Earth Clamps are Crucial

The condition quality and design of an earth clamp or ground clamp are much more important than you might think. A bad welding machine makes your job a lot harder; the same applies to your earth clamp.

A poorly designed or worn earth clamp will only create problems that you just don’t need it if your earth or ground connection is poor this will cause a drop in welding output voltage this is like someone gradually changing the settings on your welder.Best welding earth clamps

For example, if you are MIG welding, the wire speed may seem to be creeping up often the operator will change the machine settings to compensate for this

instead of fixing the real problem. So how does this happen? Firstly you need to remember that all of the welding current has to pass through the clamp so if your clamp is worn or broken this is going to restrict the flow of current.

Here are three common areas that cause current restriction or leakage

  1. The cable connection cable lugs are probably the worst offender here they can be hard to fit properly cable can pull out of the lug or the terminal can become loose
  2. The clamp body is poorly designed worn and corroded parts
  3. The connection to the job itself such as weak springs and worn or broken jaws are all obstacles that restrict current flow and it gets worse when any connection problem causes the affected components to heat up This heating of the clamp will then cause further restriction and faster deterioration which then causes more heat and so the cycle continues.

To avoid a bad earth and make your job easier here’s the deal,

check your earth clamp regularly and make sure the cable lug is firmly fitted and bolted.

Replace the clamp if it has deteriorated, don’t just give your clamp a shake and

reattach it this will not fix the problem

Use only good quality well-designed earth clamps such as the world-class platinum ec500h.

It’s a top-selling earth clamp with a simple yet very effective design that eliminates many of the problems previously mentioned.

  • It has a heavy-duty frame with a strong spring and solid brass jaws for a firm grip on the job
  • A one piece cable terminal and jaw which gives a very secure connection direct from cable to the job.
  • Direct cable connection and that means no more hassle fitting cable lugs
  • It’s super easy to fit so you don’t need any special tools and you can do it right at the welder just like your welding machine or torch if you want a quality welding result you need to invest in a quality earth clamp