Aluminum table for ground????

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I'm thinking about skinning my workbench top with some spare sheets of 1/8" aluminum diamond plate I have.  Can I ground the bench top instead of the workpiece like I do my steel welding table or is aluminum not as good as steel when it comes to grounding?
Reply:Don't see why it wouldn't work....I imagine it will arc pits into it and probably get awful hot around the ground areas. I dunno, never tried it.tractor,loader.dozer,backhoe,and all the tools to keep em movin
Reply:Originally Posted by Kaiser26k3I'm thinking about skinning my workbench top with some spare sheets of 1/8" aluminum diamond plate I have.  Can I ground the bench top instead of the workpiece like I do my steel welding table or is aluminum not as good as steel when it comes to grounding?
Reply:Originally Posted by Kaiser26k3I'm thinking about skinning my workbench top with some spare sheets of 1/8" aluminum diamond plate I have.  Can I ground the bench top instead of the workpiece like I do my steel welding table or is aluminum not as good as steel when it comes to grounding?
Reply:Should work fine.  For TIG, I've been using a piece of 1/2 inch aluminum I picked up at the scrapyard last year when aluminum was cheap (I just got two 1" plates of steel for a lot less than scrap price, so the aluminum's soon gonna be retired), and it works excellently.  I try to hook a ground straight to my workpiece, and when repositioning work, I clamp the ground to the edge of the bench.  On the times that I forget, and leave it clamped to the edge of the bench, I have yet to notice an issue grounding through the table.  Now, when the ground clamp is sitting on the floor, I do notice a minor issue, as the HF current then runs through ME.You are going to hate those diamonds, though.  At least, mount it upside down.Who is John Galt?
Reply:Kaiser26k3 - Of course you don't see it, but John Galt only grounds to the weldment.    Opus
Reply:Aluminum is fine - and the welding spatter (have you EVER seen that!?) doesn't stick so bad.I have two benches - one is 1" thick aluminum that I use very rarely, but it's handy when I want to lay a bunch of things out side-by-side and weld them up with a flat bottom surface.My main bench is 1-1/2" thick tooling plate from an auction at a stamping house.  It's got 1/2-13 holes all over it for clamping things in place. My ground stays clamped tho the underside of the bench almost all the time.I sometimes just hold things in my left hand with some point resting on the bench and then weld with my right hand (bracing my arm against my body, and my body against the bench for control).  The work piece often ends up very slightly spot-welded to the bench, and the arc starts a bit slow as that spot-weld is formed - but I'm lazy at times and it works.Other times, I jig and clamp the daylights out of stuff and then tack it here and there very carefully and quickly.  It depends on the job at hand.
Reply:Thanks for the replies guys.  I plan on staying with my regular steel table for most jobs but just wanted the option of doing some small quick jobs on the workbench with the diamond plate if needed.  Thanks again