The cable that came with my used welder is Vari-Flex #1, and is in pretty
good shape. Haven't stretched them out yet to see how long. I'd say about
75'. There is one place where there is about a two inch melted coating.
Would it be better to just fix it with tape, or cut the cable and put a
connector in there? If tape, or something other than a connector, what's
good to use?
Steve
Heat Shrink is available at most electrical supply places. Yes, if you're
lucky, you may find it at the welding supply. I think I've seen it advertised
with Harbor Freight and Northern Tools and Equipment, but I may not trust HF's
as well as that from some of the electrical suppliers. OTOH, You're dealing
with a bit lower voltages than you'd the electrical industry is used to.
===SteveB wrote:
Electrical store item.
Often in hanging bags in the walk in area.
Radio shack has little mostly small for electronics.
I bought some from MSC - a nice sample kit. Try them.
Electrical / electronic second hand / scrap / sales store - overages...
Fry's if you have one. Used to be mostly electronic parts now
much more and less of the engineering build stuff.
Martin
Martin H. Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
TSRA, Endowed; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal.
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.
http://lufkinced.com /
SteveB wrote:
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McMaster has them. I can send you a couple of large diameter pieces if
you want Steve. You may use two, one over another (first shrink one
then slide another on top of it), for best abrasion resistance.
i
A welding cable butt connector. If I were you I'd consider whether to add
a break there, meaning a male end and female end. Lots of times it's
handy to use one shorter cord or two short cords in series as needed ..
Grant
Excellent suggestion. I have to lay them out and clean them with a solvent
anyway. That would let me see where the bald spot is relative to the
length. I have seen too many cables arc and sometimes it was just pretty
and sometimes it was pretty hairy.
I also liked to have a 10' lead of slightly smaller, but more supple lead to
which to attach my stinger. Less weight to hold up all day. Put together
with a twist connector, IIRC.
It's also easier at times depending on what you're working on if you have a
short ground, and a long lead. Depending on the job, there's advantages to
different lengths. Not sure how that affects the electricital habits, or if
good or bad. Also I have seen ground cable wrapped around weldments to
counteract arc blow by reducing electromagnetic fields. May also have to
adjust power settings from situation to situation, but no biggie.
Ernie? Is there anything detrimental about uneven cables?
Steve
I'm not Ernie, but I know the answer to this. The welder sees the total
resistance of both cables. If you have 2 50' cables it's exactly the same
as if you had 1 99' cable and one 1' cable.
I have never understood guys who like ground leads a lot shorter than the
work lead. I like 'em exactly the same length. Sometimes I have to stretch
one way out and sometimes the other. To me, having two long leads just
works out to be the most flexible arrangement.
Grant
Im one of the Short ground guys. I cut my cables to be 1/3 and 2/3
lengths. I seldom ever have to move the ground, but I always have to
move the stringer around to the far side, so try to keep the stinger
lead as long as possible.
Now if I was pipelining or something...shrug
Shrug
Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner
It all depends on each job. I have seen long/short to be an advantage in a
shop situation where there was a large weldment. If the machine was close
to the piece, a short cable was better than a long one that was a trip
hazard. Multiply that times X machines, and there can be a lot of
unnecessary cable laying about. The long one allowed for the weldor to get
all around. Sure, you could coil the extra, and some places had places to
hang it, but I think an assortment of cables is good, and it's just personal
preference.
Thanks for the info on the 2/50 vs. 1/99 thing.
Steve
Everyone around here uses tape, or good quality heat shrink tubing.
Need some, email me an addy and Ill put some in an envelope for ya.
Most of my leads are taped. Shrug..easier than pulling the clamp or
stinger and sliding the heat shrink down the cable.
Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner
i'm a big fan of cleaning up the cable break in solvent (rubbing
alcohol usually) and the jacket as well for several inches each way.
then after that any cable getting waht i consider rugged use will get
at least two layers of heatshrink on it. first layer should be very
close to the actual cable diamater or it should be 3:1 ratio shrink
(Automotive stores usually carry the 3:1) first layer seals the break
itself in then the second serves as a protection of the fix or a wear
layer and is a few inches bigger on each side than the original patch
if youre feeling REALLY creative there is transparent heatshrink and
you could slip in a paper with the owner in between the 2 layers then
shrink it on with transparent shrinktube
but thats getting fancy.
the most important thing to remember is that welding cable gets pulled
through some really inhospitable conditions and heatshrink will NEVER
be as tough as the original cable jacket
Brent
Ottawa Canada
Ive inherited some blue heat shrink, that reminds me of Goodyear hose.
Wall thickness is at least .060..really thick stuff. I had a hard
time cutting a piece off with a marginally sharp pocket knife. Tough
stuff. No markings. I got a plastic bag with about 50 pieces, all
about 2-3" long.
Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner
Is the melted section melted from contact with something outside that
was hot or did it get mechanical damage and heat up from current flow in
the resistance of the damaged wire? If there is no mechanical damage,
the heat shrink or tape that everybody is suggesting would be fine. If
the heat came from mechanical damage to the wire, I would cut out the
damaged area and put in a connector.
Bob
Steve B asked about repairing welding cables and to this I say:
I have patched up more cable than I care to think about. This is the
way I do it.
3M makes A liquid electrical tape that you brush on the bare spot. I
put enough coats on to level the spot with the rest of the cord. When
the repair is cured (over night is good) I put on A shrink fit sleeve at
least an inch longer than the repair. I also like to use shrink fit
tubing that has A heat activated adhesive in it. This can be tough to
find but is worth it. The stuff I had was used to patch underground
electrical service wiring when it was damaged.
Good Luck!
H.R.
"The best way to have A good idea is to have allot of ideas".
Dr. Linus Pauling
If the conductors in the area with the melted insulation have not been damaged,
you can probably use self-fusing silicone
tape and not have to hassle with removing the cable ends. The tape will "fuse
together" bonding to itself as well as the
(clean) undamaged insulation. The thickness will be determined by how many
wraps you decide is adequate for the repair.
The flexibility and toughness should be about the same as the original
insulation.
If the internal conductor is damaged, like someone else in this thread
suggested, cut out the bad area entirely and either
splice with a butt connector sized for the gauge wire of the cable, or better
yet install a male/female set of connectors
allowing you to configure the cable to be long or short depending on the
situation. (again, per someone else's suggestion
here and excellent idea at that...) I would then use heavy duty heat shrink
tubing with "sealant" to protect the
connections, which will also make this area stiffer, which is desirable to
inhibit flexing of the repaired connections as
much as possible. Regardless of which repair idea you choose using the heavy
duty shrink tube with sealant will also
water-proof the connection while providing structural stiffness to the joint.
Here is a place http://www.wiringproducts.com/index1.html that sells
everything you might need, or I have sometimes
found good deals on heavy duty sealing heat shrink and large gauge splices and
connectors on ebay. The self fusing tape
is a little harder to find but is available from the supplier above. Good luck,
enjoy your new toy and let us know what
you finally use as a fix to the cable issue. Best regards, Joe.
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