Welding ground through vise?

[ahansom]

Is there a problem with grounding the welder through a vise? I usually ground directly to the work when possible or use copper jaws as the ground connection. What about just leaving the ground connected to the table and having the current go through the vise?

 

[gahrajmahal]

The setup you show will work ok, but it is always possible to weld the vise workings unintentionally.

 

[GaryM909]

I do it all the time. I just ground to the table. Never had any problems.

 

[BukitCase]

Same here - I just make sure the vise BODY jaw has clean metal to grab... Steve

 

[MongoTA]

It'll work. Often times I can't ground to the work itself so I go through the work table. Sometimes the table my welding table, soetimes it's just a piece of steel plate that I place whatever I'm welding upon.

 

[Forgottonia]

It should work just fine for you. But if this thread goes long enough someone will caution you that it might blow the roof off your garage and possibly cause male pattern baldness.

 

[msharley]

It should work just fine for you. But if this thread goes long enough someone will caution you that it might blow the roof off your garage and possibly cause male pattern baldness.

Or? Offer to hit yer old lady....

 

[ahansom]

Thanks everyone. My main concern was possible arcing between the nut and lead screw. Probably not going to happen as the vise body should be a path of least resistance.

 

[msharley]

Hey A Man,

I like the ground in your pic.

What can happen when grounding through a vise is "spalling" on the screw mechanism of the vise....

(been welding on pipe for 40yrs...if there is a way to MESS somethin' up? I've done it!)

Some times the "mechanism" is the "path" the current wants to go on....

Later, Mark

 

[PugetDude]

Anyone who would ground through a vise probably has PVC airlines in their shop and uses a ratchet for a hammer...


...and male pattern baldness.

 

[sqznby]

I like the idea of making jaws with a larger piece of material as your grounding point.

If I can't ground directly to the material being welded, I have grounded to the vise.

I also have male pattern baldness

 

[nadogail]

A ground is a ground, but grounding through bearings should be avoided.

 

[gte718p]

A ground is a ground, but grounding through bearings should be avoided.

Unless you have some really weird slide mechanism on your vise, the least resistance path to ground is going to be the body of the vise, not the screw.

I don’t even clamp to the vise. To hard to get a solid connection. I ground to the table the vise is bolted to. Been working flawlessly for going on 10 years.

 

[kerrynzl]

Vices are terrible, because the shape makes it difficult to clamp to..

where my vice bolts to a wooden bench, I attached an "Engine Pull Tab" with the bolt.
My ground clamp easily attaches to this.

I used the engine pull tab because it was laying around, but any piece of metal strap would do.
Why not weld a piece of flat vertically off the bolt head.