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Pilot arc plasma cutter or touch start

Updated: October 2026

The offcut is rusty or still painted, or the bench sits next to a car ECU and a laptop. You are choosing a pilot arc plasma cutter or a touch-start machine, and the advert treats those words as extra millimetres. They are not. Touch start needs bare metal. A pilot arc can transfer onto paint, rust or mesh. Non-HF blowback, here, is one Reboot at £199.00, sold as less interference, and it does not add a bigger fuse. The [Stahlwerk plasma cutter comparison](/hub/cutting-tools/stahlwerk-plasma-cutter) holds prices and thickness. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. No ASIN here is described as having passed an EMC test.

The offcut is rusty or still painted, or the bench sits next to a car ECU and a laptop. You are choosing a pilot arc plasma cutter or a touch-start machine, and the advert treats those words as extra millimetres.

Our top picks

Reboot Reboot CUT60

Best overall

Reboot Reboot CUT60
8.3/10about £132.04
View offer
Reboot Reboot 45 A

Best value

Reboot Reboot 45 A
7.9/10about £103.67
View offer
Reboot Reboot non-HF 40 A

Alternative

Reboot Reboot non-HF 40 A
6.9/10about £199.00
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Touch start needs a circuit
  2. 2.Pilot arc
  3. 3.Non-HF is not a thicker cut
  4. 4.What this choice does not decide

Touch start needs a circuit

A touch start, sometimes printed as HF or contact, strikes through the tip into the plate and back through the earth clamp. Paint, powder coat or thick scale at either end can stop it. A SPRIGHOLLY CUT60 review, on a machine at £87.35 with a listed clean cut of 10 mm, says paint has to come off at the tip and at the clamp, and that a gap of about 0.5 mm is critical. That reviewer points painted scrap towards a pilot arc. Bare mild steel, or a patch you will grind, is where a touch start earns its place. In this set the touch or HF claims are the Reboot CUT60, the SPRIGHOLLY CUT60, the PLASMARGON CUT55, the PLASMARGON PLC65, and the SUSEMSE LT55, whose title says HF. The Reboot CUT60 did cut corroded Transit metal. Corrosion that still conducts is not intact paint. High frequency is how some torches strike. It is not extra cutting power.

Pilot arc

A pilot arc is a small arc inside the torch, so the main arc can transfer without the tip touching the plate. A pilot can light on paint and rust, where a contact start wants bare metal. The pilot or non-contact claims here are the CUT50L, the Reboot 45 A, the CUT60L PRO, the CUT65 Pro and the Haxiaoer. A Reboot 45 A review of 6–12 mm mild steel also describes a non-touch start on rusty plate. A pilot can still drop out, and a listing can use both phrases. The CUT60L PRO title says non-touch, the first bullet says contact, and the next claims a pilot arc for painted, rusty or expanded metal. Keep both. Across 4.0 from seven reviews, one buyer started on paint and heavy rust. Another could not hold the pilot arc. Named non-contact picks are on the best plasma cutter UK page.
Reboot Reboot CUT60

Testsieger

Reboot Reboot CUT60
8.3/10about £132.04
View offer

Non-HF is not a thicker cut

Only the Reboot RBC4000LF makes a non-HF blowback claim here, at £199.00. It is a 15–40 A cutter with a non-contact pilot, a listed clean cut of 12 mm and severance up to 25 mm. The listing sells lower interference near car ECUs, CNC equipment and workshop PCs. The reviews do not test that claim. One buyer cut 5 mm stainless without the arc touching the metal. Nobody in the file tests 12 mm or 25 mm. A bullet says no blown fuses on a standard UK 13 A socket. A review says fuses blew above 22 A. Print both. Less interference, as a listing claim, does not hold the fuse and does not thicken the cut. Those fuse stories are on the plasma cutter 13 amp page. Pay £199 for a non-HF pilot beside vehicle electronics if you stay low on the dial. Do not pay it to buy 25 mm.

What this choice does not decide

Start type does not decide thickness, price, or whether the box is a Stahlwerk. The CUT65 Pro is a non-touch pilot at £139.99 whose title says 18 mm clean, while a verified review struggled at 8 mm mild steel. Input current still limits the cut. If the steel is bare, the touch-start Reboot CUT60 is the evidence-heavy choice, fuse complaint included. If you will not grind paint or rust, read a pilot-arc listing and the review where the arc would not hold. Beside a car ECU, read the non-HF claim, then the no-blown-fuses line that a review contradicts. Stahlwerk's CUT 50 Pilot is a different brand. The first cut, once the start matches the surface, is the how to use a plasma cutter page.

Common questions

What is a pilot arc?
A small arc inside the torch that lets the main arc transfer without the tip touching the plate. Listings sell it for paint, rust, mesh and expanded metal. It can still drop out. On the CUT60L PRO, one review could not hold the pilot arc and could not cut 8 mm and 10 mm plate, while another started on paint and heavy rust.
Can a touch-start cutter cut painted steel?
Only after you clear a bare patch at the tip and at the earth clamp. A SPRIGHOLLY CUT60 review called a gap of about 0.5 mm critical and sent painted scrap to a pilot-arc machine. Corroded metal that still conducts, as on some Reboot CUT60 bodywork cuts, is a different surface from intact paint.
Is HF the same as more cutting power?
No. HF is a way of striking the arc. Cutting power is the output current, the air and the thickness the arc can hold. A 60 A touch start does not out-cut a 45 A pilot merely because the start is high frequency. Read the clean-cut line, and the reviews, for thickness.
What is non-HF blowback?
In this set it is the start claimed by the Reboot 40 A at £199.00: a non-contact pilot sold as lower interference near ECUs, CNC gear and workshop PCs. That interference claim is the listing. The reviews show thin stainless and tinplate, not an EMC test. We do not say the unit passed one.
Does pilot arc cut thicker plate?
No. Thickness comes from current, air and travel speed. The CUT65 Pro is a pilot-arc machine whose 18 mm clean-cut title was already disputed at 8 mm mild steel. Choose pilot arc for the surface, then judge thickness from the lower printed figure and from reviews that state a measurement.

Related pages

Plasma cutter buying guide

Stahlwerk plasma cutter

Plasma cutter 13 amp: what the household fuse feeds

Best plasma cutter UK: the strongest UK review file

How to use a plasma cutter for a controlled first cut

Sources

Specialist sources for this comparison, checked in October 2026. Listing prices, stars and review texts come from amazon.co.uk.

  1. HSE, Cutting metals (retrieved 15.10.2026)
  2. HSE, Welding controls (retrieved 15.10.2026)
  3. GOV.UK, Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 (retrieved 15.10.2026)
  4. BSI, BS EN IEC 60974-1:2018+A1:2019 (retrieved 15.10.2026)
  5. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 22 (retrieved 15.10.2026)
  6. R-Tech, how to use a plasma cutter (retrieved 15.10.2026)
  7. Stahlwerk UK, CUT 50 Pilot plasma cutter (retrieved 15.10.2026)
  8. amazon.co.uk listings for this comparison (retrieved 15.10.2026)