Frequently Asked Questions from TANO CABLE

Ampacity is short for ampere capacity. For welding cables, ampacity refers to the maximum amount of electrical current a spool of cable can conduct before advanced deterioration sets in. For more detail on ampacity.

Welding cable is made from stranded bundles of copper wire tightly packed and insulated. The wire stranding gives the cable more flexibility and resistance to wear, while the insulation (typically EPDM or Neoprene rubber) adds additional protection against the harsh environments found in welding applications and is more flexible than PVC or other rubber coatings.

Welding cable usually comes with rubber insulation, typically either Neoprene or Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) rubber, and is designed to be fire (small sparks), water, oil, and abrasion resistant.

All welding cables have relatively high strand counts compared to other types of stranded cable. Tano Cable's smallest welding cable, 6 AWG, has 259 individual strands of copper wire. Though there are other benefits, the primary reason for stranding in cables is to increase flexibility, and the higher the strand count the more flexible the cable will be.

PVC(Polyvinyl chloride) insulated PVC insulated cables are used in power distribution, building wire, appliance wiring, flexible cord and machine tool wiring which voltage is less than 0.6/1kV. Communications application use PVC coverings on a limited basis. Insulation and jacket made from PVC have a number of desireable properties that make them the insulation and jacketing material of choice for many common applications. There properties include flexibility, resistance to temperature, resistance to adverse environmentle situations and low cost.

The normal conductor materials are copper, aluminum, aluminum alloy, copper clad steel, aluminum clad steel, and some metal alloy used in thermocouple cable.