Grounding & hi frequency questions

[berol]

Is it a good idea to ground your welder to a grounding rod driven deep into the ground or connected to a copper water pipe. Also should ones steel welding table be grounded to the rod or water pipe. Then could your welding machine ground cable be connect to the same point on your table? Also I am woundering about transmission of high frequency through a building where there might be sensitive electronic equipment in use when one is TIG welding. What types of equipment might be effected and what could one do to minimize the effects or is there very little likelihood of a problem occuring. Thanks for your comments.

[Sberry]

Try it first and see what happens before speculating about every possible outcome. The welder chassis is (or sposed to be) grounded thru the electric system.

[weldbay]

That said if you do not want your radio or tv to go crazy use a ground rod

[cruizer]

Problem is that when using a ground rod, and not knowing were the rebar is or the soil conditions, its kinda point less. Even tying into the copper pipe and not knowing if its tied into rebar is kinda pointless. Cause rebar goes everywhere that there is concrete.


So either run an isolated ground from the machine back to the main breaker, Or tywrap your tig torch leads and work together for the first 2' after leaving the machine will minimize the intereferance.

[weldbay]

Ground rods are cheap, run the ground through the ext. wall and sink it outside the building. HF is a loose canon and always takes the path of least resistance. When you install a CNC Plasma cutting table, for example, I have sunk as many a 6 grounding rods to stop feed back.

[berol]

Problem is that when using a ground rod, and not knowing were the rebar is or the soil conditions, its kinda point less. Even tying into the copper pipe and not knowing if its tied into rebar is kinda pointless. Cause rebar goes everywhere that there is concrete.


So either run an isolated ground from the machine back to the main breaker, Or tywrap your tig torch leads and work together for the first 2' after leaving the machine will minimize the intereferance.

"Or tywrap your tig torch leads and work together for the first 2' after leaving the machine will minimize the intereferance." What you suggested here was not quite clear to me. Please elaborate, Thanks

[cruizer]

HF tends to go everywhere as it searches for the tig torch. Tywraping the leads together, acts like a focused transmission tower, and minimizes any HF leakage.

Very simple, and it works...

[weldbay]

What leads, the ground and the torch? Hf will bleed you are right but you need the HF in the Tung to initate the arc what you are suggesting would reduce the intensity and the amount of HF at the weld. I have seen Hf reduced just by leaving your 25 torch partially wound up on your cable holder and not stretched out as it should be.

[cruizer]

Huh... it increases the intensity, and focuses the arc. WTF are you talking about?

It was only a suggestion, do it or don't

And yes the work and torch only for 2' after leaving the machine.

[weldbay]

I am not sure what WTF means but I will assume you respect this forums rules.

The first article is from Lincoln the second from http://www.welding.com and this from me. You increas intensity by increasing the HF gap.

Now I do not claim to know everything so please explaine your theory. It seems to me that what you said "might" not make sense.

High Frequency Ground
Some welding machines utilize starting and stabilizing circuits that contain a high frequency voltage. This is common on Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding machines. The high frequency voltage may have frequency components that extend into the megahertz region. In contrast, the welding voltage may be as low as 60 Hertz.High frequency signals have a tendency to radiate away from the welding area. These signals may cause interference with nearby radio and television reception or other electrical equipment. One method to minimize the radiation of high frequency signals is to ground the welding circuit. The welding machine instruction manual will have specific instructions on how to ground the welding circuit and components in the surrounding area to minimize the radiation effect

What can be done about high frequency (HF) interference from my TIG welder?

A: Most HF problems can be solved with proper grounding. There are three items that are important to connect to a ground stake that you must install. They are the welding table, the base of the welding machine, and the electrical box on the wall that the machine is connected to. In most cases, this eliminates most of the problems.