[RE-wrenches] Attaching Ground To Steel Frame

[Ray Walters]

I would add to the push  back of welding an SS bolt to mild steel.  
Welding stainless takes special welding wire and shielding gas, and is 
tricky. Even with the right welding setup, it probably will not bond to 
the mild steel, and will just break off when you try to put any torque 
on the bolt.

Better options would be to drill and tap a hole into the steel (1/4-20 
thread would be good)  Or just drill a hole, and use star washers with a 
bolt and nut to bite into metal. I would also use a mechanical lug or 
even a small ground buss, so that you can connect multiple ground wires 
to the connection point.  A third option which I use is a fine thread 
self tapping screw to mount the lug or buss.  I've put these into 3/8" 
thick steel poles. Regular self tappers will not work, it needs to have 
the fine thread like in the pic. They're hard to find, but a good bolt 
supply should have them.

Hex Head Self Tapping Screws

Ray Walters
Remote Solar

On 1/28/2025 1:32 PM, Mark Frye via RE-wrenches wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> I am going to have a steel frame for my stand alone power supply to be 
> dropped on the ground out in the elements.
>
> I was planning to weld a stainless bolt to the mild steel frame to 
> provide a corrosion resistant point of connection.
>
> I am getting a lot of push back on this.
>
> What are other folks do to create a connection for a system grounding 
> electrode conductor on a piece of equipment like this?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mark Frye
>
>
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