Locating a good earth

[Superbad]

Hi gang,
when welding,I do come across difficulty in finding a decent earth for the clamp. As an example,I was just repairing the sills on my Sierra,and there was no fresh metal near the work,only the metal that I'm welding on,where the clamp can get in the way. Since the car battery was off,I opted to place the clamp onto the earth leads for the battery,and successfully welded. Is this not good practice?

thanks
Paul

 

[gavuk]

I would normally use the fixed part of a door lock,either pin or loop....for sills... or grind some paint off local to the weld ....or weld a tag which can be removed afterwards

 

[Windy Miller]

Not really sure if it's good practice or not, but that's how I did it for years.

With all the electronic gadgetry found on modern cars, I doubt it would be wise, but the Sierra 'should' be OK!

I often place the earth clamp on one of the mole grips that I am using to hold the new panels in place, but as Gavuk says, just grind a clean patch near to where you are welding and earth up to that.