HELP! Can't get my 160P plasma to cut

[ryze]

I just recieved my 160P and began testing it out over the weekend. I really want this to work and I want to be one of the many users who love their machines, but so far it's not looking good.

Starting with plasma cutting - I connected everything to the appropriate places, set my air regulator to 70psi, and attemted to cut a 1/4" flat bar using the supplied stand-off attachment. The plasma would arc for a split second then quit and just blow air. I tried over and over, with and without the stand-off, with and without the pilot arc wire attached, tip contacting the surface and not contacting the surface. About every 24th try I could get the arc to last for about 5 seconds. Every other time it just started for a half a second, then just blew air. I don't understand whats going on.

As for the TIG - For the most part the TIG function seems to work fine and any trouble I'm encountering, I'm going to assume that it's only my inexperience and not a problem with the machine. BUT, the TIG will not arc without touching the material. It simply will not start an arc without lift starting or scratch starting, which results in A LOT of contaminated tungston and misshaped tungston. From what I've read, the 160P is supposed to be a high frequency tig welder and able to start an arc when the tungston is at 1/8" from the work piece. Am I wrong? Is there just something set incorrectly? Or do I need to send my unit back for a replacement?

I know that Longevity claims to test each unit before leaving the warehouse, (and that was supposedly why mine took 2 weeks to ship) but why is it that my 160P showes up, not working properly out of the box?

Please help.

[vault]

What were your settings? DC, flat wave, plasma, all knobs turned to zero except current.

I've had my plasma act exactly like this and I for got to connect or had a bad connection to the work piece with the ground clamp.

As for the TIG if the settings are right I would give longevity a call and see if they can help would trouble shoot it.

[KHK]

ryze, With my 160P if i went slower the plasma would quit. I found that varing the arc force solved this quiting problem. I could go at a slower speed and maintaied the cutting arc. On my machine I am about 50% of the dial.

On the TIG problem it sounds like machine settings / torch set up / argon flow.
Are you using the foot switch?
How are the machine dials set?
How are you making the point on the tungston?
What is your argon flow?

Please reply and I will try to help.

keith

[LONGEVITY]

I just recieved my 160P and began testing it out over the weekend. I really want this to work and I want to be one of the many users who love their machines, but so far it's not looking good.

Starting with plasma cutting - I connected everything to the appropriate places, set my air regulator to 70psi, and attemted to cut a 1/4" flat bar using the supplied stand-off attachment. The plasma would arc for a split second then quit and just blow air. I tried over and over, with and without the stand-off, with and without the pilot arc wire attached, tip contacting the surface and not contacting the surface. About every 24th try I could get the arc to last for about 5 seconds. Every other time it just started for a half a second, then just blew air. I don't understand whats going on.

As for the TIG - For the most part the TIG function seems to work fine and any trouble I'm encountering, I'm going to assume that it's only my inexperience and not a problem with the machine. BUT, the TIG will not arc without touching the material. It simply will not start an arc without lift starting or scratch starting, which results in A LOT of contaminated tungston and misshaped tungston. From what I've read, the 160P is supposed to be a high frequency tig welder and able to start an arc when the tungston is at 1/8" from the work piece. Am I wrong? Is there just something set incorrectly? Or do I need to send my unit back for a replacement?

I know that Longevity claims to test each unit before leaving the warehouse, (and that was supposedly why mine took 2 weeks to ship) but why is it that my 160P showes up, not working properly out of the box?

Please help.

Hello,

Check to see what the distance you have from your standoff. It may be that your standoff is too far away from the workpiece preventing a constant arc from starting.

Try using the plasma cutter without the standoff to see if there is a difference.

Thanks,

Simon

[ryze]

ryze, With my 160P if i went slower the plasma would quit. I found that varing the arc force solved this quiting problem. I could go at a slower speed and maintaied the cutting arc. On my machine I am about 50% of the dial.

On the TIG problem it sounds like machine settings / torch set up / argon flow.
Are you using the foot switch?
How are the machine dials set?
How are you making the point on the tungston?
What is your argon flow?

Please reply and I will try to help.

keith

With the plasma, the arc quits before I even move the torch. It's literally a flash. It starts for a fraction of a second then quits immediately. I've tried adjusting the arc force all the way through the band and get the same result. I do have a theory though, after looking through the other threads. I don't know if all of the rest of the pots were set to zero. I figured that the only one active when using the plasma would be the arc force. I'll test it again later this evening.

As for the tig,

I tried using both the foot switch and switch on the handle.
I dont have a picture of the setup for the dials but I did start with zero'd out dials when using the foot switch then tested it out one by one to find out which ones should still be active. Any suggestions to where it should be?
I'm using a 1/16" gray ceriated tungston, ground to a point roughly 2 times the diameter, leaving a flat end at the very tip (as suggested from the miller site)
My argon is set to about 27 or roughly halfway up the ball gauge.

Thanks for your help!

[ryze]

Hello,

Check to see what the distance you have from your standoff. It may be that your standoff is too far away from the workpiece preventing a constant arc from starting.

Try using the plasma cutter without the standoff to see if there is a difference.

Thanks,

Simon

As I stated in the first post, I tried both with and without the standoff with the same result. I even tried having the tip touching the surface and both ways do exacly the same thing. It arcs for a fraction of a second, then just blows air. But like I also said, it's inconsistant. I was able to get it to work and make a full cut, but only once or twice out of about 50-60 attempts. Very puzzling.
Thanks for your help.

[KHK]

ryze,
Plasma: The peak current pot maxed out will give the max cutting power of the machine. I normaly have the peak current pot maxed out. Adjust the arc force pot to maintain the arc. Peak current adjusts the current and the arc force adjusts the voltage.

TIG:

I tried using both the foot switch and switch on the handle.

Using the foot switch the peak current pot should be set at zero.
No foot switch the peak current adjusts the amperage to the torch.
Set pulse Freq set at about 50% for starters.

The argon cfm is about right, if the cup is not a small one. What size cup are you using?

keith

[ryze]

ryze,
Plasma: The peak current pot maxed out will give the max cutting power of the machine. I normaly have the peak current pot maxed out. Adjust the arc force pot to maintain the arc. Peak current adjusts the current and the arc force adjusts the voltage.

TIG:

Using the foot switch the peak current pot should be set at zero.
No foot switch the peak current adjusts the amperage to the torch.
Set pulse Freq set at about 50% for starters.

The argon cfm is about right, if the cup is not a small one. What size cup are you using?

I'll try adjusting the peak current and arc force pots, and see if that helps.

I'm using the #7 cup.