Ground clamps.

[Willl]

Always been kind of old school with ground clamps. Just your standard spring loaded clamp.
Didn't hesitate a second to tack weld it to my work if it didn't make contact on the first try.

Even tried the magnet style. No thanks, went back to my clamp.

Till now.

One of the shops I work at got these.

Little more time to connect up, but so far, good connection first time, every time.

Liked it so much, got the parts guy to order one for home.

 

[Artisan]

Looks like a Linemans type to ground. If you watch EBAY these kinds of things come up from time to time. I have a couple and now I need to make a new leader w/ quick disconnects so I can chage to suit.

 

[deereman75]

That looks good. I will be needing a new ground clamp soon. The one on my lincoln is crap, and I doubt the one on my new longevity will be much better.

 

[Haywire]

How about these? It's built into a set of vise grips.

https://weldingsupply.securesites.com/cgi-bin/enlarge.pl?main/StrongHand/GP950.gif:Ground+Hog+Pliers

 

[Artisan]

AWSOME HAYWIRE...

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Where that C-clamp style would work for me is on welding larger tubes together. For instance when I weld my backhoe frame together I'll have a continuous square of 3" X 3" tube. There will be no way to connect my spring loaded ground clamp that only opens up to about 2". In that past I have connected a C-clamp to the work, and then clipped my ground clamp to that.

Another tool that would be nice is some type of grounding vice to hold smaller pieces when welding them together. I've fabricated some stuff small enough that the grounding clamp covered most of the piece.

 

[Artisan]

The Tweco clamp below is standard fair, the CHANCE clamp was picked up on EBAY for, I think I paid $27.00 . I do believe that is close to a $400.00 clamp! I have been looking a for a deal on ground wire to re-work the ground assembly on my Miller Vintage.

 

[Willl]

I like that visegrip style. It would be quick too.

 

[Furu]

Do any of you ever ground both pieces when welding two different sections together or do you ground just the one?

 

[mjncad]

I have this one from Magswitch and I like it very much.

300amp Ground Clamp : Magswitch - Magswitch

 

[Artisan]

Troven, I have never grounded both pieces, I believe that once you make the smallest of a weld, you have ajoined the two anywho. Today I didn't ground anything...I simply grounded to the meatl table and the work pieces touched it...

 

[sandman2234]

How about these? It's built into a set of vise grips.

https://weldingsupply.securesites.com/cgi-bin/enlarge.pl?main/StrongHand/GP950.gif:Ground+Hog+Pliers

I use something similar to this... as my brass ground clamp spring usually doesn't clamp very good, I keep a pair of vice grips handy to increase the pressure on the clamp. I probably have a couple of new ones in the box over on the shelf, but am too cheap to throw away one that I can still make work.
David from jax

 

[dstig1]

What Artisan said. If you have a situation where it becomes a problem, just make sure you ground the piece that you want to start your arc on. After you start, you are good to go.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Im going to make one with this:
IRWIN VISE-GRIP 12LC The Original Large Jaw Locking Pliers - 12