Flexible Welding Cable: Why It Matters and How You Can Use It

[Greg Anixter]

Most if not all listings of welding cable will be quick to advertise the fact that it is highly flexible. That attribute is one of the main selling points in welding cable, and there’s a good reason for it. For the most part, it has to do with the fact that welding cable, like other welding equipment, has to be used in situ, at the job site, whereas the job site is.

For example, welding as an industrial process often involves the manipulation and the joining of structures, like buildings. Faithful to their name, buildings are “built” onsite and rarely assembled elsewhere. That makes it an imperative for the welding equipment, including the cables, to be amenable to relocation. Insomuch as it relates to the cables themselves, they must be highly flexible in order to “reach” the job site.

This can pose a distinct issue, given the fact that some welding applications involve both high voltage and high current, which can only be carried by larger, thicker cables. As the thickness, or gauge, of an electrical cable increases, the cable becomes stiffer, so manufacturers have to combat this increasing stiffness in creative ways.

However, they can’t simply use smaller gauge cables for welding applications for which they would not be suitable. Instead, they preserve the gauge of the cable along with its ability to handle higher currents and voltages by increasing the copper strand count of the conductors contained in the cables. Flexible welding cable, depending on its gauge, might be made up of many hundreds of individual conductors, or even of thousands. This preserves the flexibility and the gauge of the cable.

In addition to a high level of superior flexibility attributable to a higher number of copper conductors, welding cable is often made to be abrasion and chemically resistant. For example, the welding cable available at EWCSWire.com is resistant to oil and gasoline, which are commonly encountered on job sites. Its EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) insulation is also abrasion resistant as well as resistant to extremes of temperature and to the weather. It is also fairly resistant to UV radiation.

These traits are necessary for welding cables since they are commonly used outdoors, where they must shoulder the brunt of the elements. This makes welding cables suitable for a variety of other purposes, including as solar power hookups, since they are resistant to sunlight and weather. They can also be used for generators, inverters, and as leads for batteries. For the latter purpose, they are often insulated with red or black EPDM to assist with identification.

To learn more about the extra flexible welding cable available at EWCS Wire, or about reasonable uses for it, visit their website or get in direct contact with a member of their customer service team. You can visit them at EWCSWire.com and communicate with their team members via their live chat, or call them at 800-262-1598, for the purposes of asking questions or requesting a quote.