[jptechnical]

Hi there, I'm brand spanking new to welding, I took a 4 evening workshop on stick welding and am hooked. I have a question for you, and I'm not sure what you even search for, so forgive me if this is asked and answered.

I have a shop I work in but it is all wood, so I thought for the practice a fixture outside the shed would potentially work well. I would like to possibly setup a pipe and put various fixtures in it to learn to weld various positions. I could make some kind of free standing stand to work from, or possibly bury something instead of making a base.

So my question is, what kind of concern is there about the fixture being either on or in the ground as respects properly grounding the fixture/work piece? What precautions should I take to make sure I'm not part of the circuit when welding out of doors with this setup?

Any resources you can point me to in these matters I would appreciate.

[weldin mike 27]

Weld a bolt to your pipe. And bolt your earth lead to it. Wear boots and make sure the ground is dry and there will be no problem mate. Think of all the welding that gets done outside. If you are particularly worried make up a wooden deck thing to stand on. It won't really matter a few sparks fall on it. Store it outside incase it does get a particularly hot one.

[BugHunter]

I'm not sure if this would be true in all cases or not, but I know my former Tig welder would not even arc up if you had the part grounded with another source of ground. I've never tried with the inverter I've got now, but the old transformer unit would not light up. This happened to me any time a really large item was on the welding table and the edge hanging off was to touch a nearby machine which offered another path for the current. I'd like to think "ground is ground", but at least in that particular case, there was more to it. So I'd experiment some before building a permanent structure.

[Poland308]

I’ve seen big shops just drive ground rods into the ground, and ground off of them. No issues unless it gets real dry, then you just water it a bit.

[weldin mike 27]

Seems I'm not up to speed on the subject. I just thought if you have a direct connection, it's all good.

[Poland308]

I personally prefer clamping as close to my work as possible, it’s a more controlled / predictable result, welding has enough other variables.

[Spartan]

Well, every day people weld on—and to —the hulls of steel ships that are floating in the water, so I imagine a post in the dirt would also be ok.

[weldin mike 27]

We don't say ground in Australia. We say earth. But the proper term is work return lead. Make sure you are not confusing the ground or earth or work return lead and the ground /earth of the electrical circuit.

BTW if it is a problem, how do people make cattle yards and post fencing that are in the ground?

[BugHunter]

Well, every day people weld on—and to —the hulls of steel ships that are floating in the water, so I imagine a post in the dirt would also be ok.

We don't say ground in Australia. We say earth. But the proper term is work return lead. Make sure you are not confusing the ground or earth or work return lead and the ground /earth of the electrical circuit.

BTW if it is a problem, how do people make cattle yards and post fencing that are in the ground?

I admit, the op is talking about stick welding and I seriously doubt that would be an issue. But if he's looking to practice position welding, he might be looking at pipe practice for later, which often involves both stick/tig. I was simply pointing out that I've seen a Tig welder that didn't like having another path to ground (earth/work if you prefer).

[jptechnical]

We don't say ground in Australia. We say earth. But the proper term is work return lead. Make sure you are not confusing the ground or earth or work return lead and the ground /earth of the electrical circuit...

That distinction between the earth/ground and the work return lead was what I was grasping for. I had an assumption in my mind that these are two different things, but whether or not they would interfere with one another was making my brain itch. I was able to find an adjustable height tripod stand, and a steel plate about 15" diameter, with a nut and bolt on the bottom that fits nicely into the pipe in the tripod for a few bucks at a scrapyard nearby. This setup will get me started and last me the winter at least. And I have enough scrap copper stranded wire I can make sure my work lead is as close as practical to my work piece if I have something I can't get a clamp on.

Thanks, everyone for your responses, it went a long way in getting me going!