I know firsthand about keeping the incoming air clean. I worked in an electrical control manufacturing facility and let me tell you I could create a small pond with the amount of water coming out of the air hose hooked up to the plasma cutter. I was cutting 1/8 aluminum plate and constantly had to file off dross on every cut. There was no air dryer at all.
Good video! I have a 2 hp 4.5 cfm 10 gal compressor with a Hypertherm Powermax 30 plasma cutter. The compressor gives me plenty of air and the Hypertherm tip is not hot which allows me to drag it all over. I use a piece of flat bar as a straight edge and just drag the tip on the base metal and the flat bar to make straight cuts. I love my Hypertherm.
I was getting massive dross on my cuts, changing the power and air and travel speed didn't help. So I tried deviating from the mfg suggested 40PSI, and the dross went away at 30 PSI. Just sharing. Thanks for the video.
This is the first mention on any plasma cutting video of the effect PSI entering the machine makes to the cut quality. I too struggle with excessive dross build up and have experimented with PSI setting to the point that too much pressure can blow the arc out. Why does every video I watch make such a big deal of the CFM, HP and tank size of the compressor but never any mention of the effects of pressure settings. Can anyone at weld.com please address this concern?
PrimeWeld does basic things that just makes sense... Different plate size with a graph of PSI and AMPS in the owners manual. Cut it out and clear tape it to the side of your plasma 🤘
So don’t let this happen to you: today I’m in the garage plasma cutting 3/8” thick mild steel. A piece dropped, and while it was still smokin’ hot, I inadvertently stepped on it. I had thick soled boots on and didn’t realize what I done, till much later when I noticed clicking with every step. Anyhow, that pice had melted my Red Wing soles like they were hot butter. Had to dig the piece out with a screw driver. Thankfully, because of those thick soles, I did not get burned. But, with cheaper boots, that could have been a nasty burn.
Good tips, I picked up a Forney 20p from TSC for 250.00 on clearance. Run it on my 6gal air compressor with a dryer with no major issues, only cut a water heater in half with it but man it sure beats a sawzall or cutting disk!!
I really enjoy your videos. Their inspiring confidence in the next job I’m preparing for . I’m about to weld some 3/16” 4x4” steel angle to the rusted frame of my 98 4Runner for some repairs and the frame is basically just sheet metal. all Ive got to work with is a 1970 Lincoln ac stick welder and a harbor freight 125a flux core spray and pray welder. Wish me luck 🤯
nice! you have the same IR 2stage compressor i do in my home shop! love it! the type and quality of consumables is also a big consideration. my Miller Spectrum 375 uses very little consumable life, i've only used a single (ONE) drag tip over several hundred inches of cuts on steel. my previous 40A (crappy) TD ate a dozen tips in way less than half the usage, and they cost twice as much and are impossible to find. terrible. the good stuff costs more....because it's worth it!
I try to watch every video I can from you guys. Although mancub is ok, You just have a better video presence. Also, I like the way you trimmed your beard. Great going guys!
Thanks for the video Red, but if you don't mind... those are NOT really air dryers... they are air filters and water separators. They only remove part of the moisture as the air cools down going through the lines. The most common type of air dryers are refrigerant and desiccant air dryers. I use several water separators and particulate filters like the ones you showed, a desiccant air dryer just before the plasma cutter, and modified the compressor itself with an after cooler which removes around 80% of the water before it ever reaches the tank. When opening the tank's bottom tap, there is never any water that comes out of there since this modification. Perhaps this might help you guys with an even dryer and cleaner air solution for longer air tools life. Thank you.
Good info but i must add for me personally i match amps with identical consumables for cut quality . I dont have a ton of experience with my TD Cutmaster 58 but have found I get better quality cuts with a smaller kerf and less bevel. For 14g and 1/8" i use 30amp . 1/4" up to 3/8" I'm using 40amp. Maybe its my technique or lack thereof for me and i just need more consistent travel speed adjustment. Love your channel and quality content
Dry air! Can't stress that enough! I added a filter station on my plasma cart. So after the air has already been cooled and thru two traps, then it goes to my cart where I have another water/oil separator, then to a filter, then descant dryer and finally before entering the machine one of those disposable paint gun finishing filter. Makes it nice since it's at the cart. No reason to run all the shop air thru that 👍🏻
Everlast makes good stuff , but why can't they come up with a drag tip? This is why I bought a Hypertherm , they have drag tips for all their plasma cutters except for cnc machines which have standoff setting. I can cut most thickness materials normally used (1/8 to 1/2 ) with my XP30 Like Jason says just very the travel speed. Very good advice there Jason, Now that you have trimmed your beard , there must be a women in your life who made a recommendation or did you have to get recertified for a respirator? . You are a good teacher keep up the good work, you and Man Cub are a great team.
