Just pulled the trigger on a new Powermax 30

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It is inbound as i write this.  A couple of questions for plasma cutter pros, what is a reasonable expectation for life span of consumables in the home hobbyist environment? I'm guessing I won't cut anything thicker than 1/4" and probably less than 30-50 linear feet of cutting per  year. Any advice for a reasonably priced air drying setup for my compressor? I have an older Craftsman 220v 5hp compressor. I was thinking of adding the Harbor Freight Auto drain valve for starters and a dryer of some sort. I've heard of people running lines in a horizontal zig zag an other configurations to keep water at bay. Any input on an economical way to dry air for this rig? I'd like to keep it simple If possible. Thanks in advance for input.Last edited by KTMrider; 05-21-2012 at 10:29 PM.
Reply:If I am not mistaken, it should have a small trap on the rear. If you live  in a dry climate, I don't think you will need one. I live in Los Angeles, and the trap on the back of mine is all I use. Some people use a simple dessicant dryer.Great machine by the way.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:It sounds as though your Powermax30 is going to be used for occasional use.....so you are on the right track with getting an auto drain for the compressor. The Harbor Freight unit drains the tank on every cycle....my experience has been good with this unit.For filters....while there is a filter inside your 30 (the operators manual has details about it) it is always wise to have a filter on your air system. The large (toilet paper roll size) motorguard units seem to work well under most conditions....so that would be my recommendation.Many seem to get carried away with over filtration....which often causes air starvation (low flow) at the inlet to the plasma. Make sure you have at least a 3/8" ID hose running to the plasma....no longer than 50 feet. If you can...get a 1/4" pipe tee and a 150 psi pressure gauge and plumb it into the air inlet on the Powermax. This gauge will allow you to monitor the inlet air pressure (must be between 85 and 135 psi) while the air is flowing at te torch.....as long as the pressure is in that range (dynamic, flowing) you have adequate air.Consumable life with the Powermax30 is pretty incredible. The torch can be drag cut...just use good piercing technique (hold a little standoff...and tilt the torch so blowback misses the nozzle) and then as soon as pierce is complete drag lightly on the plate. This torch has great visibility and works well with template or straightedge guides.....which can be made from metal, cardboard, whatever is handy. It does a great job up through 1/4" and easily severs 1/2" when needed.Inlet power...the unit will work on a 20 amp, 120 volt outlet....but eventually will trip your breaker when cutting thicker materials (draws about 26 amps when cutting thicker). For heavier cutting a dedicated 30 Amp 120 volta circuit works best.....or run it on a 15 amp 230 volt circuit if available. On a 120 , 20 amp circuit if the output power is set at 24 amps or less....it is unlikely that you will trip a breaker.Good luck...and thanks for buying a great American Built product!Jim Colt   Hypertherm Originally Posted by KTMriderIt is inbound as i write this.  A couple of questions for plasma cutter pros, what is a reasonable expectation for life span of consumables in the home hobbyist environment? I'm guessing I won't cut anything thicker than 1/4" and probably less than 30-50 linear feet of cutting per  year. Any advice for a reasonably priced air drying setup for my compressor? I have an older Craftsman 220v 5hp compressor. I was thinking of adding the Harbor Freight Auto drain valve for starters and a dryer of some sort. I've heard of people running lines in a horizontal zig zag an other configurations to keep water at bay. Any input on an economical way to dry air for this rig? I'd like to keep it simple If possible. Thanks in advance for input.
Reply:Originally Posted by jimcolt If you can...get a 1/4" pipe tee and a 150 psi pressure gauge and plumb it into the air inlet on the Powermax. This gauge will allow you to monitor the inlet air pressure (must be between 85 and 135 psi) while the air is flowing at te torch.....as long as the pressure is in that range (dynamic, flowing) you have adequate air.
Reply:The 45 is different, however the LED's on the front panel only indicate the pressure going between the onboard regulator and the torch (in the 50 to 70 psi range).....the rear panel gauge will indicate incoming pressure from your air system (usually 90 to 120 psi). If there is an upstream restriction (plugged filter, too many filters, to small of an air hose, too many fittings, etc.) the rear panel gauge will show a drop in pressure as soon as the torch air starts flowing. If it drops below the low input rating for your system (listed in your operators manual)...it will affect cut quality and consumable life.Jim Colt  Originally Posted by k45Jim,I have the PM45.   It has the LED lights for pressure on the front panel (is the PM30 different?)   With the LED lights, is the pipe Tee and pressure gauge still recommended?I didn't know about the HF self draining unit    I debated the Motorgard filters but went ahead and got the Hypertherm filter.   I must say that I was amazed at the amount of water that came out of it when it cycled!I have also installed a drain line on my compressor that makes the drain valve reachable (TSC has C-H kits for under $20) and I am surprised at the amount of water that drains out of the compressor.   I never seemed to notice so much water before I installed that accessible drain.   I can certainly understand your recommendations for the water filter.The PM45 is quite an impressive little box! Ken
Reply:Jim thanks so much for the great advice! I'm really looking forward to this unit, my biggest fear, I'll enjoy it so much I'll start cutting up all my stuff just because! As far as the motor guard filter, I've read some folks actually use toilet paper in them.
