Get answers to your questions
Hypertherm's Jim Colt has a lot of accumulated knowledge when it comes to industrial cutting (35+ years in the industry and a genuine love of fabricating will do that!) Fortunately for all of us, he's more than willing to share what he knows.
Here's a look at some of the questions Jim has answered in our SPARK eNewsletter:
My Hypertherm system has a switch for cutting expanded metal but I have never tried it. What thicknesses can be cut? Can I cut holes? Should my torch height control be on or off? If the THC is on, how do I determine the correct arc volts? See Jim's answer.
Can wet cutting of aluminum cause combustible dust? What measures would you use? Also, do you know anything about cutting polyethylene/polypropylene on a CNC machine? Will this cause combustible dust and what measures would you use? See Jim's answer.
I recently cut out some hubs. They were supposed to be completely circular, but only half the part turned out that way. The other half of the hub was somewhat straight. Do you know what could cause this and how to fix it? See Jim's answer.
What is the good rule of thumb when cutting a hole for a bolt to pass through? I have some 1/2" flanges to cut and the holes are supposed to have a diamater near a half inch. I don't want to cut the part only to find out the holes aren't usable. For this job, I was planning to use a Powermax65 with a 65 Amp nozzle at 65 Amps. However, I also have a 45 Amp system and FineCut consumables that I can use as well. See Jim's answer.