This may be obvious and I just am not seeing how to do this, but when setting up your cut path on your dxf, how does someone extend the cut-in to the pattern? I just couldn’t figure it out.
Also, does anybody know if the manual has suggested settings depending on the material and thickness?
Change your lead in on those parts. You have to do it individually though. If you have a series of small hole, Your lead in would still need to be small. Then say the larger part, lets say the exterior, change to a larger lead in.
Ok, how do I actually change the lead in length? Is it in settings?
Page 50 of the “alternate version” of the slide deck.
Under cut path conversion, pierce point lead in length.
Yes, under settings.
EDIT:
forgot this one:
The Duramax retrofit torch manual (which someone has nicely reprinted and bound recently; Thank you!) has charts for length of time for piercing, but not lead in length, because that’s going to depend on your design, rather than the materials. How long you want it to sit there attempting to pierce is going to be determined by material and thickness.
Ok I see it, thanks.
And Wow!!, that training deck is awesome. It is really complete.
Because that Tim guy put together a very nice curriculum! 
That’s one of the best training decks I’ve seen in awhile…
My guess is we get Tim on the HAAS training deck and then the upload is a simple 2 hours class!! 
All I did was start putting it together. I forget how many pages were in my last draft. But many others helped it become what it is.
As for the HAAS, All those involved have created a great class already. Besides, there is a lot more to the HAAS than Plasmacam. I’d put it on the scale of my drivers licence is equal to the Plansmacam. The HAAS is more like being quailified to drive NASCAR or Formula 1.
Man it’s just a “router” with a big body covering it!!
i’ve started documenting the settings i’ve used for some thinner steel. https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/User:Mstovenour#Set_Machine_Settings
I realized that setting the current too low caused a lot of dross that was hard to remove. I also realized that the kerf defaults to zero which will under size the cut. So, i’ve started documenting the speed, amps, and kerf for each steel gauge.
Thanks, I’ll take a look
So many people spend a lot of time making the Makerspace workable. They all deserve a “high five”. FYI: I did the reprint and the binding. Glad you found it useful.
Thank you @mstovenour for your excellent page. If it is a work in progress, please post on new reply on this thread to remind us when you have done significant additions.
We are all probably aware that you should design what you want the cut part to look like. Setting an offset of one half kerf width makes this work. When I started teaching PlasmaCAM, the offset defaulted to a value that produced a nice but somewhat chunky key ring. Once we ran it with zero and it produced a part which had thinner segments than the design but really looked cuter. If consumables are in good shape, we generally use zero in my classes. Mistakes can lead to positive results. Not often - but occasionally.
@mstovenour @Owen_Soccer22 and others - Can we recruit you to teach PlasmaCAM? The procedure is simple. Register and attend a class, contact an instructor and sit in a second class w/o registering, become familiar with the tool and presentation, invite an instructor to sit in your first class as wingman, submit a class, teach, collect $50.00. Contact me @bpamplin or @jast to begin.
I will gladly sit in as a wingman if needed as well.
@TBJK - I have sat in PlasmaCAM classes by @jast and @Photomancer and conducted eight of my own. If you ever conduct another, I would love to sit in as an observer. We never stop learning.