No one’s really sure how you pronounce it.  Is it “one aught” or “one naught”?  And furthermore, is it “one aught” or “one aut”?  Google’s not even sure (gasp!), though “naught” comes in first by popularity.  But the question at hand is not how to pronounce the cable sizes!  It’s to determine which cable size you need for the job, a query even more confusing.

Cables, Tables, Gages and sizes Or, Watts it all about?

By AUGUST F. MANZ, AWS Fellow | Jan 1, 2009 12:00 PM

The question that welders face on many jobs is : What size welding cable do I need for XX amperes when I am YY feet away from the power source?  This article — and the corrected sizes shown in Table 7 — will help you to select the right size cables for your welding or cutting job.

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Cable Numbers

Small diameter cables have high gage numbers, and the numbers get smaller as the cables get larger.  After AWG #1 is reached, the next larger size is 0, then 00, then 000, up to 0000.  The 0 to 0000 cables are sometimes referred to as 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0, spoken as “one naught” or “one aut”, “two naught” or “two aut” and so on.  After that, larger sizes are described in “circular-mil” areas.  Welding cable sizes usually run from AWG #2 through 4/0. It is interesting to note, that in the AWG system, a change of three sizes will double or halve the resistance. For example, a #6 cable has a cross section of about 0.0206 in2 and a #3 cable has about 0.0413 in2, while a 1/0 cable has 0.0829 in2.

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One should never get tired of watching welding videos.  Or, at least, I don’t.  So, if you’re like me and you need more welding footage in your life, check out this Welding Theatre website I found.

It’s amazing and it has videos from nearly every company that you can think of; you can even submit your own.

Actually, it has videos for everyone except Arc-Zone.com, but we all know you can just go to our website to see those.

thefabricator.com has just launched its own online TV series to accompany its magazine Practical WeldingToday.  The television series will go by the name Practical Welding TV and will be airing a new episode every two months.  For a full line-up of this season’s webisodes and to view their first one (How to Properly Set Up Equipment Before Welding), go to their website HERE ->

Come back here afterwards if you’re intrigued by all that safety information and check out Arc-Zone.com’s selection of welding gear packages including (but not limited to) welding jackets, gloves, doo rags, HellRaiser™ glasses, and much more.

And for all you excited student learners out there, check out our Arc-Zone.com’s student discount (10% – woohoo!) and SAVE.

If you’re looking for a fixed shade welding helmet that looks good, Hobart has introduced some slick new helmets you may want to check out.

New Fixed-Shade Welding Helmets Feature Edgy Graphics at an Affordable Price

• Two new styles: U.S. Flag and Tribal Flame designs
• MSRP $35; most affordable graphic welding helmets on the market
• Hobart durability; meets ANSI, CSA and CE standards

APPLETON, Wis., June 9, 2008—Hobart Welding Products introduces the most affordable graphic welding helmets on the market with the debut of the U.S. Flag and Tribal Flame designs. Both styles are a part of Hobart’s Fixed-Shade Non-Auto Darkening helmet line, which features a #10 fixed-shade lens measuring 4.5- x 5.25-in. This large window is ideal for hobbyists, farmers and home mechanics who occasionally Stick, MIG, Flux Cored and TIG weld.

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Miller introduced some new helmets the other day:

APPLETON, Wis., May 16, 2007—Miller Electric Mfg. Co. recently introduced two new designs — Motorsports™ and Fire Storm™ to its new Performance Series™ line of auto-darkening welding helmets.

“The Motorsports helmet captures the essence of speed,”explained Miller product manager Tom Sommers. “NASCAR, boat racing, motocross, you name it—if it involves an engine and going fast, that’s what we had in mind when designing this helmet.”

READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE FROM MILLER HERE.

Now more than ever you can choose from a variety of highly-engineered cool looking, comfortable and affordable welding helmets. With a wide selection of graphics and styles every fabricator can find the helmet that’s just his or her style — of course I prefer the Classic Black — it never goes out of style, and you can add your favorite product stickers or custom graphics for that personal look.

Arc-Zone.com’s Classic Black Welding helmet, made my Jackson, the NexGen HSL100 EQC features improved autodarkening technology, and a classic look that can be customized with your own decals, or the hot Arc-Zone.com Decal set that includes the dual flame logos (left and right side).