wire length on stick

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If you are working on  a metal building and lets say its 3 stories high and you have your stinger wire, 200', its my understanding that you can tap the ground at the closest point on that building, as long as it is all connected. Does the steel, being a poorer conductor change the setting/amperage? Or would you get better connection if you ran the ground all the way? thanks.
Reply:I never changed any settings.  It all grounds out the same in my experience.  There is so much steel on large structures that it really spreads out and grounds nicely.
Reply:I ran quite a bit of multi story a decade ago. I would always ground out down at the truck and roam where I needed with the stinger. I was running around 400' on average, 50' ground and 350' of stinger. Sometimes the voltage drop due to the long leads would become apparent, most times, not. It all depended on what you were doing and where. The vast majority of the time, it was never even a factor. The ground was never a factor. No reason to run a long ground.
Reply:I agree.  I've run 25' of work lead and 250' of stinger lead many times when welding at the top of billboards and other structures.
Reply:thanks, so in a pinch you could hook up a piece of re-bar to make the last 10 feet or so?
Reply:Originally Posted by caosesvidathanks, so in a pinch you could hook up a piece of re-bar to make the last 10 feet or so?
Reply:a point : electrically, for resistance , you must consider the TOTAL length of cables ; hot PLUS ground. So, if the building is solidly grounded , it is the shortest  route & therefore preferred . having shortest POSSIBLE ground lead =less voltage drop=better welding .[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:Another point : also use the shortest  hot (stinger) lead also , it ALL counts, along with the size of your leads[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:Long leads brought to mind , when I was a new apprentice at Mare Island shipyard. was assigned to Air Arc on a new sub they were BUILDING . took about 1&1/2 hours to hook up 200-250 feet of 2-0 cable . then when i started to back-arc ,it was a dead line . someone had stolen 100 feet of line out of my string. boy was I P*ssed ! We were working on about 4 levels ,we were exhausted , just getting hooked up . ( using a 900 amp  LINCOLN motor generator ).[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:Of course, if we going to count the hairs, it depends on whether the cross-section of the steel building frame contributes to less or more resistance than your copper leads, too.