SuperCut 50 problems

I had this problem before and I think I solved it with some water filters on the compressor, but now the problem is back again. A few days ago I cut some long lengths of 3/8 inch steel just fine. Now I went over to a buddies house and tried to cut a big area out of an old 1/4 in thick steel fuel tank (cleaned out). It was a bit rusty on the outside which he had already ground down to good metal. We welded a piece of rebar onto it for a good ground. But the arc went all over the place and I just burned uup the tips, etc. I couldn't get it to arc properly. So we drilled a clean houle into the cutting area so the arc had a complete hole for starters. It still arked all over the place and started to burn up another new tip. What is the problem? I used the same water filters that I used at home. I had 50 amps going. I have 80 pounds of pressure. Anyone have an idea? Thanks in advance!

Just a WAG but on 1/4" I'd start with 25A and tilt the torch at a slight angle with the tip in a trailing position.


RP

Should I start at 80 pounds if I'm starting at 25 Amps?

I would use 50-65PSI on small/thin stuff. I never run more than 75PSI on over 1 inch. 80 is way too high.

The wild arc sounds like moisture in the line. Like k7dfw said, try to lean the torch and pull it and see if that helps.

I use 65 psi on 1/4" all the time @ 25-34 amps depending on rust and the template.

It sounds like your electrode may be loose also. I'd like to say it's a combination of all the problems mentioned. Little water vapor, slightly loosened electrode,over amping, and too much pressure.

I've got the 60A Torch upgrade on my SC50, thus if you've got a 50A torch I don't know anything about how it behaves.

I set my 65 psi while the air is flowing with "Test Mode" on.

Hope my info helps,
I Love Plasma

Ok, I have tried all different amperage from 11 amps all the way up. I have tried all air pressure settings. I have dried the water trap filter with a hair drier. I have put in all new tips and tightened with pliers. Still a wild arc.

Have you tried different metal, like flat stock? Does it seem like your cutting stream blows around? Or do the electric fingers just dance?

If your tank is sealed off except for that hole you drilled, you may be experiencing back air, like blowing in a 2L pop bottle and having it blow back on you. Is the air flow really good at the torch tip, just curious? I cut a 500 gallon farmer barrel in half before and it had some really strong blow back even though I had 3 2.5" ports for air to escape from. It blew the plasma stream around quite a bit, even blew it out once (which is strange because the flame originates in the tip)

Alex might have you try a different torch. Sometimes the part of the torch that makes the air swirl goes bad.

If you've got any way to shoot a video I'd like to see the weird arc.

Hope it starts working good 4 U.

Which torch are you using? Is the handle black or red? If the S45 and the swirl ring is missing or bad, this can happen.

the tip is black. what would I look for - the "swirl" part? The arc just flashes out all over the place. It even burns off the pink cup. The tank - the arking behaved the same way before I drilled the small hole in the tank. I have also had this problem on other projects. When it worked properly the other day I was actually surprised and I thought that maybe I now had a working plasma cutter. I've really just sort of put this thing away because I hadn't been able to figure out how it was supposed to work.

But if there is something I can do - maybe repair or replace the handle or the swirl part, then lets do that...

A small brown ring the size of a dime that has three holes spaced around the circumference that are 120 degrees apart.

In this example it is part number PE0106
www.everlastgenerators.com/downloads/S45.pdf


RP

My tourch doesn't have anything like that. I have to strike an arc with the metal to get it going. CAn I get a new style tourch for this rig?

Turn the unit off. Take off the cup,tip,and the electrode. Turn on unit, supply air on, now switch the Test Air to on. Check to make certain you've got air coming from the center as well as the outer brass ring {where the cup threads on-(4 Air Ports)}.

Air comes out of 4 ports in between the cup and tip. Hopefully both are flowing fully 'cause that could be very hard on the machine if the tip's hole is not flowing.

If your cups are pink to start out with it's a 60A torch for sure.

Alex is really busy on Mondays, but you can get a hold of him most of the time 3-4 hours after they open (09:00 Pacific time). Alex is real good about getting people fixed up and running.



I'm pretty sure the torch is available locally, Mike any corrections?????? Please do so.

Mike said that they were going to send me out a new torch , but they never did. Last I heard of it being sent was about 3 weeks ago. There is no "swirl ring" in my model. I think the brass inner parts may be damaged.