A little smile goes a long way.

[SignWave]

I havent been here in a while, I hope everyone is well today (Sunday).
Ive been reading a bunch of the posts from the last month or so and I must say that I am in a much better mood now than I was when I first got here.

Thanks to all you guys & gals out there and the pics you've posted. Its been one HELLOFAMONTH.

I am a signwriter, electrician, fabricator, welder, woodworker, mechanic type of person. I have numerous nicknames for the various forums I visit and I must say right here & now that this is the most pleasurable of the lot to visit.

Thanks again for the "lift"

To the following members:

Wizzad: how the welding skills coming along?

Monte55: I just bouhght a CNC table. Waiting delivery Oct20

BWS291268: I wasnt kidding about your signage needs.. Good fast or cheap pick any two.... I have to deal with this crap on a daily basis from ALL my clients too...

Anyways, for those of you not mentioned, I still enjoyed reading and viewing your posts. Thanks alot. Hope that you have a great Day. It raining in my part of the world so I think I'll make some signs today. I was gonna work on the nice big dent I put in the box of my truck a while back ( Yippeeeee!!!! yea!! idiot....),but that'll have to wait.

[KBar]

Question for Sign

Something I have been wondering about. We have a crane in our shop that is mounted 4 feet into the ground encased in concrete, hope it never needs replaced

If I put my ground clamp on that or a project hanging from it, will it affect the I-Beams which are also embedded in the ground ? I do not want to fry any electrical service. The crane is not connected to any other metal inside the building except anything I would hang from it.

[SignWave]

Zzzzzzap!!!!

Hey Ken,
You dont have anything to worry about. If you hang something from this crane or any other "in the ground" piling or beam or W.H.Y. the potential that exists is zero as it is "to ground". The ground has zero potential and anything that is in the ground also has zero potential. If you are welding with high frequency AC when you tig, you can induce a current into the surrounding,ungrounded metal W.H.Y. so it is important that all metal frame works be grounded. You could run a #12 awg copper wire from here to here to there and plant a couple of long rods in the dirt to tie it all off to. If you really want to be sure of eliminating stray currents, take that same #12 awg, secure one end to a metal part of that crane and then secure the other end on the metal part of the incoming water pipe or ground rod system.

My main concern in my own shop is all my expensive sign making machinery. I cannot afford to have one of my computers or the printer go skitzy from some stray high frequency electrical signal dancing through the air. So, i have everything case grounded as well as earth grounded.

Have you ever been tig'n something and it felt as if it was vibrating or "singing"? thats the induced high frequency current/voltage. My welding table isnt grounded so I get this all the time. strangly fascinating...AND. If your table isnt grounded and it begins to dance, a potential to ground exists. You could in theory take a piece of wire attached to the table and touch it to something grounded and get a spark show....while you are welding that is....
Hope this helps...
Regards, Rich.

[KBar]

Thanks

Rich, thanks for the info, very helpful. I never do much tig work, just now and then. Im mostly a stick or mig kinda guy.

The only vibration I felt lately was when I was welding on reverse polarity, had a short sleeve shirt on and leaned on the metal table, felt like it melted me right to the table.

[SignWave]

the Hutchinson man

Sounds like you experienced the very early stages of the Hutchinson effect.Ever watch the Philadelphia Experiment? Hehehehehe...