Well I cannot argue with your meter, however you stated that you a have 60 amp cutter on your machine and I was not aware the a powerultra was availble with a 60 amp cutter, the spec's state 50 amps. At a 31 amp draw I would expect the output to be near 40 amps. regardless of the capacity of the cutter. Measurements on both ends could help in solving this mystery. I still stick to my rule of thumb when somebody asks me what size of breaker do they need for a given amperage output on plasma. I tell them,,, plasma machine max amps less 10 amps give or take for the breaker.