welding trolley

[squirrell25]

i have just made a tolley to carry my mig
but i want to add a couple of things to it ie a vice on top just as an extra pair of hands
i have bolted the mig to the trolley but my question is (may be a silly one ) but just want to check if want to use the vice to hold somthing that i need to weld will do any damage to the welder or will it be ok

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

I assume you mean putting a vice on another shelf or bracket, not on the welder?

It should be OK from a current/return path point of view, but if it's above the welder then while welding on it I'd be watching for spatter (or grinding dust) dropping onto the welder. Maybe less of a problem if you have a new shelf mounted above the welder.

Regards
Peter

 

[GrahamGKD]

I would have thought that might be dodgy if you ever forget to attach the welding earth clamp to the work? Then again, would the metal case of the welder be isolated from the welding circuit – I’m not sure?

Graham.

 

[rtbcomp]

The metal case should be islolated from welding return, but connected to the safety earth. It's easy enough to check with a multimeter.

 

[squirrell25]

Hi,

I assume you mean putting a vice on another shelf or bracket, not on the welder?

It should be OK from a current/return path point of view, but if it's above the welder then while welding on it I'd be watching for spatter (or grinding dust) dropping onto the welder. Maybe less of a problem if you have a new shelf mounted above the welder.

Regards
Peter

sorry yes i am going to put a shelf on top and mount the vice on that

 

[squirrell25]

The metal case should be islolated from welding return, but connected to the safety earth. It's easy enough to check with a multimeter.

how do i go about checking with the multimeter?
thanks

 

[GrahamGKD]

Put the multimeter on resistance (ohms - the omega symbol) and measure between the welding earth return and the machine case. From the posts so far people seem to think that it is most likely you will see no connection. I raised it because, if there were a connection it would most likely be via a relatively small conductor compared with the welding earth return. In this case, if you were welding in your vice and forgot to attach the welding earth clamp then the welding current would go back down the smaller conductor and burn it out. If there is no connection then there should be no problem.
Graham.

 

[gavuk]

why not connect the weld return direct to vice mount ,and use another vice mount to attach a return lead (with a clamp) to ?so the vice is always earthed,we join tables in the same way ....