All copper ground clamp

[Arc weld]

Well, you could go all out and buy a Tweco rotary ground for a few hundred bucks. The main thing is to have a good ground. Copper or brass alloy is usually better for achieving this.

 

[ericher69]

Well, you could go all out and buy a Tweco rotary ground for a few hundred bucks. The main thing is to have a good ground. Copper or brass alloy is usually better for achieving this.

Well I noticed the ground clamp on my old AC/DC sparkler has seen better days as it is loose and worn. Maybe I'll replace that one instead as it may be contributing to hard starts and sticking. The 252 clamps is a POS but is still fairly new so maybe I should start by grinding down my ground attachment point on the workpiece as I'm sure it would greatly help.

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[BukitCase]

Eric, I know by now that you and I have slightly different usage patterns for our 252's

But I found that the cheesy clamp was only half the prob - short term, I took off "mr. cheese" and used the lug on the end of the 'way too short ground wire to bolt another 10 foot ground wire from another machine onto it, taped it up - it already had a 300 amp Tweco clamp on the other end, so now I have 20 foot ground/good clamp, me happy...

Eventually I'll replace with a continuous length of (probably) 1/0 cable, but with camlock connectors right near the machine so I can plug in the extension cables I just made for my 250 amp stick machine if necessary. Doesn't always do a lot of good to have a 30 foot spoolgun with only a 10 foot ground

Several of my list of projects have gotten a bit large so it's nice to have what I call "AT&T options" (old ad, "reach out and touch someone") - so for now, I have 2# spools of .035 hardwire for the spoolgun - I just set both guns up at the same settings, and only use the spoolgun when the 15' gun can't reach. One of the perks of the 212 and 252 being "autoswitch", just pick up whichever gun you want and touch the trigger. Me LIKE... Steve

 

[Arc weld]

252 doesn't have autoset. 211 and 212 do though. Autoset a bit of a gimmick though anyways.

 

[BukitCase]

Arcweld, re-read my post - I should have said "auto SWITCH" instead of "autoselect"; I know the 252 doesn't have autoset, had a 211 before. I was referring to being able to switch torches on the fly, not the "pick yer thickness" gimmick :laughing:

Still, my choice of words wasn't quite right, sorry for any confusion... Steve

Went back and changed it to "autoswitch". It is kind of confusing that the 211 and 212 both have the "thickness gimmick", but the torch switching is shared by the 212 and 252.

Hope this helps anyone who got confloosed by all this... Steve

 

[ericher69]

Eric, I know by now that you and I have slightly different usage patterns for our 252's But I found that the cheesy clamp was only half the prob - short term, I took off "mr. cheese" and used the lug on the end of the 'way too short ground wire to bolt another 10 foot ground wire from another machine onto it, taped it up - it already had a 300 amp Tweco clamp on the other end, so now I have 20 foot ground/good clamp, me happy... Eventually I'll replace with a continuous length of (probably) 1/0 cable, but with camlock connectors right near the machine so I can plug in the extension cables I just made for my 250 amp stick machine if necessary. Doesn't always do a lot of good to have a 30 foot spoolgun with only a 10 foot ground Several of my list of projects have gotten a bit large so it's nice to have what I call "AT&T options" (old ad, "reach out and touch someone") - so for now, I have 2# spools of .035 hardwire for the spoolgun - I just set both guns up at the same settings, and only use the spoolgun when the 15' gun can't reach. One of the perks of the 212 and 252 being "autoswitch", just pick up whichever gun you want and touch the trigger. Me LIKE... Steve

Steve,

Yeah I don't pretend to use the 252 10hrs per day but I can afford it and it's there when I need it...

The 211 prob would have sufficed but then what fun is that??

I almost went with the 350P as I could get a good used unit locally for the same money but knew that I'd just be showing off; lol

Despite Yomax's hatred and inferiority complex with the 252; I love it! Nothing overly fancy but just plain works and will melt almost anything you put in front of it every time!

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