My situation at the time was quite a bit different, design engineer, service engineer, sales support, and resident person-who-can-fix-it person. And nobody except the owners above, who were far more machinists than engineers. So everything was right there, I seldom had to travel.

 

My situation at the time was quite a bit different,

And your use of a welding clamp, or electrode holder is too. Any in any shop I ever worked in you just stripped the end of the cable, put it into the clamp/holder and tightened down one or more set screws. No crimp lugs, no soldering. The set screws are pretty much standard from what I've seen. Lugs or fancy solder connections are just added weight and welder fatigue.

 

And your use of a welding clamp, or electrode holder is too. Any in any shop I ever worked in you just stripped the end of the cable, put it into the clamp/holder and tightened down one or more set screws. No crimp lugs, no soldering. The set screws are pretty much standard from what I've seen. Lugs or fancy solder connections are just added weight and welder fatigue.

The welder setup was not at all of my creation, nor was I in a position to tell anybody how it should be assembled. At that job I was the one given repair instructions. Also, that arc welder setup was quite probably older than me. So whatever had evolved over the years it was not my call to change it. And the fact that "the kid" was good at soldering did amaze a couple of folks who were twice my age.