I've been welding with my lincoln SP170 for about 8 years now. I've used other peoples migs a few times in that time and have never felt even the slightest electrical shock while using them. used my buddys sp130 while doing some work for him and have given myself a small jolt on more than one occasion. he claims this is normal since you are welding with electricity. I say he's full of shit. so who's full of shit, him or me? one more mig question.... turn off the welder, shut off the gas..... does anybody out there purge thier lines or is that a waste? I used to, then I quit.....
maybe his power cord has the ground wire not connected, or it's plugged into an outlet that has a bad ground. He might want to see what's up and fix it.
getting shocked means there is there is something wrong. check all connections and look the wiring over. as far as purging, i was told in school to do this so as to slow the rate at which the rubber hoses break down. the instructor that told us this had 20+ years in the collision and refinishing field.
when is it shocking you specifically? you might try pulling the ground clamp out of your ass! j/k!!! i really dont think purging is necessary... unless your a tight ass looking to squeeze that extra six months out of your hoses ten years down the road. i dont ever do it.
i work at lincoln and I know you should not be getting shocked...tell your friend to take it back to home depot/lowes... jim
You should NEVER get shocked while welding. Something is wrong!!!! Purging is probably a good thing to do.
You should not be getting shocked. It sounds like a grounding issue of the units electrical. This could be dangerous, it needs to be fixed right away. As far as purging, I do. But I do other things that people say are unecessary. I like to take the regulator off and cap the bottle when I know it will be a long time before I am welding again. I know it is pointless but I like knowing it is done.
Definitely a grounding issue. If your ground wires are not grounded then they become potential conductors and the body of the welder becomes a conductor also. Disconnect from power and make sure all AC ground connections are good including the cord plug and panel connections. Green or bare copper is ground.
My bet is that he has the wires crossed in his plug. When I got my mig a buddy helping me get started installed the plug on the cord according to the instructions that came with the plug. Unfortunately the welder didn't come with wiring instructions other than "have a licensed electrician install the plug on the cord". With the plug installed according to the package instructions the welder worked, but electrified the case - shocking you if you touched a case bolt. I had an electrician look at it and he switched the green and black leads in the cord. Now everything works great - and nobody gets electrocuted.
You should not get shocked. That thing can melt 1/4" steel. It can probably kill you, too. I nevetr purge but I know you're supposed to. Just like that air compressor that I'm supposed to empty after every use.
I've never purged my HTP welder after using it, and it still works fine after 14 years of this abuse....
i've been shocked when i was sweating real bad and my clothes were wet, it was more exciting this way
Outta all these replies, "No one ever gets shocked?" Come on....for real. Welding in a fabrication shop with MIG, I get shocked once in a while. Not a lot of info. in the orig. question about how he's getting shocked. Its always hot in the shop I work in & when your welding 12hrs your not using the welding jacket, but a T-shirt & a speedy sleeve. If your arm is sweaty & you lean against the weldment your creating to steady your arm, when you pull the trigger you will get shocked & it's nothing to do with the welder. Carl Hagan
then you're working with shitty equipment. tell your boss to get it fixed or get a new welder before someone gets fuckin' hurt!
My boss in our weldshop is a Welding Inspector who is an electrition who rebuilds all our equipment. It more along the lines of being sweaty & leaning against your weldment which is grounded. Also, the lubricant on the tubing makes your gloves greasy in no time & that can also add to it. This stuff happens in shops & I'm surprised it's not mentioned here. It's not always the equipment. Carl Hagan
I gotta agree with Carl here. I've found that you are more liely to get shocked if you are touching the metal between the ground and the gun. Move the ground so that you are not between it and the gun and you're good to go. I've also noticed that you get shocked more often if you are touching bare skin, or something wet (like a rag to cool welds) to the metal.
to clarify, I got the shock from touching the frame I was welding on with my arm. don't know if I was sweaty... but it was bare skin. I found it odd that this never happened in 8 years, and now on more than one occasion with this other welder. so I guess I will continue to not purge... but it seems like a fifty fifty on the shock deal.... if I remember correctly, where I touched the frame was between the weld and where I had the frame grounded. guess I should have been more clear in my opening post... I did not get the shock touching the machine. on another note, this place has the most mickey mouse electrical . I would not be suprised to find out none of the outlets are grounded.
Jesus God, full leather protection. Shit, when your performing Spray Arc or Spray Transfer on a boom & working in an implement building with no A/C, your sweating balls. Even the fire retardent hat starts stinking, everything is sweaty & smells. At least you can wash a speedy sleeve & the hat. Couldn't imagine dealing with the heat wearing the leather bib, not to mention the smell. This is a production shop I'm in, not a 1man garage. I mean, shit; gloves go greasy w/in 3 workdays. I would never dream of shelling out big bucks on leather bib to throw it away 1 week into it. There is a BIG difference between someone welding 40hrs a week vs. the guy who breaks out his MIG welder twice a week for a 5minute work period. Carl Hagan.
i agree! im a boilermaker, and that sounds like our shop to a "t". of course, it is autumn in nebraska now, so now we are all huddling around a rosebud trying to keep warm!
I have to agree with Carl. I used to production weld for a living and I do not care how carefull you were, when you get sweaty enough, soaked through and through, you will get shocked. The shock I am talking about is probably not enough to kill you, but will get your attention. I was welding with a mig with 5/32 wire in it. This thing was hot enough to melt the lens in your welding hood after about four hours of welding. If you got shocked and were not sweating, and the frame shocked you, I would check the ground situation in that shop or that piece of equipment.
years ago i installed a groundfault recepticle in my shop. it wont let me operate stuff that is hooked up wrong . Has saved my bacon at least once when restoring an old valve machine. I got the lamp wire and motor wire opposite. Touched the lamp while moving the crossfeed and click it all went out. Might be good for most shops. There is something wrong with his set up if you got a shock. Purging is a very good proceedure , FOR THE GAS SUPPLIER. I never do (unless resetting my torch for some different set up.) Don
I've got a Lincoln SP175 Mig welder. I'm only a weekend welder, but I've never been shocked. Sounds like a grounding problem. I'm anal & always purge the gas line. I've been told it will extend the life of the regulator.
You weren't using an extention cord were you? If so lose it...before I got myself some crazy length on my cables, I reluctantly had to use an extention cord at times (a plain old cheapo one). The only times I've ever had any jolts was when I did that. It may be just a coincidence but I thought I'd mention it. By the way if you need an extention cord, you really need to look at your units power requirements, length you need, inputs, etc etc etc. Or your welder will not operate at 100% due to voltage drop blah blah blah. I didn't want to try and sort that shit out so now I take a walk to make adjustments... Like I said it may have been coincedental...Fuck are you even using a damn extention cord or am I just entertaining myself with my limited knowledge!!! LOL
Man some of the welds I have done are shocking, but never been shocked while doing them. Thats bad M'kay?
I was taught to purge the lines and back the pressure off the regulator sumpthin about making the regulator diaphram last longer.
All the talk above is interesting ,But I believe you have an easy fix to the shock problem... The lincolns are sent out with the leads wired up for use with FluxCore wire... ie...the Positive lead is wire to the ground clamp. I should be reversed to attach[Pos] to the GUN lead -for use as MIG welder using solid wire and gas..... This is not a dangerous thing as we are dealing with DC voltage here..... Hell even a 12Vcar battery will knock your dick in the dirt if you lean over the posts with a sweaty arm....So a 30/plusVolt DC will do it better!
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