OT ? Converting older Plasma cutter to Pilot arc?

joea

Member

Equipment
B21 TLB
Aug 2, 2020
91
9
8
Marbletown NY
Some one might know. I have an old Ebay special "Colossal Tech CUT-50D" with the original "touch start" torch.

Wanted to convert it to a "pilot arc" as I may be doing a lot of cutting on rusted and painted steel. The cutter does not have a "pilot" connector, but it does have a built in ground lug.

From what I have seen, I am led to believe the only thing needed is to ground the tip/electrode momentarily and then start cutting. Even seen some guy from New Zealand just wrap a cable around the electrode and connect it to the ground strap.

Am I right in thinking I can just get pilot arc torch and just connect the "pilot" lead to the ground lug? Seems reasonable?