Zapped while tig welding

[Harpkatt]

I bought my first Wire feed welder about 15 years ago, and took a tig class about 3 years ago. Tig welder is about a year old now. I logged hundreds of hours but today on it already but today I experienced something new. Even with gloves and a well placed and clean ground clamp, I was getting zapped while installing a new quarter skin on my friends car.

I made it about an inch and my hand was tingling while feeding the wire. I stopped for a bit and tried again with clamp in a new position but same result.

Has this happened to you?

[boltboy49]

I have been lit up pretty good when welding aluminum on a hot day. Sweaty gloves can make the leather much more conductive.

What kind of welder do you have?

[weldtoride]

Makes a difference...


Hand with the torch, or hand with the filler rod?

[Harpkatt]

My welder is a Lincoln Square wave 200

[Harpkatt]

Originally Posted by weldtoride

Makes a difference...


Hand with the torch, or hand with the filler rod?

The hand with the filler rod.

[Overkill]

It's all in the grounding, and making sure the current goes through the ground clamp to ground, and not you. So don't think only about the connection between the piece being welded on and the welder, but also from the welder to ground. The current needs to make the complete trip. Saw a guy cut the ground electrode off his 110v welder, then wonder why he got shocked all the time.

Ok, here comes the OG story. Years ago, when I was District Manager for Hobart Arc Welding, we would lease engine driven welders to the Cheveron Refinery in the SF Bay Area. We got called out because a welder was malfunctioning. Seems every time a welder started to weld on pipes, a guy about 100' away would get shocked when he stepped in a particular puddle. It was a simple grounding problem.

[Sprint Relic]

Water cooled torch ? Mine had an ever so slight leak. ZAP !

[cvairwerks]

I'd get the tingle due to resting my filler rod arm on the bench and having the part grounded to the bench. Moved to having a couple of fire bricks to support the arm on top of the bench and the problem went away. I also moved to having a leather glove on the rod hand instead of the Nomex one.

[weldtoride]

I'm with John (Overkill)

Ground somewhere/somehow isn't good enough.

A suggestion: Through the years I have periodically tightened my cable ends. One time was after a weird problem I was having trouble getting to the root of and it was a loose cable terminal...

I find that the sort that uses setscrews gradually compress the multi-strand cable and loosens. The other sort that terminates in a crimped ring terminal that is bolted to the clamp sometimes has the bolt loosen.

Check both ends of ground cable...Don't forget the machine plug end of the torch.

[crystallographic]

Originally Posted by weldtoride

I'm with John (Overkill)

Ground somewhere/somehow isn't good enough.

A suggestion: Through the years I have periodically tightened my cable ends. One time was after a weird problem I was having trouble getting to the root of and it was a loose cable terminal...

I find that the sort that uses setscrews gradually compress the multi-strand cable and loosens. The other sort that terminates in a crimped ring terminal that is bolted to the clamp sometimes has the bolt loosen.

Check both ends of ground cable...Don't forget the machine plug end of the torch.

Agreed.
Cannot even think of any other reason.