I kind of overkilled it on my air compressor lol. 80 gal tank 15 cfm + at 90 psi. I'm trying to get plasma cutting down so I can get my cnc table up and running.
Great tips, thanks. However what you're showing as "air driers" are actually moisture traps and aren't air driers. They will simply trap condensed water and prevent it from continuing downstream. An air drier on the other hand dries the air itself, typically by cooling it like a refrigerator, condensing the water out when it cools, then allowing it to warm back up again. They tend to be relatively expensive when compared to a moisture trap. Paper filters are a bit of a half-way house between the two.
Thank you. I have always cut with oxy/acetylene for 35 years. Never even touched a plasma cutter. Is there enough of an advantage to warrant that extra expense in my shop. ( I used to welding on the job and in welding shops but now it is more of a hobby)
I made my own stand off. I figured "eh, I've got the materials in my shop...". I ended up just paying the 25 bucks for a real one, it's worth it. My shopmade one was all janky and fell off mid cut half the time.
HEY, Great information here. You just answered all my questions about this subject. Btw Abom79 turned me into your channel. I gotta go find that weld tester video that he made the part for.
I found that when i was cutting with a pasma torch all i had to do is watch the flame coming out from the bottom. If it is not straight down than you are to fast and need to slow down.
i really wish you guys would educate people that the water traps are NOT compressed air driers. they DO NOT catch or filter out moisture. they only catch liquid water and you only get liquid water after the compressed air has cooled down, which is why you can get it in the plasma filter but not in the filter at the air compressor. even then the air is 100% saturated with moisture. to dry the air down to a decent level you really need a refrigerated or absorption type dryer. otherwise good video. :)
Thanks ! Getting ready for my first plasma cut, this is exactly the video I was looking for ! One question : I have oiling unit ganged with drying exactly like the unit on the wall in your video. Is it enough to shut it off,or is it better to take it out completely ? I assume oil in your air is even worse than water... I even consider to use a dedicated oil free hose for my cutter. Thx.
I did this on my compressor several years ago. I rerouted the compressor discharge to a 40 ft loop of 1/2" black iron pipe outside then to a large trap I built from 4" pipe. The bulk of the water stops there, and the little that gets into the main tank doesn't get out into the distribution. I have several separators on various pieces of equipment, but they never collect any moisture. The key to this is cool the air before it gets to storage.
I've done this on my compressor by routing the air through a radiator before it enters tank. And I have water separator both at entry and exit so in theory it's nice and dry.
Hoping you could tell me what amperage at the panel you run my guess is you have at least 50 amps and 240-volt I had 50 amps at my old shop and I had very few problems running my Everlast plasma cutter and now I got a new place and there's only 30 amps available and I have to run a cord and the plasma cutter won't run I'm thinking that's probably why
Hi, I recently bought a 50 amp hf plasma cutter (with pulse tig function) and it's rated to cut up to 14mm max. It came with a sg55 torch. The question is, can I increase the cutting thickness with a better torch? I've seen other 50 amp machines that cut up to 20mm.
I have a question for you. At work, we have drag tips for our plasma cutter. They insist that drag tips are "directional". As in, you can only drag it, not push it, and tell me "that's why they are called drag tips" . I was under the impression that it doesn't matter what direction it goes, drag meaning it drags the surface vs stand-off. They also insist that the machine should be maxed out all the time, with the belief that it keeps the tip cleaner and preserves the consumables. I believe it is a 45amp machine but I don't know about the consumables. I'm getting blamed for consumables wearing out too quickly, because I questioned their logic, and asked how the tip knows what direction it is going. Is their any truth to any of that?
Nah, that’s BS most drag tips have 4 little prongs on them. They don’t know which way they’re headed. Make sure the consumables meet or exceed the amps your using and you have dry air.
@Jason Becker What are the “consumables”??? It’s been a few years since I used a plasma cutter, but then it was the gas mixture and air, unless the gas mixture is the “consumables” that you are talking about.
@@jasonbecker3362 that's what I thought. Ours don't have the four prongs though. They look just like stand off tips. The bag they come in says drag tip on it though.
If anyone makes fun of you for having a stand-off guide, they’re ignorant. The best reason to use one is if it’s super windy and you are getting pushed around by the wind, and now you can’t cut straight.
