Plasma cutter cutting thickness: plan the clean cut

You have a 10 mm mild-steel bracket to cut, and the amazon.co.uk title in front of you says 16 mm or 18 mm. The bullet underneath may name a smaller figure, and it may give the two figures different jobs. Plasma cutter cutting thickness is that pair. A clean cut is the thickness you can part and then weld or bolt after a short tidy-up. A severance cut is the thickness where the arc still separates the plate and the edge needs a grind.

R-Tech's UK plasma-cutting guide treats those as different jobs, and its P32D figures are 8 mm clean and 12 mm severance on mild steel. The eleven listings in our plasma cutter comparison use ideal, quality, clean, maximum or severance for the same split. We followed those printed words. We did not cut plate in a lab.

In short

A plasma cutter cutting thickness is a clean cut and a severance cut, and they are different jobs. Plan a bracket on the clean, quality or ideal figure in the bullet, and read a higher title as the severance or maximum job when the bullet gives it that name. Where one listing prints two clean figures, keep both, because an average is a number nobody printed.

Two thicknesses, two jobs

A clean cut, in the sense R-Tech publishes, is the thickness at which the edge is fit for the work, on the metal they name. A severance cut is the thicker plate the same torch can still separate. On the P32D that pair is 8 mm and 12 mm on mild steel. R-Tech also prints a lower clean cut on stainless and aluminium than on mild steel.

Several listings here agree with themselves. The SPRIGHOLLY CUT50L says an ideal cut of 10 mm and a maximum of 16 mm, at £67.83. The SUSEMSE LT55 says a 10 mm clean cut and 12 mm severance at up to 55 A, at £99.99. The Reboot CUT60 title states a 12 mm clean cut, and a bullet adds a 16 mm maximum, at £132.04. Sketch the bracket on the smaller number. A 10 mm bracket sits inside those three clean lines, and it sits past a clean bullet that stops at 8 mm.

Amps and air come before either millimetre. Every machine here asks for a compressor that is not in the box. The CUT50L asks for 90 PSI and 60 L/min, and the Reboot 45 A asks for a minimum of 6 bar (90 PSI). One SUSEMSE reviewer found 10 mm mild steel a poor clean cut on a 100 litre compressor.

When the listing disagrees with itself

Three listings print two thickness stories on the same page. Adding the numbers and dividing them produces a third figure that neither line stated.

The PLASMARGON CUT55, ASIN B0G4R73MTM, at £104.99, is the clearest split. The title says a 12 mm clean cut. A bullet says a clean cut up to 8 mm, with 12 mm severance. The single amazon.co.uk review, a 5.0 from one, says the cutter has not been used, because a suitable air supply is still to be worked out. For a bracket, the planning figure is the 8 mm clean bullet, and the 12 mm line is the severance the bullet already names.

The Reboot 45 A, ASIN B0G4PZGN1Z, at £103.67, is the best value pick because of the price and because a review already names thicknesses. One bullet prints a 16 mm clean cut and an 8–10 mm clean cut, plus 16 mm severance. One of five UK reviews reports 6 mm mild steel as clean, 10 mm as smooth and 12 mm as near the limit. The 8–10 mm line is the tighter clean claim. A 16 mm bracket follows the looser claim.

The PLASMARGON CUT65 Pro, ASIN B0FMRRV6BJ, at £139.99, puts 18 mm in the title as a clean cut. A bullet says 16 mm clean and 18 mm severance. Keep the bullet's split: 16 mm as the printed clean cut, 18 mm as severance. The other eight listings stay on the comparison, which is where the full grid lives.

When a review lands lower again

On the CUT65 Pro, one verified buyer calls the 18 mm pitch false and says 8 mm mild steel was a struggle on rust-free plate, with a realistic range of about 1.2–4 mm sheet. A 10 mm bracket sits outside what that review managed, and the listing prints no air pressure to check against. Three reviews produce the 3.5 rating, so the sample is short.

The SPRIGHOLLY CUT60, ASIN B0G1MQZMPS, at £87.35, lists 10 mm clean and 16 mm maximum. In the UK texts behind a 3.3 from nine reviews, one buyer cut 3/8 inch mild steel cleanly, about 9.5 mm, in line with the 10 mm clean line. The same account severed 1/2 inch plate, about 13 mm, needed more cleanup, and treated the advertised 5/8 inch, about 16 mm, as a rough cut.

The SPRIGHOLLY CUT60L PRO, at £159.99, prints 10 mm clean and 16 mm severance on mild steel, at 0.4 MPa and 60 L/min. Across a 4.0 from seven UK reviews, one buyer cut 12 mm chequer plate, another got clean 8 mm mild steel at 60 psi, and a third could not cut 8 mm and 10 mm because the pilot arc dropped out.

The Reboot non-HF 40 A, ASIN B0FNMC9R3Y, at £199, lists a 12 mm clean cut and severance up to 25 mm. No review in the file tests 12 mm or that 25 mm line. One buyer cut 5 mm stainless for a barbecue bracket. The 25 mm figure remains a listing line on a 15–40 A machine.

Mild steel is the number they printed

Most of those millimetres are mild steel, even when the title forgets to say so. The CUT60L PRO bullet says 10 mm clean and 16 mm severance on mild steel. R-Tech's P32D pair is mild steel, with a lower clean cut on stainless and aluminium.

The PLASMARGON PLC65, at £129.99, states a 16 mm clean cut on stainless steel, aluminium and copper, at 65 A, with air at 0.35–0.5 MPa. The amazon.co.uk file has no customer-review line, so 16 mm is unchecked on all three. R-Tech's own chart steps the clean cut down once the metal leaves mild steel, and this listing does not.

Where reviews leave mild steel, the thicknesses are smaller than the headline. On the Reboot CUT60, the top pick, reviewers report holes in 6 mm stainless and several metres of 2 mm stainless, beside 1.2 mm sheet. On the CUT60L PRO, a first cut on 3 mm stainless left a messy edge at the default of 15 A. On the Reboot non-HF machine, 5 mm stainless is the thickest non-mild cut described. One SUSEMSE torch caught fire on 5 mm copper, which is enough to keep copper off a first test. For an aluminium or stainless bracket, treat the mild-steel clean figure as a ceiling, and look for a review that names your metal. The buying guide puts supply, air and start type ahead of the millimetre.

Where the model table lives

The clean figure, the severance or maximum, the current and the price for each ASIN are on that comparison. The first cut is on how to use a plasma cutter.

The top pick is the Reboot CUT60, ASIN B0DTG34CST, at £132.04, with 4.6 from 28 reviews. Plan a bracket on the 12 mm clean line. The file we read has no timed cut at 16 mm. Air is given as 30–70 psi, and the box has no compressor. The best value listing is the Reboot 45 A at £103.67. Plan inside the tighter 8–10 mm clean claim before you sketch a 16 mm bracket. One buyer ran short jobs on an 8 litre compressor and moved to a 50 litre tank when the cut was longer.

A rough severance cut still earns its place on scrap and on barrel tops. Reboot CUT60 reviews include 200 litre barrels over about seven months of occasional use. The CUT50L reviews name no thickness, the CUT55 review was written before the first cut, and the Haxiaoer reviews never state a millimetre, so those lines stay unchecked. If the arc drops out on the thickness you bought the machine for, stop and use your returns route. Confirm the live bullet before you order.