Stan in Oly, WA
Well-known Member
When I teach beginners to use any kind of arc welder, I explain that what we call the ground clamp should more accruately be called the work lead; that its purpose is to continue the circuit back to the work so that the circuit is completed and an arc is created when the electrode touches the work. I tell them that this is not a ground in the same sense that there is a ground in their home electrical system, and that they could not weld by running a ground wire from the electrical system to the workpiece instead of the work lead. I wanted to demonstrate this, but two things stopped me:
1. I wasn't absolutely sure I was right. I would have tried it at home first, except that...
2. buickanddeere gets really mad at people who use the neutral as a ground and jeopardize the safety of utility workers who may be injured by encountering current in a line where there shouldn't be any.
What I realized was that I simply didn't know what would happen if I were to touch an electrode with, for instance, 78 volts OCV and 90 amps to a grounded workpiece. Even if it didn't weld, it might energize the ground. Would it?
Stan
1. I wasn't absolutely sure I was right. I would have tried it at home first, except that...
2. buickanddeere gets really mad at people who use the neutral as a ground and jeopardize the safety of utility workers who may be injured by encountering current in a line where there shouldn't be any.
What I realized was that I simply didn't know what would happen if I were to touch an electrode with, for instance, 78 volts OCV and 90 amps to a grounded workpiece. Even if it didn't weld, it might energize the ground. Would it?
Stan