Piercing Thick Materials; Moving Pierces And Edge Starts - Lincoln Electric FineLine 12864 Operator's Manual

BK8053-000107 Rev A.01

5.3 Piercing Thick Materials

Care must be taken when piercing thick materials in order to prevent damage to the
shield cap and nozzle. As with all thicknesses, the pierce height must be set high
enough so the metal ejected while piercing does not come into contact with the
shield cap. Also, some of the material ejected during the pierce may adhere to the
top side of the plate and form a ring of solidified material around the pierce point.
Action must be taken so the torch does not move from the pierce height down to the
cutting height and come into contact with this solidified metal. The torch should not
move from the pierce height down to the cutting height until the CNC controller has
moved the torch away from the pierce point.
One way to accomplish this may be to program the pierce time on the torch height
control system to a value that is longer than the CNC controller motion delay time.

5.4 Moving Pierces and Edge Starts

On very thick materials, an edge start or moving pierce may be required to prevent
damage to the torch consumables.
With a moving pierce, the torch should begin moving at approximately 5–10
inches/minute (127–254 mm/min) as soon as the arc transfers to the plate. After the
arc completely penetrates the plate, the torch should be positioned at the proper
cutting height and the travel speed should be increased to the correct level.
With an edge start – the edge start recommended icon (
of the FineLine Plasma Console App – the torch should be positioned at the edge of
the material prior to starting the arc.
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