toy today

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Here is a few pics of my first cuts. My experence with plasma is limited to 2 or 3 cuts in the shop at work. The cuts tonight were mad with just 110 volts since I dont have an adapter from the miller 220 to my 220. Please offer insult or advice which ever is needed. One last thing, is the boggers on the bottom of the cut what is called dross? Now I know this is a small machine and is slow by most peoples standards but at its worst it still has to be way faster then the metabo cutoff. The piece on the left I belive is 10 gauge.This is smaller then my toaster. The cut off wheel is to show the thickness of the kerf. This is a 1/16 th wheel.Last edited by tom37; 04-08-2008 at 10:52 PM.Reason: forgot somthingNote to self.......The jacket in the avatar pic is Not for welding....EVER
Reply:Looks like you've got it figured out. Guide or no guide mine are jerky. You're doing good. The 230v will be nice when yu get around to it. I leave mine on max, move slower or faster.  I never do anything super thin, not yet anyway.
Reply:Once you are done, you can put those pieces back together and practice again!I have never used a 110v plasma that I recal.  I tried out a couple of different cutters a few years back, but I think they were all 220v...It's surprising to me that yours are as good as they are in 110.  1/4" ain't nothing to sneeze at.  The cuts look fairly clean.  You could probably get it even cleaner with a little fiddlin' on the settings.  Get yourself a good air dryer filter and you are ret-to-go.Oh, btw, no spray cans in the work area...Zap got me on that one a while back, and he is definately right.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:Thanks for the reminder. That probally goes double for gas cans to. I probally slack in this area more then anyone beings that I use the table for a collection area when working on the truck. I'm making a mental note right now(CLEAN UP THE CRAP FIRST) then weld and cut. Just for the record the can was on the other end of the bench, I put it there right before the pic just to show the size of the plasma.Once again Thank YouNote to self.......The jacket in the avatar pic is Not for welding....EVER
Reply:Definitely anything to get the moisture out, it'll save your azz on consumablesDewayneDixieland WeldingMM350PLincoln 100Some torchesOther misc. tools
Reply:Looks good to me. Until I came to this board I had never heard the term dross. I had always heard that stuff called slag, but yes it is dross.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Dross is the resolidified metal that sticks to the plate....slag is the stuff that sticks to everything else!
Reply:Toy?  Where's the cutoff line between toy and honest-to-God shop equipment?
Reply:Originally Posted by 69 chevyToy?  Where's the cutoff line between toy and honest-to-God shop equipment?
Reply:Originally Posted by 69 chevyToy?  Where's the cutoff line between toy and honest-to-God shop equipment?
Reply:tom, as to the dross I learned a few things about my plasma this week. I had a trerible time with the dross and could probably do better with a torch. Talked to the hypretherm rep. I'm going to slow. He suggested setting the machine to max and just adjusting the speed I move at to control the cut. Even on a small machine like yours he was running the torch almost as fast as I would draw a line with a marker on a straightedgs in 1/8" material. with my big machine I don't think I could run too fast tearing thru 1/4". You know when you run too fast as it will spit the sparks up rather than down. All the cuts looked like they were almost lazer cut with 0 dross on the bottom.And yeah I noticed how big an air hog mine is. I definately need to go to a larger comp or bigger storage tank to do anything serious with mine. I have found however that it runs really well off my air storage bottles that I use to fill my dive tanks and that may end up being what I use for more portable work. The rep said I should get about 1hr of cut time from my 282cf bottle, depending on post flow.
Reply:I use a 60 gallon 3 1/2hp 220v compressor with mine and have never run out of air, but I did overheat the motor once (the compressor really needs a 5 horse). I set a fan up blowing on the motor and have had no problems since. It does take a very healthy compressor to keep up with one in heavy use.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Thanks dsw Always love to learn from others. I will try the speed verses thickness.As of so far the comperssor isnt an issue, it recovers fast enough, I will watch the temp tho.Note to self.......The jacket in the avatar pic is Not for welding....EVER