Got a new toy the otherday, but have never tried cutting alley with one before. Then when i did.......what a mess Anyone care to set me straight on the technique etc?

Cheers

I found you need to leave a bigger gap between the cutting head and the work piece and a little more power than you would normally have for steel helps.

make sure you have a good earth, mine cut ally easier than mild steel.

Cool - what did you get?

Softer ali can be a pain (tends to just melt into slag on the reverse side - is this what you are seeing?) - as DD says, a little standoff distance (if you are lazy, get a wire nozzle guide that you can just place on the material), also make sure there is plenty of air blasting all that molten crap away.

I find harder ali alloys cut very nicely though - maybe change material to make your life easier?

Cheers, Al.

One of the things they have been talking about on Pirate recently is making sure the air filter you use is good. The ones fited to the machines are poor. Any oil or water vapour in the air makes the cut rough.

Si

Right, got a few things to try out, i'll see how it goes.

Its only a Clarke35 Max 4mm cut. Not a great lover of Clarke, but it cuts steel upto 6mm with a little patience. Got it cheap due to it being a Pre-Owned model, previous owner thought it would run on 13amp....He only had it for couple of days, Machine Mart put it up for £280, retails at £450

Cheers

Im not sure if i can live without one now....Something about cutting absolutly useless shapes into scrap metal....NO not the Landies!

Yeah - everything ends up with wiggly lines cut into it when you get one!

Call me dumb, but can it not run on 13 Amp???

I have cut (severed) 8mm plate with mine running off a 13 amp fuse, and that contains it's own air compressor?!?!

Anyway, good luck with it, they are damn useful & FUN!

Al.

is yours a invertor type one though?
not sure what the clarke is but may need 20amp single phase like my compressor?

Yes, mine's an inverter - does it make a difference? (Leccy retard, see...?)

So a regular transformer needs a higher current for the same (or less(!)) output? Seems odd?

I guess your compressor needs 20 Amps for the startup current - but why would a plasma have this issue?

Al.

Ali is not nice to cut as stell

But some things can help

Make sure the tip and cover are new or as new

up the setting higher

up the air flow

make sure the earth is 100% ON the ali your cutting, and clean the surafce with a flap paddle to be sure

wipe the ali hard with brake cleaner so as to remove any dirt - do let it fully evaporate tho

Cut SLOWER with the torch than with steel



.............And loads of practise

Nige