Mr. Moffet, I really need your email. I'm a new welder and have figured out something really needed that will help. I don't want to say or explain on here I want to get it patented. Ive looked everywhere and it just doesn't exist but in my head I believe. Thank you Joel beard
So you bought an everlast, painted I black, slapped a sticker on, and then made a video saying the machine is "mr.tig approved" ..... Im sure it is, considering the profits you must be making.😂
Just rebuilt a 100gal compressor for my plasma cutter and garage shop. Thanks for the tips!
Nice 🔥
Very good information I've been welding for over 40 years just now starting to use a plasma cutter.
thanks man, now I understand why my tips keep blowing apart :P
Glad to help
I know firsthand about keeping the incoming air clean. I worked in an electrical control manufacturing facility and let me tell you I could create a small pond with the amount of water coming out of the air hose hooked up to the plasma cutter. I was cutting 1/8 aluminum plate and constantly had to file off dross on every cut. There was no air dryer at all.
Good video! I have a 2 hp 4.5 cfm 10 gal compressor with a Hypertherm Powermax 30 plasma cutter. The compressor gives me plenty of air and the Hypertherm tip is not hot which allows me to drag it all over. I use a piece of flat bar as a straight edge and just drag the tip on the base metal and the flat bar to make straight cuts. I love my Hypertherm.
I got a Hyper last month, it’s great.
Still learning how to use it ....
Nothing worse than an elongated orifice! Story of my life! I was laughing out loud.
Excellent tips Redbeard 👊 Good to see you back on the channel 💚
Never left Brother 👊 just had to take a short break to follow some guidelines.
I was getting massive dross on my cuts, changing the power and air and travel speed didn't help. So I tried deviating from the mfg suggested 40PSI, and the dross went away at 30 PSI. Just sharing. Thanks for the video.
This is the first mention on any plasma cutting video of the effect PSI entering the machine makes to the cut quality. I too struggle with excessive dross build up and have experimented with PSI setting to the point that too much pressure can blow the arc out. Why does every video I watch make such a big deal of the CFM, HP and tank size of the compressor but never any mention of the effects of pressure settings. Can anyone at weld.com please address this concern?
PrimeWeld does basic things that just makes sense... Different plate size with a graph of PSI and AMPS in the owners manual. Cut it out and clear tape it to the side of your plasma 🤘
So don’t let this happen to you: today I’m in the garage plasma cutting 3/8” thick mild steel. A piece dropped, and while it was still smokin’ hot, I inadvertently stepped on it. I had thick soled boots on and didn’t realize what I done, till much later when I noticed clicking with every step. Anyhow, that pice had melted my Red Wing soles like they were hot butter. Had to dig the piece out with a screw driver. Thankfully, because of those thick soles, I did not get burned. But, with cheaper boots, that could have been a nasty burn.
Tap dancing! That was great, thanks for sharing
Good tips, I picked up a Forney 20p from TSC for 250.00 on clearance. Run it on my 6gal air compressor with a dryer with no major issues, only cut a water heater in half with it but man it sure beats a sawzall or cutting disk!!
I hated the little stand-off that my Everlast 80s plasma cutter came with, luckily, I found drag tips and drag tip consumables on Amazon and eBay.
Great technical explanation Sir 😊👍 keep up the good teaching work !!!🧐👍
TY, answered a lot of questions I had
I really enjoy your videos. Their inspiring confidence in the next job I’m preparing for . I’m about to weld some 3/16” 4x4” steel angle to the rusted frame of my 98 4Runner for some repairs and the frame is basically just sheet metal. all Ive got to work with is a 1970 Lincoln ac stick welder and a harbor freight 125a flux core spray and pray welder. Wish me luck 🤯
The phrase is now "point and shoot."
You got it man, just set it and adjust on the fly 👍
nice! you have the same IR 2stage compressor i do in my home shop! love it! the type and quality of consumables is also a big consideration. my Miller Spectrum 375 uses very little consumable life, i've only used a single (ONE) drag tip over several hundred inches of cuts on steel. my previous 40A (crappy) TD ate a dozen tips in way less than half the usage, and they cost twice as much and are impossible to find. terrible. the good stuff costs more....because it's worth it!
I try to watch every video I can from you guys. Although mancub is ok, You just have a better video presence. Also, I like the way you trimmed your beard. Great going guys!
Yep
Thanks for the video Red, but if you don't mind... those are NOT really air dryers... they are air filters and water separators. They only remove part of the moisture as the air cools down going through the lines. The most common type of air dryers are refrigerant and desiccant air dryers. I use several water separators and particulate filters like the ones you showed, a desiccant air dryer just before the plasma cutter, and modified the compressor itself with an after cooler which removes around 80% of the water before it ever reaches the tank. When opening the tank's bottom tap, there is never any water that comes out of there since this modification.
