Ground welding clamps

[abcdef12345]

How important is a good ground welding clamps? Actually I have one - https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1WuUv...mp-Wear-resistant-Manual-Welder-Equipment.jpg

but I bought this (off brass) - https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/616dzdZnWUL._SX466_.jpg

Is such a clamp it matters to receive a good weld?
I heard that the cheap chinese electrode holder are a bad quality and are from iron. They cause sparkle and heating electrode holder.
Good holder shoukld be of brass or copper.

 

[Dcal]

The clamps are one thing, the connections to the cable and the welder are also important. as is getting the clamp fixed to bright shiny metal, it can make all the difference between a good weld and a rubbish one.
Rig it all up and make a few welds then check everything for heat, if everything is cool (except the weld of course) you are probably OK.

Nice g clamp, are they expensive.

I think a spring clamp works better because it will clamp even if the cable is pulled.

 

[Munkul]

Good quality ground clamps, leads and connections are important for any type of welding, but are absolutely essential for MIG welding. You can easily tell the difference in welding between a good and a poor one through the arc starts, and the consistency of the arc, on a MIG set, yet barely notice a poor connection with stick and TIG other than the arc strike on the clamp at the start of welding.

Our work MIG sets have brass spring clamps, but personally I run heavy duty steel spring clamps with loads of copper in the contact faces, on all my welders. Even the little 160 amp stick welder has a spring clamp so strong that I can barely compress it with one hand...

 

[abcdef12345]

I weld mma method, but I noticed that at the beginning weld is formed as if cold solder, then weld looks better.

Maybe it has to do with it a bad quality clamp and electrode holder?

 

[Memmeddu]

I use this style of clamp
Of course a 600A clamp fitted on little portable welder as @Munkul said ,the spring is so hard that you need both hands to completely open it up
I use this one because various reasons.
1st it's a remember of a friend who unfortunately is dead
2nd it looks cool , and certainly looks better than a stamped metal one
3rd the spring is strong so it will provide a better pressure so a better conductivity also because it's made out of brass

I'm planning to get a plasma cutter soon and I decided to use the same type of ground clamp but smaller because this is little bit overkill
And if everything will go well I will probably buy a 400A transformer based welder and I will use a G clamp ground clamp or a two jaws screw clamp .
Just because I'm planning to use it for light gouging and heavy welding

 

[Memmeddu]

View media item 10605View media item 10606

I weld mma method, but I noticed that at the beginning weld is formed as if cold solder, then weld looks better.

Maybe it has to do with it a bad quality clamp and electrode holder?

Same here I weld MMA only at the moment, never experienced cold start , it's probably because something on the input side of your welder ,do you use extension cord?
For the output side is easy check your dinse connector on the welder ,if they are loose , thigh the screw but remember to hold the nut because otherwise you snap off the plastic insulator .
The dinse connector on your leads just remove the rubber boots and check the copper strands ,if you notice to much movement , loose the screws remove the cable , cut ,strip and refit , thigh the screws back.
Once done that apply insulation tape to give more rigidity ,if you can use heat shrink tubing over lapping the brass part slightly and cover a good portion of cable , maybe use two heat shrink tubings slightly offset one each other .
I do that on power cords because I like how it looks and avoid the cord to bending to much on the plug and machine side
Same thing on the electrode holder ( there is enough space usually ) but just use heat shrink covering as much as possible over the connection point and a good amount of cable I have to do that on mine.
On my ground I've just used a zip tie and it's something I use to do on all the ground clamp to prevent the cable to break in the connection point cos pulling (voluntary or not)
But with your new one you can use heat shrink (it looks nice and it will provide protection to the connection screws from sparks
I don't have any pictures about doing that on big cables but I will make pictures about my welder power cord

 

[Nick DV]

I was also told that it's best to get the earth clamp as close to the weld area as possible, or even on the steel you're welding. Even at my novice stage, it seems to work for me and my welds appear fine

 

[Popcorn]

You won't get much better than one of these
https://www.weldingdirect.co.uk/300Amp-Solid-Brass-Earth-Clamp

 

[Memmeddu]

You won't get much better than one of these
https://www.weldingdirect.co.uk/300Amp-Solid-Brass-Earth-Clamp

My neighbor who worked on big shop vessels Said me that those type of ground clamp doesn't work much well in the time cos the spring tends to break

 

[SteScouse]

My neighbor who worked on big shop vessels Said me that those type of ground clamp doesn't work much well in the time cos the spring tends to break

Not exactly impossible to fix tho is it mate

 

[Munkul]

This is my favourite clamp type. I think I bought a couple a few years back, internet purchase under "500 amp return clamp" IIRC. Beefy spring, beefy steel construction, beefy copper contacts and strap. Job jobbed.

Unfortunately, the quality will vary from supplier to supplier I think.

 

[Prajna]

Hi folks, 1st post. I've only just begun my arc welding adventure (actually I had a brief go a few years ago on a generator welder but didn't get very far). I have a building frame to construct from 1ish mm galv box tubing (we'll save the debate about whether that's even possible with arc v mig for another thread). I was going to get a friend to do it but a mate bought me a little Pecol IS150 MMA inverter, so I've set about teaching myself to weld. Anyhoo, the Pecol arrived with a poxy ground clamp and I wondered if maybe that was making things more difficult than they could be, because "it don't easy", as one of my Portuguese friends is fond of saying.

Not being easy to get down to the welding suppliers to buy a beefier version, I stripped the earth wire from some twin & earth cable I had handy and wrapped one jaw of the cheapo clamp with it. I think this has improved things quickly and cheaply. Whatcha think? Image attached.

 

[Dcal]

Does it heat up when welding?
If not, it should be OK.
If you are trying to weld 1mm steel with arc, at least you will not need many amps.
And welcome to the forum

 

[Prajna]

Thank you Dcal. I don't see any evidence of it heating up. I'll check in a bit when I go out to practice a pad. I have been doing not too bad with 2mm 6013s @ 40A on 1mm uncoated mild steel (rusty old 40mm box I have to play with). But I'll discuss how I get on with that in another thread.

 

[Dcal]

It can be done, it was a standard way to make tanks back in the day.
Not the easiest material to start on though.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Welcome to the forum, Prajna A good crowd here, always willing to offer advice on a whole range of subjects.

 

[Prajna]

Thanks Slim. So I noticed, having read three or so pages of threads. Y'all seem like a great bunch of helpful and knowledgeable folk. That's why I registered here. Also because it's UK based rather than yank (not that I'm prejudiced against yanks, just because they're not very metric and I tend to work in mm).

 

[Memmeddu]

In my small experience gained during my last 7 years spent on welding as an hobbyist ,I can say that in my modest honest opinion ,solid full cast brass ground clamps is the way to go .
They are relatively expensive compared to a normal ground clamp but if treat them with respect they would last for many an many years.
And they are cool to see