The importance of a proper ground or return path on your welding table. Check out my channel and other videos on welding, plasma cutters, air compressors, Mac mini computer and other DIY topics.
good reminder thanks. quck question if I may got a welder missing ground wire, I didnt have #6 or #4 wire but I had 4x 16agw (they are insulated individually) so i ran 4 of them together as "one" wire and wired up at their ends, my question does that gives me of an equavalent lets say #4 wire, I mean 16 dived by 4 is 4. is my math wrong? thanks
Yea, it doesn't work that way. Doubling only reduces by a factor of 3. 4 each 16 gauge wires twisted together comes out to equal 10 gauge. If you have some lamp cord, extension cord, etc that is 12 gauge wire, then 4 of those together would be 6 gauge. Here's a link to a simple calculator so you can figure out what you need. www.wirebarn.com/combined-wire-gauge-calculator_ep_42.html. Also, FWIW the cheapest cable for such a thing is to go to harbor freight, walmart, or similar and buy some 4 or 6 gauge jumper cables. Put on the right connectors and you're good to go. 16 feet of 6 gauge jumper cables is only $18. If that's too much, you can spend $13 on 12 feet of 8 gauge. Put the pair together and you have 5 gauge.
