Clamping your ground to the work surface?

[Perplexed]

I've seen several references on this forum about welding a piece of stainless steel to your steel work surface, and clamping your ground to that piece. I can see how the SS would provide you with a clean contact for the ground, but doesn't this mean you'd need to keep the work surface clean where your welding project would come into contact with it? Not only that, but you'd also need to clean off the contact points on the project itself? Seems like a lot of trouble if you can simply clamp the ground directly to the project. What am I missing here?

 

[deepNdirt]

I'm no professional welder, although have done my share of it, My next neighbor is in fact a welder buy trade and has an established shop, He works from a steel table/workbench on many things and has a contact point of ground on the bench, he still clamps what ever it is down to the table when welding, I've seen him use a wire brush to clean the area in which he lay down the part to be welded, So yes I would say it needs to be cleaned good in order to get a good weld applied, as far as my welding I always clamp the ground as close to where I'm welding so's as long as the ground clamp is not in my way, just recently I was weldding on my trailer, I have a good clean spot for the ground and while welding on the side of the trailer the ground was clamp to it done good, But when I moved to the other side of the trailer the welding rods start to stick, I moved the ground closer and resolved this problem, so I think the key to good welding is clean surfaces and solid close by grounding,

 

[dstig1]

You would be amazed how little actual contact you need to get electrical contact for this. The tables in our welding class booths are thin ~3/16-14" plate and are warped to beat the band, plus covered with slag and slag and weld spatter and weld tacks from tacking fixtures to them. Even with all this, you can still get contact through the table to the work clamp, but you get better contact if you attach directly to the workpiece or fixture.

 

[grsthegreat]

i have always just clamped onto one of the 2x2 legs on my welding table. The work piece is either in the vise, or locked down to the table with a vise grip so i always have contact. I like the large jaw like these

 

[Johnp33]

I have a welding bench made out of two side plates for a cement truck, I use my disc grinder to remove any debris and clamp the ground to the bench. I clamp my work to the bench to stabilise the part.
If I want to weld something that I need the ground on the piece I am welding, then I will clamp on vise grips, and put the ground on that. I use vise grips for getting a good ground on machinery I am working on.
Clamp on the vise grips, twist them a bit, release, tap them to clean the dirt off, and re-clamp.
If I was welding on a trailer and had to move my ground, I would be looking for the problem, electricity travels a long way in steel with none, to very minimal resistance.
Works for me

 

[crazyal]

Never thought of welding SS to a welding table but I have done it on a lot of truck and trailer frames. Nothing works better than welding a stainless bolt to a frame to get a ground that never fails.

 

[tawilson]

Never thought of welding SS to a welding table but I have done it on a lot of truck and trailer frames. Nothing works better than welding a stainless bolt to a frame to get a ground that never fails.

I learned something already today. I guess I can relax now.

 

[moored4]

I've seen several references on this forum about welding a piece of stainless steel to your steel work surface, and clamping your ground to that piece. I can see how the SS would provide you with a clean contact for the ground, but doesn't this mean you'd need to keep the work surface clean where your welding project would come into contact with it? Not only that, but you'd also need to clean off the contact points on the project itself? Seems like a lot of trouble if you can simply clamp the ground directly to the project. What am I missing here?

Your not missing a thing. The SS conection point is always a clean place to put your ground. Never rusts or gets dirty. If I am working at my table it is a project that is small enough that I can turn it over, upside down and around, so I can weld in a flat position. It just expedites the process so I am not fighting the ground cable all the time.
I keep my bench top clean and after each project I grind away all of the slag or welds that I might have applied.

 

[yomax4]

A ground tab works for the most part. I use a Copper C-Clamp style clamped to my bench and hook my ground to it. Sometimes you will get sparking between the parts and the bench and you may need to clamp directly to the part. Keeping the table clean is a must. I keep a 15' 1/0 ground cable hooked to my table with the SS 2"x4"x10ga tab on the other end. This way I can clamp all of my grounds to it and only have 1 cable running to the bench. I can hook up Mig, AC/DC and Plasma all to the same ground. Works great.

 

[kcender]

Stainless steel has about 20 percent more resistance to the flow of electricity than mild steel. Just something to consider when you are setting your machine.