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Up Topic Welding Industry / Welding Safety / Grounding a mobile rig
- - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-12-2014 12:41
I've been tasked with grounding a mobile drill rig. I need to come up with a way to easily ground this piece of equipment while onsite inside a substation.

I envision a work clamp (c-clamp style like for a welding table) that can clamp to a copper lug bolted to the chassis of the rig and a 0000 welding cable and then maybe to a copper grounding rod that would be driven into the ground with the hydraulic hammer on the derrick.

But...I wish there was an easy way to remove the grounding rod though when they need to move the drill rig to drill another hole.

Any suggestions?
Anyone here work out of a bucket truck who is familiar with this type of mobile/grounding of a vehicle?
Parent - - By Paladin (***) Date 12-12-2014 13:54 Edited 12-12-2014 14:11
How about a fence post puller? What's the diameter of the rod?
Only trick would be gripping the rod without bending or marring it too much.
Floyd
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-12-2014 14:08
post puller...Hmm, good idea. :cool:
Parent - - By welderbrent (*****) Date 12-12-2014 14:23 Edited 12-12-2014 14:25
You can make your own or modify a commercial one.  May not work real well the way they come.  They are pretty simple.  Great idea.

edit: they are made to grab at the lugs going up the post for supporting wire.  They also grab a larger diameter than your rod will be, probably.  That's why you may need to modify.

He Is In Control, Have a Great Day,  Brent
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-12-2014 14:37
Thinking about using a Tweco C-clamp style work clamp for the rig chassis, then a 10' 4/0 welding cable out to the 3/4" diam. ground rod with a split bolt to connect the cable to the rod.

thoughts?

So far adding up the parts looks like around $170 plus tax.
Parent - - By TimGary (****) Date 12-12-2014 14:44
Are they are Code restrictions or API requirements to consider?
Thining liability concerns...

Tim
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-12-2014 15:04
Hi Tim, They(electric company) have grounding systems once inside their fences, but sometimes we have to setup the drill rig where it is not within reach of these. This just needs to be sufficient to pass the muster of their safety audit.

In reality...the rig is already "grounded" once all of the augers and j-rod is in the ground and working, but they require additional grounding via a ground rod or being connected to one of their grounding systems if working inside the fence at the substation.
- - By Paladin (***) Date 12-16-2014 02:34
I was thinking about this post and it occurred to me that a cable clamp might be a good way to put a "head"
on the rod. That way a small chain, cable, or stout rope could tie on to the rod and be fastened to some type of leverage device.

Floyd
Parent - - By Dualie (***) Date 12-16-2014 03:43
could you string out enough lead to ground it far away.    You might have to treat the rod as a consumable and cut it off flush with the ground if they want it burried to deep.     Otherwise a big levered fence puller and a way to grab the rod might be in order.
Parent - By Scott Griskavic Date 08-13-2019 16:12
Check this out.Slick-slick-slick.
https://youtu.be/ob_tFSEJ9pc
scottie@ badger welding
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-16-2014 12:10
Thanks guys....found out late yesterday(rig due on the job this morning) that the Electric Co is going to let the drill guys use their(electric co's) grounding clamps/cables/etc for the few holes that they need to drill. Apparently there is a fairly tight grounding grid buried 2 feet or so under the top of grade and they have to hand dig for the first few feet to make sure they don't drill through this grid. This grid has places to ground to all along the fence at fairly close intervals and they can hook onto the grid to ground the rig. Anywhere that they are too far away to clamp on, they have to drive the rod and use that instead.

The Electric Co. has a 00 gauge cable that they use for this. So if we had to end up putting something together, I can get away with a lighter/cheaper cable than I had originally planned to use.
Parent - - By ssbn727 (*****) Date 12-16-2014 20:56
I would stick to the double orth (00) cable John... A lighter cable may not be enough to use and may burn up the insulation of the cable... That is unless the electric company is using it as "overkill" - safety wise::eek::roll::yell::twisted::yell::lol::wink::cool::grin::lol:

Respectfully,
Henry
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-19-2014 00:24
When I spoke of a lighter cable...I was speaking of lighter in the sense that it was lighter than what I was going to use(0000).

We used their cable anyway...already had clamps for both ends. Worked great.



Parent - - By Superiorwelding (*) Date 12-20-2014 00:30
John,
Looks like it all worked out. The question I have though is why don't they have a lug already on the machine that you can simply thread a bolt into and attach the cable that way. This is how we ground most of our fabricated equipment.
-Jonathan
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-22-2014 12:10
They(our company) have a new drill rig on order...woot!
Apparently we have a lot of new geotechnical work in the upcoming year to keep the drill rig busy.

Hey Jonathan! Good to see you bud. :cool:
Parent - - By Superiorwelding (*) Date 12-25-2014 18:06
John,
More work is a good thing. A new machine is even better. Glad to be here on this forum. Seems to be a lot of great members and info packed posts. Hope to be a great asset to the team.
-Jonathan
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 12-29-2014 12:05
No doubt, your experience will come in handy...glad to have your experience to pull from.
Parent - By kcd616 (***) Date 12-17-2014 01:50
John
Henry is correct
use what they say
something goes wrong..........oooooooppppppppppssss
blame them:evil::wink::cool::eek::lol:
hope that helps
sincerely,
Kent
- - By Antique Date 01-19-2019 23:07
I just got a personal welder after many years of not using one. My memory is a little foggy. Is there somewhere in particular that I should set my machine when using it. Would a rubber mat work alright?
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 01-20-2019 01:37
What kind of welder did you get?
Parent - - By Antique Date 01-20-2019 16:13
It is a Hobart Handler 140. Just a starter one till I have room for a bigger unit.
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 01-20-2019 17:31
I have an older version of that welder, Hobart Handler 135. It has been a great machine for it's  size. I have ran hundreds of pounds of wire through that little welder. In fact it still has the factory whip on it. Lots of stainless exhaust tubing has been glued together with that machine.
Parent - - By Antique Date 01-21-2019 13:53
How did you mount it or what did you sit it on to use it.
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 01-21-2019 18:43
I used an old pressure washer frame, removed the pressure washer and sit the welder on it. You can it see sitting over in the left in this picture.
Parent - - By Antique Date 01-24-2019 14:41
Thanks. I have an old red metal cart that would work just great then. But will it hurt to set it on a rubber mat until I get it on there?
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 01-24-2019 17:06
Oh yeah, it will be fine.
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 01-24-2019 17:10
In that picture,  I was building banner carts for the high school marching band.  They had backdrop banners that would roll out onto the competition field. I built these so they could roll up the banner and the upright arms would collapse back down to fit on the band equipment truck.
Up Topic Welding Industry / Welding Safety / Grounding a mobile rig

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