Reply:Compressing air takes the air and everything that is in the air (like water vapor) and fills the air tank with that.  It also heats up the air.  Hot air can hold more water vapor than cold or cooler air.  But once that hot moist (loaded with water vapor) air expands from high pressure back to atmospheric pressure, it will cool and the water vapor will change back into liquid water.  Which then can make things 'messy' for air tools.So you definitely want to either drain your compressor tank regularly or use an auto-drain (so any liquid water in the tank is removed so you minimize rust destroying your air tank and so you actually have air in the tank and not a whole bunch of water, etc, etc, etc).Then you want to cool the warm (or hot) air so that the water vapor that is mixed in with the compressed air can cool and condense back into liquid form.  Adding some metal air piping is one way to try and give the air some more time and surface area to cool off with, and the zig-zag piping is an attempt to add more pipe length and surface area in less 'space'.Then you need an air filter to capture any liquid water and trap it from going into your tools, or in this case the plasma cutter (what the little built-in filter on the PM30 is pretty much there for).  Most air filters do not trap water vapor, they trap small (or large, eek!)  drops of liquid water but not water vapor.  A dessicant air filter/dryer or a refrigerated air dryer can both either remove water vapor (dessicant) or turn the water vapor into liquid water (refrigerated dryer).So drain the tank, manually or with an auto-drain.Then cool the air so the water vapor can condense into liquid water (before getting into the tools/machine!).  Then remove the water (and any oil droplets if it is an oil-lubed compressor) and any fine particulates (dust, pollen, etc) with filter(s).Your call as to how much time and space and 'effort' you want to put into getting clean, dry air to your air tools and plasma cutter.  I figure at least a hundred dollars worth of filtration is about the minimum.As to how long the plasma cutter tip lasts, a lot depends on how 'good' you are with the cutting and if you are doing lots of piercing cuts or not and also how good you want the cuts to be.  'Rough' cuts can continue to be done for  a bit longer with a worn tip than 'fine' cuts where you want the cut quality to be better. 30 ft of cuts per year in 'thin' material with a PM30 and you'll probably end up changing the tip because you 'think' you need to and not because you actually 'have' to.    (the tip will keep cutting even when 'worn' but the cut quality goes down a bit)  Hypertherm says right in their "Plasma Brochure" (Hypertherm powermax  Product Reference Guide, Page 6) that 'usual' consumable life for their Powermax plasma cutters is about 1-2 hours of 'arc on time'.  For a PM30 cutting 3/8 inch steel at 15 ipm, that would ~75-150 ft of material cut before the consumable (tip) has to be replaced (depending on operator technique, air quality, whether piercing cuts are being made, etc, etc)  That PM30 cutting 1/4 inch steel should get through ~165-330 ft of material on the consumable tip before it needs to be replaced.  YMMV, etc, etc.  Right in the brochure, in the PM30 section on Page 11, Hypertherm has a chart showing the approximate number of 12 inch cuts on 1/4 inch steel the machine 'should' be able to do on a set of consumables at ~350 (higher than the 'other' machines in the chart).PM30 - good machine within its limits.  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:The original design of the Motor Guard was to use toilet paper.....however, toilet paper is designed to break down and disolve in water (over time, hopefully). When it does that in your air system.....expect to get little particles of the paper in your plasma system. They will clog the torch, the regulator, the internal filter and the solenoid valve. Use the high quality replacement filters that were designed for use with the MotorGuard....and this won't happen. I change mine (in my home shop) maybe once every two years....but I have an auto drain on the compressor and a refrigerated dryer upstream.Jim Colt Originally Posted by KTMriderJim thanks so much for the great advice! I'm really looking forward to this unit, my biggest fear, I'll enjoy it so much I'll start cutting up all my stuff just because! As far as the motor guard filter, I've read some folks actually use toilet paper in them.
Reply:Originally Posted by MoonRiseCompressing air takes the air and everything that is in the air (like water vapor) and fills the air tank with that.  It also heats up the air.  Hot air can hold more water vapor than cold or cooler air.  But once that hot moist (loaded with water vapor) air expands from high pressure back to atmospheric pressure, it will cool and the water vapor will change back into liquid water.  Which then can make things 'messy' for air tools.So you definitely want to either drain your compressor tank regularly or use an auto-drain (so any liquid water in the tank is removed so you minimize rust destroying your air tank and so you actually have air in the tank and not a whole bunch of water, etc, etc, etc).Then you want to cool the warm (or hot) air so that the water vapor that is mixed in with the compressed air can cool and condense back into liquid form.  Adding some metal air piping is one way to try and give the air some more time and surface area to cool off with, and the zig-zag piping is an attempt to add more pipe length and surface area in less 'space'.
Reply:We have had an Ingersoll Rand T30 to supply air to our milking parlor (all air operated controls and gates) in continuous use for 14 years. It has a timed tank water purge, but we knew we needed to get the air dry. For the first 10 years, we relied on a large Hankison dryer to keep moisture out of our lines. For 9 months of the year, everything worked smoothly. Winter months were a different story altogether. The lines running to our entrance and exit gates would always ice up when the temp got in the teens or lower. We tried adding heat tape to the lines, but that just moved the icing problem further down the line and froze in our cylinders to exhaust mufflers. We finally fixed the water problem with an air cooler before the dryer. The hot air through the dryer was still carrying some moisture. We've had four years without water issues. I'm putting together the same setup for my shop. I don't have a large dryer yet, just a series of small inline dessicant canisters. I rely on my PM45 too much to risk damp air.
Reply:That's what I'm talking bout Willis! Two days from KY to CNY! Weldersupply.com $1050 shipped! Looked like the box had been resealed, opened it to find a perfect new unit with extra goodies added to the box! Thanks much.
Reply:My bad, WelderSource.com.... Great folks! Excellent service!
Reply:Originally Posted by KTMriderMy bad, WelderSource.com.... Great folks! Excellent service!