Good idea for a welding ground cable

[harrisonm]

I was watching a car restoration show on YouTube this morning. I watched a guy welding, and for his ground cable he had a wire attached to a medium size pair of vice grips. I thought that was a decent idea. How many times have you been welding on something and just had a small area of sheet metal to clamp your grounding cable onto.

 

[gzig5]

You really should try to get the wire or a ferule attached to the end of the cable under the vice jaw so it is in direct contact with the sheet metal. Steel is a piss poor conductor of electricity. You’ll have significant losses through the pliers (and they’ll heat up) if you’re back on the handle with the connection to the cable. Other than that it’s a fine idea.

 

[Bodyperson]

I was watching a car restoration show on YouTube this morning. I watched a guy welding, and for his ground cable he had a wire attached to a medium size pair of vice grips. I thought that was a decent idea. How many times have you been welding on something and just had a small area of sheet metal to clamp your grounding cable onto.

I fried the spring on my vise grip doing that.