Power Plasma 50 Stand Off Height for CNC

[Cartierusm]

Howdy, I've got a 40A everlast an older model I bought from Everlast in CA and I'll be upgrading to a Power Plasma 50 in a few days to be able to use it with my CNC machines and wanted to know what the stand off height should be? A simple notation in the manual says 1/8", but wanted to make sure that was correct for when it's in use with a CNC machine. Thanks.

[lugweld]

1/8 or less is okay, as long as it is not touching. Ideally, 3/32.

[Cartierusm]

I know some people with other machines talk about 1/16" or less, so just wanted to be sure that 1/8" was OK, thanks.

Also, since this has pilot arc do I need to have a different distance for pierce and cut?

[Rbeckett]

CARTIER, I use 1/16th for cutting, and 1/8th for pierce as a rule of thumb. It's very difficult to manually maintain those tolerances but the closer you stay to them the longer your consumables will last. If you will look around for some info by Jim Colt he is the wizard when it comes to the correct way to use a Plaz on a CNC table. He works for Hyperterm and has a Plasmacam machine, but does a lot of research and development on a lot of different equipment. If you look up the info in most manuals and adjust you table speed and feed correctly there is little dross or warpage and you will get very good consumable life as well. The numbers I gave were rule of thumb, but seem to work pretty good and cab be adjusted slightly for continous cuts in same material. Hope this helps.
Bob

[Cartierusm]

OK thanks.