Any of you guys ever use any gases other than compressed air for plasma cutting? I know some people running nitrogen, but I hear it's expensive. I've also heard of people running argon. I'm trying to get a nicer cut on stainless steel on my CNC table. I thought about trying argon, but I don't really know if I need to change anything internally in the machine in order to do so. Also I was thinking of problems with the regulator freezing after running for a while. BTW this is for a Hypertherm powermax 1650. I think I run about 80 psi compressed air now.
Thanks guys!

 

bump

 

The cut shouldn't be that much better unless your air is just nasty. The biggest thing is the life of tips. Since Nitrogen is inherently dry it helps preserve the tips better.

 

I had some plates come in the other day. 3/4 inch ss that looked really nice. they had a nice rainbow kinda color around them and no slag. What do you think they used on that?

 

Laser cut.

 

it didn't really "look" laser cut but I could be wrong. I'd post pics but we already turned down the id and od of the plates. I didn't know they could cut that heavy with a laser

 

navigating through thefabricator.com i ran into an article about this very same subject.
click on the chart for the full article.

 

that's awesome! thanks!!

 

dry compressed air. all non field repair materials need prep before welding anyway.
pure nitrogen-nitrogen is now more used by older cutters and cutters in specific industries where they can take the time to prep the metal otherwise.

cheapness of compressed air and co2 has replaced alot of them anywhere it can be done.