Weld Ground

[xlr8tn]

I fabricated a couple of brackets to use for my steering stop. Now, when trying to weld, I must not be getting a good ground, but the wire just comes out. I am pretty new to welding and managed to get my brackets all done. My guess is that I just need to sand down my frame a little to get better ground.

 

[chizler62]

Heat is too low perhaps and wire speed too fast. Show a pic of weld setting.
Yes, cleaning is super important to welding.

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[xlr8tn]

I measured the thickness of the metal and set my welder to 4/55.

 

[wherearewe]

The welder won't be grounding because of the paint. You should have bare, clean metal to metal contact where you are welding, and good clean bare metal where you are clamping your ground. Use a wire brush attachment for a grinder to clean it up.

 

[NONclow]

Conductivity is the name of the game. Electrical current, as with welding, conducts better with clean connections. The grounding point (anywhere on the frame in this case) needs to be bare, as does the location on the frame where you are going to weld. An angle grinder works just fine with a grinding disc (just not...too...aggressive ). An out of the way (hidden) place can be used (for the ground) if you don't want to scratch any of that cool paint that is visible, just be sure to cover it (with paint) post job so it won't rust.....unless you're into that kind of "patina".

Clean it first!

 

[650Skull]

And disconnect your battery

 

[westonboege]

Yeah put the ground on bare metal if you arent getting any arc.

Disconnect the batt... and make sure you dont have stainless braided lines touching any bare metal while you are welding... Ask me how i know... haha...

 

[pamcopete]

xlr8tn,

Remove all electronic equipment from the bike as well. It's not so much the current flow from the welder as it is the large magnetic fields created by that high current. Some will join this thread and say they have welded for years without having to remove the electronics. Others will also join in and say that they play Russian roulette every Saturday night and haven't lost yet. Same odds.

 

[chizler62]

xlr8tn,

Remove all electronic equipment from the bike as well. It's not so much the current flow from the welder as it is the large magnetic fields created by that high current. Some will join this thread and say they have welded for years without having to remove the electronics. Others will also join in and say that they play Russian roulette every Saturday night and haven't lost yet. Same odds.

Agreed, some say just unhook neg leads to battery. To me that's like cutting a condom in half.

To see if it is just a ground- just practice on some scrap first to assure your settings are good! Or close.

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[xlr8tn]

Bike is just chassis right now...no electronic components...so good on that. Thanks for the advice on braided lines. Anyone else have some pics of steering stops needed for gsxr front end?