Perhaps this might help you guys with an even dryer and cleaner air solution for longer air tools life.
Thank you.
Good info but i must add for me personally i match amps with identical consumables for cut quality . I dont have a ton of experience with my TD Cutmaster 58 but have found I get better quality cuts with a smaller kerf and less bevel. For 14g and 1/8" i use 30amp . 1/4" up to 3/8" I'm using 40amp. Maybe its my technique or lack thereof for me and i just need more consistent travel speed adjustment. Love your channel and quality content
Holy smokes... I've only done 1of those and I have all the supplies to make that happen just sitting around. Thanks for the informant.
Great info. Just gbought the same machine with Cnc torch. Building machine.
Excellent information 😀
Thanks, I will pick up a bigger compressor and a air dryer, I dont think the tiny one that came on the back of my plasma cutter is doing very much.
Dry air! Can't stress that enough! I added a filter station on my plasma cart. So after the air has already been cooled and thru two traps, then it goes to my cart where I have another water/oil separator, then to a filter, then descant dryer and finally before entering the machine one of those disposable paint gun finishing filter. Makes it nice since it's at the cart. No reason to run all the shop air thru that 👍🏻
Everlast makes good stuff , but why can't they come up with a drag tip? This is why I bought a Hypertherm , they have drag tips for all their plasma cutters except for cnc machines which have standoff setting. I can cut most thickness materials normally used (1/8 to 1/2 ) with my XP30
Like Jason says just very the travel speed. Very good advice there Jason, Now that you have trimmed your beard , there must be a women in your life who made a recommendation or did you have to get recertified for a respirator? . You are a good teacher keep up the good work, you and Man Cub are a great team.
There's a guy floating around that has a 100 amp Everlast that he retrofitted with a Hypertherm torch.
Great job RedBeard
Thanks ManCub.
I kind of overkilled it on my air compressor lol. 80 gal tank 15 cfm + at 90 psi. I'm trying to get plasma cutting down so I can get my cnc table up and running.
Brilliant video thanks
Great tips, thanks. However what you're showing as "air driers" are actually moisture traps and aren't air driers. They will simply trap condensed water and prevent it from continuing downstream. An air drier on the other hand dries the air itself, typically by cooling it like a refrigerator, condensing the water out when it cools, then allowing it to warm back up again. They tend to be relatively expensive when compared to a moisture trap. Paper filters are a bit of a half-way house between the two.
Thanks for the comment Pete 👍
thanks straight forward and very informative thank you
is there a jig you can build to cut circles with you oxy ace torch? if so a video on building the jig would be awesome.
REDBEARD!!! Welcome back devil
You missed last Mondays video where we built the bend tester! That was the official comeback, go give a watch.
Oohrah Brother 🤘🔥
Weld.com definitely didn’t miss it haha.
Thank you. I have always cut with oxy/acetylene for 35 years. Never even touched a plasma cutter. Is there enough of an advantage to warrant that extra expense in my shop. ( I used to welding on the job and in welding shops but now it is more of a hobby)
You can't cut Alluminium Checkerplate or Stainless steel with Oxy Acet. Also Plasma doesn't heat the plate up much, so colder cutting.
Great info thanks 👍
Great video pards.
I made my own stand off. I figured "eh, I've got the materials in my shop...". I ended up just paying the 25 bucks for a real one, it's worth it. My shopmade one was all janky and fell off mid cut half the time.
Pays for itself in no the at all in saved tips.
HEY, Great information here. You just answered all my questions about this subject. Btw Abom79 turned me into your channel. I gotta go find that weld tester video that he made the part for.
I found that when i was cutting with a pasma torch all i had to do is watch the flame coming out from the bottom. If it is not straight down than you are to fast and need to slow down.
Thanks this helps heaps .
Good relevant info. Thankyou.
Great job on the video!
thanks for the content bud great content
Nicely done!
I heard 60 cfm, converts that to metric, omg that's a beast of a compressor. Rewinds and play again, oh it was 6 cfm..
oh it's the new guy again - i hope he's been letting that beard grow ....
i really wish you guys would educate people that the water traps are NOT compressed air driers. they DO NOT catch or filter out moisture. they only catch liquid water and you only get liquid water after the compressed air has cooled down, which is why you can get it in the plasma filter but not in the filter at the air compressor. even then the air is 100% saturated with moisture.
to dry the air down to a decent level you really need a refrigerated or absorption type dryer.
otherwise good video. :)
Always gotta keep your tip clean!!!!! Haha
How many amps do i use, all of them hahah
What consumables you put in, set it and forget it 👍
Good job
Thanks ! Getting ready for my first plasma cut, this is exactly the video I was looking for ! One question : I have oiling unit ganged with drying exactly like the unit on the wall in your video. Is it enough to shut it off,or is it better to take it out completely ? I assume oil in your air is even worse than water... I even consider to use a dedicated oil free hose for my cutter. Thx.
