Just curious on people’s thoughts of open tip vr shieled tip, goods or bads either way.
I assume with the shielded tip you need to account for the height of the shield in the working height dimension.
@Brent You don’t say what sort of plasma cutter you are using.
There is a lot of variation across brands but for best results you should be using a smooth face tip rather than a drag tip. this gives you better control over the length of the flame and you get better cuts as a result.
I have a Hypertherm45. Have used nothing but a shielded tip and have had excellent results. Been running with .060” air gap between the tip and the work piece.
Thanks for the feedback. Looking the charts that came with it funny that it calls for .14 with the exposed tip and .16 for the shielded tip. I would have though the shielded would be closer because the shiled itself has a thickness the which means the actual tip behind it is further yet from the work surface. I will do some experimenting when I get it all hooked up.
