Here’s another Quick Tech Tip From the Garage of Tom Zuloaga… This tip is sure to improve the performance of your welding and the appearance of your welds. I found my 225 amp L-Tec MIG welder was struggling to get the weld started, and the ground cable was extremely hot after a weld was done. I discovered the cable was arcing badly and was not making good contact with what I was welding. A few steps and it was laying down some nice beads.

The first step is to clean the ground clamp contact surface. A few passes with a 36 grit sanding disc on an angle grinder does the trick.

The area where the ground cable is going to clamp to is sanded free of any paint, rust, or mill scale.

With the ground clamp attached to clean metal, the final step is to firmly attach the ground clamp with a pair of locking pliers. These few simple steps will assure a solid ground connection for great looking and penetrating welds.

For more information or questions about this Quick Tech Tip please contact Tom Zuloaga.