Kerf
The width of a cut made by the plasma arc. The kerf made from a plasma cutting torch is important as it’s the same concept as a milling machines cutter diameter. The kerf is used to compensate for the plasma making a slot in the steel. Let’s say the CNC plasma is cutting at 200A into 20mm mild steel. If you are using a Thermal Dynamics power source like the Ultracut XT for example - the kerf is calculated as 4.72mm. The plasma, if cutting correctly under optimal conditions, will cut a slot in the steel when cutting a straight line of 4.72mm. Therefore it’s important to compensate for this 4.72mm.
When cutting a hole - we are moving inside the hole as drawn by the designer. The CNC software should produce a path that is half the kerf inside the drawn hole size, to result in the hole size as drawn being produced in the steel. Then when cutting an outline - the system should compensate by producing a path that is outside the drawn file to leave the designed dimension when the part is cut.
The CR PLASMA controller has an advanced hole processing algorithm where it can adjust the hole sizes, within certain diameters, to certain compensation ranges. This allows the controller to be calibrate to products extremely accurate holes
