Technical Welding ground

I've been having trouble getting a good ground from my welder at times. There are times when I'll have the gun right next to the ground clamp and get no connection. Some other times I'll get a connection but a very inconstant arc. It has a pretty cheap-looking clamp, but still, this is getting ridiculous.
Overall it's been a great welder except for this.

 

Clean and a tight spring on the clamp… check the connection on the machine.

 

Check the clamp with an ohm meter.

 

You need a decent clamp with a good connection at the clamp. Something like a copper eye on the cable bolted to the clamp. Or a similar setup on a magnet style connector.

 

You working on clean metal? Is the contact point on the clamp bright and shiny? Sandpaper is your friend

 

I use one similar to this photo that I grabbed off of the interwebs. What I like about it is that it has a heavy braided conductor from one side of the clamp to the other. Years ago I had a ground clamp burn through the hinge, because the side with the cable attached didn't have good contact with the metal I was welding, but the other side did. The only path for current was through the hinge pin, and it arced until it melted through. The braided conductor keeps most of the current flowing through the braid, with a lot less going through the hinge.

 

A good clamp and thick wiring is key .

we bought an off brand welder at work and after the first year or so we had the same issue , the “ copper lugs” on the clamp where copper coated steal and the copper wire off and the spring lost its “ spring”

bought a new clamp from the local welding house and no issues since .

 

Grond cable lug tight at the machine?

 

I used some vice grips on the ground cable of my stick welder after the clamp fell apart. Still use it that way.

 

If I'm having ground issues, I clamp a vice grip on the work, and clamp the ground onto that. Works every time

 

Make sure the cable is connected to the ground clamp well, and all contact points are clean.

 

How old is the ground cable?

The guy who used to service my welder said they need replaced every so often. I really wanted to call BS on this but I was having trouble one time and replacing the cable itself fixed it.

 

Constantly my mom would say : "You're GROUNDED !
In life, it is all about being well grounded, welding included .

 

You've gotten some really good suggestions of things to check and try. Personally, I always wiggle the ground clamp back and forth when I hook it to the workpiece just to "scratch" it into place.

Lynn

 

I was going to chime in…….but everyone here has already said what I was going to say!






Bones

 

The 1st thing I did as I was starting a welding job was to clean to shiny metal, a good place for the ground, near the welding point.

If there is any thought that the ground clamp may not be good, it was fixed or repaired immediately.

 

I usually grind an area clean to put the ground clamp, and when I do so, I make sure to put the side with the wire onto the clean metal. I seldom have issues if I take these steps.

If the cable connection is dirty or loose at the welder, or inside the clamp, then you're gonna have to do more work to fix it.

 

As already stated = check all connections, and then get a magnet with a stud in it and attach to end = problem solved

 

One of the things I found is that if you have welders with taps like I do, it’s easy to clean the “lead side”, but the welder side is more of a challenge.
AirGas had a rounded wire brush, kinda like a battery cable cleaner, but a lot less taper that stayed tight in the tap hole.
Works for all my welders except my dads Lincoln arc welder that has “flat” taps. If I ever decide to use that welder again (not likely) I’ll make some changes.

 

Check your wiring where the lead connects to the welder itself.On my miller the braided cable was frayed and would give intermittent connection,it is the braided cable that is under where it connects to the big cable,it should be under the rubber hose that protects the wire and cable.Mine was frayed because i sometimes used the lead to pull the welder closer to me if i was under a car or something.I thought it was the trigger but it was the braided cable that would only touch if i moved it the right way? harvey

 

I have a magnet ground...is there a way to attach it to this style clamp?

 

Might be one of your buddy's messing with you when you drop your hood #6 on the list of greatest pranks of all time

 

The last new Miller welder I bought came with a ridiculously cheap ground clamp and I couldn't get a good ground using all the tricks listed above. After replacing it with a solid br*** clamp off the interweb (about $30) its served me well for about 10 years. The spring is getting weak and now I need a new replacement again...

 

You can't get better than this

 

This!
We had a welder at the shop that seemed like it had a bad ground. After replacing the ground cable and clamp it had the same problem.
Turned out to be a problem in the lead cable. Wire would feed and gas would flow but no current to the welding wire.

 

So far all suggestions have been cable or clamp related. It is also possible that the connection from the welding plug to its contact point inside the machine has loosened or developed some residue between the attachment point. Might want to post a picture of the clamp you have.
Had a problem with poorer welds than usual and could not identify the problem. Had my gas supplier replace my bottle, changed everything I could think of........nothing changed. Turned out that the gun connection at the machine points slightly downward. I had stepped on the cord and it had pulled "slightly" down out of the plug in. Couldn't tell by looking at it. Finally took it to a repairman. Within minutes, he pushed the plug back in all the way and everything worked fine. Apparently it wasn't the first time he had seen this problem, because he went right to it. While it wasn't a "ground" problem, the point is that when you exhaust what seems like all the probable causes, sometimes you have to look elsewhere for the solution. The ground starts from a connection inside the machine, so unless the machine itself is failing, then check those connections too.

 

Speaking of grounds how well do the magnetic clamps work ?

 

Welding plug? Are you referring to something like a ground lug?
I'll get a pic of the clamp I have now but it's no different than what you'd see on a set of cheap jumper cables

 

They work good on stick or mig. Tig doesn't like the magnet at all.

 

Sounds like the problem is likely that cheap clamp, replace it with a good quality ground clamp!