Plate Marking Options
“Custom built plasma tables designed to meet the needs of the technology shop trades programs”
Pneumatic Air Scriber
With a pneumatic air scriber, you are limited to the depth of the line and if you plan to paint it later, there is a good chance that the lines will be filled up with paint be hidden. It is a very clean and precise process and great if the plate is going to be clear coated or the lines are simply used for bend or layout lines and then it doesn’t matter if the lines are covered up when the part is painted after the fabrication is completed.
Air Plasma Process
With the air plasma process, Hypertherm has the Powermax 45xp that you can change out the consumables and use their plate marking parts to complete the marking. In this process, the amperage is turned down to between 10-25 amps and set your machine controls to marking. In this case you can use air, nitrogen or argon depending in what you are marking. Argon has a cleaner finish and works real well on stainless or aluminum while air is typically used on steel.
Let’s Get Started!
With the newer Thermal Dynamics a40i or a60i inverter plasma, you can really create nice marking lines by simply turning your amperage down to between 10-25 amps and we have completed really nice marking with speeds up to 225 ipm. There is no need to stop and change consumables which really makes it nice and efficient. We have numerous customers who have added a one of these 2 machines to compliment their larger system just for marking out plate and they love it. It used to be that you had to pay $10k or more for a marking plasma and that was all it was used for where now you can purchase a system that will mark and cut nicely on thin gauge up to 3/8” or 5/8” plate easily for less than ½ the price.