Thanks for the insight 👍
You're very welcome
Dude great tips!
what about cooling the air from the pump and removing the water BEFORE it goes into the tank??
I did this on my compressor several years ago. I rerouted the compressor discharge to a 40 ft loop of 1/2" black iron pipe outside then to a large trap I built from 4" pipe. The bulk of the water stops there, and the little that gets into the main tank doesn't get out into the distribution. I have several separators on various pieces of equipment, but they never collect any moisture. The key to this is cool the air before it gets to storage.
I've done this on my compressor by routing the air through a radiator before it enters tank. And I have water separator both at entry and exit so in theory it's nice and dry.
How good are the plasma cutters with the built in air compressor? Thats what Im thinking of buying..
Save your money!
That's Mr. Goldylocks to you!😜
i got a 7.5 HP screw with 240 gallons of storage... is that good?
my neighbor has 20 HP screw with 1800 gallons storage... is that good?
Hoping you could tell me what amperage at the panel you run
my guess is you have at least 50 amps and 240-volt
I had 50 amps at my old shop and I had very few problems running my Everlast plasma cutter and now I got a new place and there's only 30 amps available and I have to run a cord and the plasma cutter won't run I'm thinking that's probably why
Hi, I recently bought a 50 amp hf plasma cutter (with pulse tig function) and it's rated to cut up to 14mm max. It came with a sg55 torch.
The question is, can I increase the cutting thickness with a better torch? I've seen other 50 amp machines that cut up to 20mm.
Excellent tips (no pun intended).
Hi Weld.com this may be a dumb question, but is there much difference in use ie stand off, between pilot arc and none pilot arc machines ?
I’m having problems walking the cup with my plazzma cutter. What should I do? 🤨😊😉
Can you use a stand off guide with a cutter that doesn't have the pilot arc feature?
The same question crossed my mind since mine doesn't have pilot arc, and yes you can but it's tricky and sucks.
What model of air dryer do you use?
Thanks for the tips! Where did the beard go?
Mysteriously disappeared one day without a trace 🤷♂️
Weld.com thank you for the videos there’s some of my favorites. Just had to ask
What happened.. quarantined with some shears?
nobody mentions air pressure, how come?
I have a question for you. At work, we have drag tips for our plasma cutter. They insist that drag tips are "directional". As in, you can only drag it, not push it, and tell me "that's why they are called drag tips" . I was under the impression that it doesn't matter what direction it goes, drag meaning it drags the surface vs stand-off. They also insist that the machine should be maxed out all the time, with the belief that it keeps the tip cleaner and preserves the consumables. I believe it is a 45amp machine but I don't know about the consumables. I'm getting blamed for consumables wearing out too quickly, because I questioned their logic, and asked how the tip knows what direction it is going. Is their any truth to any of that?
Nah, that’s BS most drag tips have 4 little prongs on them. They don’t know which way they’re headed. Make sure the consumables meet or exceed the amps your using and you have dry air.
@Jason Becker
What are the “consumables”???
It’s been a few years since I used a plasma cutter, but then it was the gas mixture and air, unless the gas mixture is the “consumables” that you are talking about.
@@jasonbecker3362 that's what I thought. Ours don't have the four prongs though. They look just like stand off tips. The bag they come in says drag tip on it though.
If anyone makes fun of you for having a stand-off guide, they’re ignorant. The best reason to use one is if it’s super windy and you are getting pushed around by the wind, and now you can’t cut straight.
Noo beard
It’s like a chia pet. It’ll grow back.
who you call'n Goldilox
What plasma cutter is this?
And rough price please.
Everlast PowerPlasma 62i. It's about $1100 without the CNC package: www.everlastgenerators.com/catalog-plasma-cutter
Worth every penny. I didn’t think we could cut the 3/4 inch plate with it. Boy was a wrong.
Mr. Moffet, I really need your email. I'm a new welder and have figured out something really needed that will help. I don't want to say or explain on here I want to get it patented. Ive looked everywhere and it just doesn't exist but in my head I believe.
Thank you
Joel beard
So you bought an everlast, painted I black, slapped a sticker on, and then made a video saying the machine is "mr.tig approved" ..... Im sure it is, considering the profits you must be making.😂
you got bail stay out of trouble
FAIL!!
Speak for your own orifices homie.
Thank you very much, Great video.