Welding Tips and Tricks

Anyone have a setup, perhaps in your garage using the TIG process with HF start? If you live in a typical neighborhood, does the HF cause any interference with your/or your neighbors electronics?

If the machine is grounded properly (not the work ground) will that eliminate this issue? If it is an issue...

Does anyone use the touch start on a regular basis, is this a real option to HF start?

Keep an FM radio about 30-50' from your welder, turn it up, and listen for interference when you strike up. If you hear issues (more than a momentary crackle), try "bonding" your machine... That is to say, ground the machine chassis directly to a ground stake or some grounded steel in your shop, and try again.

If you're not messing up your FM fifty feet away, you're certainly not bothering your neighbors.

If you DO have serious noise, post up again. I can offer some fixes.

Steve S

I have mine not 30' from my neighbor. Never got any complaints. Plenty of people have HF TIG setups in their garages/homes. Important thing is to have a solid ground connection all the way through.

I have mine in a garage which is under the house, in fact right under my living room and dining room. Flat screen TV, surround sound stereo system, and playstation are all in the living room. Police scanner and PC are in the dining room. None are more than 20 feet from the welder. I have never had any problem from the welder. On the other hand, my ham radio outfit (100 watt HF rig on the second floor, antenna in the attic) sends everything into a tizzy and puts out a lot of interference.

If I use mine close to an electric outlet it will kick the GFCI out.

Thanks everyone for the responses, I don't have a machine yet but might soon.

Richard

Hey Louie I have the same experiences ; I'm kd6poc



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KC1DJS. we should try to hook up a sched some nite. I seem to hit the west coast pretty regularly on 40 meters.

Louie1961 wrote:KC1DJS. we should try to hook up a sched some nite. I seem to hit the west coast pretty regularly on 40 meters.

Okay, fine...

Just ham it up, you guys.

Steve S

LOL...I see what you did there.

Miller has a recommended installation procedure in their manual. Using it I have no problem welding in my cellar. Mrs B and the family aren't shy, I've had no complaints.

Bill Beauregard wrote:Miller has a recommended installation procedure in their manual. Using it I have no problem welding in my cellar. Mrs B and the family aren't shy, I've had no complaints.

Good to know, thanks Bill

Louie I operate HF from my coastal station : KPH
I'm available on 7050 when out there swinging the bug

You read about us in QST ?

Adam



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In my old house I used to weld under the house in the garage.
The hf on the tig didnt effect the radio about 10 ft away, radios about 36 years old.
However the digital plasma tv upstairs didnt seem to like it at all.
Thats about all I noticed.
You can now return to your ham programming.

I have all kinds of analog and digital stuff around the house - its what I do. There no obvious issues. I did, however, have my mains and breaker panel redone and have a new ground field of three rods plus a ground rod for the garage door steel (all shunted together). If you have a properly wired and grounded home and shop, I wouldn't worry too much. I did install a separate ground rod and connection for the TIG welder chassis ground but I've found I don't need it.

Only thing I ever noticed was that the fm radio at the shop made a bunch of noise when the synchro 250 kicked on

At home I've never had a problem
BUT at home everything is built with RF shielding in mind too; my FM radio is connected to a full size yagi fed with hardline, everything is shielded, etc etc

Lots of ham radio thought bleed over to other areas of interest here

Adam



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Problems with interference can be hard to diagnose and eradicate. But I think it's correct to state that the key to avoiding the HF problems or any others is an excellent ground. The best practice for grounding an electrical service panels to use 3 six-foot grounding rods separated by 6-8 feet driven into the ground, though this is often not done. I'm an obsessed grounder, but I have a Power TIG 185, and Invertec V205T, a Power TIG 275 with pulse panel, and a Dynasty 280 dx which all run in my (well-grounded) shop without any interference problems. If you experience any problems, that's the first place I'd look.

This won't help anyone with a weld shop, BUT, if you're PLANNING a weld shop, you can have a huge ground grid laid under the slab. In the dig-out, you can place a galvanized weld-wire grid with several wires coming to surface before it's back-filled for the slab. Then, you have a huge surface-area ground grid in place to ground and bond everything to. If you build in steel, you can have a wire come up at every column location, and ground the entire structure at many points.

Steve S

KB1HRG here...

K5WLF here in North Central Texas

It's true - you can't overground your working area / shop when you are building it OR troubleshooting a RFI issue

Adam



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