Any reason not to bolt my ground to my welding table?

[bdog]

My shop welder is never going to move. My leads are long enough to reach anywhere in my shop and I have a portable welder if I need to go farther away than that.

I was thinking of making a short maybe 6" piece of lead and bolting it to my 1/2" table top. This way welding anything on my table would be grounded without the need for a clamp. I would then bolt my ground lead with clamp on the other side of the table close to my lead hanger so I have it if I need to weld something not on the table.

 

[LD1]

I dont see any problem with that. Had a similar setup where I used to work. Welders were along the wall and table was out a ways. Had a lead burried in the concrete and attached to a steel bar on the wall. That way didnt have to unwrap the ground lead, just clip it on the steel bar right next to where the welder was parked. And then only had to deal with the stinger cable.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Yes, there is. Whenever possible you should attach the work directly to the part being welded. You are relying upon the surface to surface contact of whatever you are welding to provide a current path. That at best is unreliable. Not to say it can't be done in a reliable fashion if due care and diligence is taken, along with routine maintenance/sanding of the top, but surface rust, paint, other forms of corrosion may exist either on the table or the "weldment".

 

[joshuabardwell]

I agree with what Mark said. Very often, you will get an adequate ground through surface contact with the table, but sometimes you won't, and in those cases, you will wish you had a clamp. Why not just weld a lug onto the under-side of the table and clamp to it? Then you never have to fuss with the clamp, but it's there if you need it.

 

[dfkrug]

Whenever possible you should attach the work directly to the part being
welded.

I do it that way, but I am no pro weldor. I even have a welding table I recently built with stainless steel top
and sides (always outside).

I have friends who do more welding than I do, and they often actually weld the weldment temporarily to
their bench to hold it. I wonder how common that is....

 

[LD1]

I have friends who do more welding than I do, and they often actually weld the weldment temporarily to
their bench to hold it. I wonder how common that is....

Pretty common in my experience. Good way to hold things in place while you weld it. Then must pop the tacks and a few minutes grinding the part and bench back smooth and good as new.

 

[bandaidmd]

One of our local shops has 1/8 x 2 steel strapping laying on the floor tying all the tables together.

 

[Gary Fowler]

That is common practice in fab shops to ground the tables via under the concrete straps. They then put a short ground jumper of about 20 feet long that is attached via a bolt welded onto the table and crimped lug on the ground lead. This is kept rolled up under the table usually via a hook welded to one of the table legs with only as much ground exposed as necessary. This eliminates one cable running around the floor. Use the short jumper to attach to weldments so you get a good ground when needed. This way, materials held in a vise which is bolted to the table is already grounded which is great for small stuff.

 

[Iowan]

You could make a jumper to go from the table to your part for dirty parts. If that makes sense.

 

[bdog]

Thanks for the replies. I know it is always best to have a good ground. I guess I forgot to mention most things I weld on the table are clamped to it. Right now I have been welding with the ground clamp on the table and stuff C clamped to the table. The reason I don't want to just weld a tab on the table to attach the clamp to and that I want a permanent mount is I often am working welding on a piece of equipment and move back and forth welding on the equipment and the welding small parts on the table. If the table is permanently grounded I can put my ground clamp on the equipment and not have to be moving the ground clamp back and forth.

Another reason I want to do this is purely to tidy things up. My table is rather big at 4x10 and the welder sits in the back left corner. The lead hangers are on the front center under the table. If I ground the welder to the table then I can attach the end of my ground lead to the table right by the hanger which is a lot cleaner.

I also like the idea of the jumper. I can make another short ground cable and attach it to the table so that if need be I can clamp it to things on the table and still have my long ground lead stretched out and attached to whatever I am working on.