Puddle Jump Height and Puddle Jump Delay Values

Plasmac has the option for both puddle jump height and puddle jump delay. My reading seems to indicate this is probably more useful for cutting thicker materials. Does anyone have some recommended values for 6-12mm thick materials (mild steel, aluminum, stainless)?

Thanks,
Steven

Steven,

Puddle jump height is not needed until you get into the 25mm plus range, 6-12mm does not need it, what you do need is correct pierce height and cut height setting and correct lead in setting.

If your using a hypertherm unit there is a cut chart with these settings for different material in your user manual.

the puddle jump height is to get over the outer edges of the crater / topside dross which is formed when trying to pierce thick materials.

the plasma gas obviously has blowback / spray when piercing thick materials where the metal is displaced upwards and outwards.

the consideration whether you need it or not is (in my opinion) to consider the height of the crater formed , or rather the edge above the material, and if this is higher that the cut height (or close to) then you may want to add a bit of puddle jump... the delay is obviously the time to give the torch time to clear the edge of the crater before decending to the cut height. the delay will be a function of the distance and xy distance to travel

the reason why it's needed is because the torch decends from pierce height to cut height after the arcOk signal AND the pierce delay and you don't want to drag the tip of the torch though the top of the piece crater (which may be molten or solidified dross), also there is normally a THC delay where the torch is given a chance to get a stable voltage reading so you want that THC delay to be long enough to get a "clean" voltage sample past the pierce crater / topside dross.

You realise by the time you are finished with him poor old Phill will also have to add in built ramp and wiggle piercing to Plasmac?

Interesting snippet here from Autocad re Fusion360

On industrial plasma / oxy-fuel cutters this is all handled in the control.

forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-manufa...eration/td-p/6390913

I have not used it, but ramp piercing makes a lot of sense to me where the torch drops to cut height while moving along the leadin so there is clearance for the dross to shoot out behind. Wiggle piercing attempts to wiglge the torch to try and make room for the puddle.

Thanks for the input. Having read a few horror stories about first cuts going very bad due to the slag created by the pierce, I didn't want to repeat those mistakes. I am using (well, will be once it gets delivered) a Hypertherm 45xp unit and have set the cut and pierce heights, as well as the pierce delay, per the cut charts.

Rod,

You replied while I was in the middle of my last reply!

I've seen that discussion. Fusion360 has definitely made some progress with plasma cutting but there is still a lot left to do. I have modified the Fusion360 LinuxCNC post-processor to work with plasmac. It seems to be working as well as I can tell without a plasma. All the movement seems to be correct and comparing my output to what you and others have posted, all seems to be in order. I haven't put it up for public consumption yet - I want to be sure there are no glaring problems first.

I like the ramp piercing idea as well and will have to start thinking about how I might add that to the post-processor. Looks like Phill did end up using the hole overcut code I had sent him. Maybe, if I can figure this part out, I can send him what I have to see if he wants to use it as well.