You gonna run out of scrap metal better stock up!! LOL

Oh and remember to ground...TIG will give you a nasty shock if not.

The ARC station I bought from Miller is supposed to include a bolt that you screw into the table top and run to ground...instructions state "independent of the welding leads"..... table legs have small plastic end caps...

So do I need to ground the table with some cable AND the TIG to the table? Kind of a PITA with a portable/foldable table.... most guys tables I see are up on rubber wheels etc, so I don't see the need to run a separate cable from the table to ground....

No Ned -- Just use the the ground clamp from the TIG --- the TIG is grounded to your house electrical panel via it's plug.


If I'm welding metal parts on a metal table - I ground the table -- the parts will ground via the contact to the table "most" of the time. I also have a heavy copper strap -- 12"+ long - 2" wide - 5/16" or so thick - and use this sometimes to hold the piece by laying it on the table and onto the work.

I was a little confused with the instructions that came with the table.... they give you a metal "L" bracket to bolt to the table top underside...they call it a "work lead tab", which I was taking to mean the ground lead from the TIG....but then they want you to put a bolt into the table top to "connect the welding table to a good electrical ground (independent of the welding leads"....

So its like they want me to attach the ground lead from the TIG to the table and the table to another ground...

I usually do what you mentioned Greg.... I just put the metal piece on the metal table and connect the ground to the table....

I have never been a fan of trying to ground the table. Ground clamp on the workpiece. It is a rare occurrence where getting the ground clamp onto the workpiece is actually a problem.

Funny Rob -- I'm the exact opposite - I never ground the piece... But like most things everyone has their own style.

Indeed GW. I think I got away from even trying it, when doing Al. It almost never works well when doing Al. Now I just always attach to the work no matter what I'm doing.

Much depends on scope and scale. A lot of the work I do is too small to comfortably attach the lead to.........

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-m...-mkPqcqL-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-Z...-ZfzdLKW-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-L...-LwS3bWq-L.jpg

.........so 95% of my projects are grounded to the table.

Very seldom do I have issues, but if there's weld splatter of other debris on the table it can create a arcing hot spot.

I clamp to the part, except for when teaching the basics at the community workshop. On my stuff though, I try to always clamp to the part. When the part is too small, or oddly configured, I use C-shaped vice grips on the part, and clamp the ground to the vice grips.

Even when we clamp to the table for welding instruction sessions, I usually tell them that I clamp to the part, and tell/show them the vise grip tip, then try to show them why I do it. If you get a part that doesn't make good/full contact with the table, it will spot-weld to the table where the ground arcs. I show them the size of that spot and explain that all the current is flowing back to the source through that tiny spot, or the next best thing it finds... :weld:

I've felt the "TIG tingle" before...

Is anyone using this CK Rotary Amperage Control?

http://www.ckworldwide.com/images/rac.jpg

http://www.ckworldwide.com/amperage_controls.htm