Newbee to welding - advice appreciated

Rig - If you are willing to buy another machine once you learn...  Get a 110v Miller or Lincoln MiG set-up.  Get one that can do both gasless and gas welding.  HOWEVER - You are going to want to use gas from the start (you want the option of 110v and gasless wire at the track).  If you can afford it, buy new.  Welders are typically rugged, but nothing is more frustrating than trying to track down a problem inside the box. 

Once you get decent at sticking some steel together...  Then get a 220v machine for the garage and have the 110v one for travel. 

I can not stress this enough - get a good autodarkening helmet.  You must be able to see what you are welding in order to weld it.  Change out the replaceable visor lens often.  Get good gloves and throw them out when they get holes or burnt. 

Then finally, take a class.  You can not learn how to make a good weld without feedback from someone who knows. 

--Rob

Once he learns how to weld, can do it well, and know the thicknesses he will routinely be dealing with -  he will know if he needs a 220v welder.

Excellent advice!   An autodarkening helmet is essential for a beginner.   It will remove many of the frustrations that bother a new welder, right at the time when you are trying to deal with lots of new stuff.   Buy it at a welding supply store, not at Harbor Freight, to ensure you get a top performer.   Some places will even let you try it out.

Gloves are going to be a very personal choice.   You have to strike a balance between shielding your hands from being cooked, and being able to manipulate the torch.   You may wind up with multiple pairs for different jobs.   Also, there is nothing wrong with using one thick one and one thin one if it suits your needs.

A class is another essential step.   A good instructor can look at what you are doing and give you instant feedback.   I took my classes (note, plural) at a local community college, but ask at your welding supply store if they know of other classes -- they might even offer them.

Finally, practice, practice, practice.

I took a welding class last Fall semester at one of our fine taxpayer-funded local community colleges. My classes were for 3 hours on Sunday afternoon, and it destroyed my NFL season. So as a huge pro football fan, I can say this: my welding class was hands-down the most fun 3 hours of my week, every week of the semester. I would give up the NFL season every fall for the rest of my life if I could have that kind of fun every week with a welder and some steel. You may think that you can figure out Mig welding ("it's just like using a hot glue gun!" is my favorite misperception) on your own, but you will mostly make cold joints that you think are good enough. Take a class and you learn what a weld is really supposed to look like, and then you learn what it's supposed to sound like (!), and then it all lines up. Plus there's something elementally powerful about the feeling that you have conquered the melting and melding of steel, as if you were Vulcan himself.

And then you will find yourself endlessly trolling CL for the proper welder to add to your collection...

Some info here http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=6402
I wrote a newbie / help bit halfway down the 2nd page.

Thanks for all the reply's.  Gettin kinda excited about it now.  Time to look for a community college with welding class, and scour craigs list for a rig.

Mulry, what college did you take your class at?  I'm newly located in Lewisville, so Brookhaven may be the closest place.  Haven't checked if they offer classes or not, yet.

I took my class at Brookhaven. I think that Lewisville is in Denton County though, and Brookhaven is a Dallas County community college, so I don't know if your tuition would be higher because you would be out-of-county or not. It couldn't be too expensive even if that were the case; I think my tuition for the class was like $195 for the semester, which worked out to something like $5/hour for actual in-class time. That includes all your consumables too. And if you go to class enough and don't make like a total asshat, you even get a certificate suitable for framing

It looks like the summer session doesn't have the normal oxy-flue welding class that I took -- they are offering a blacksmithing class this summer, which sounds interesting other than the horrible likelihood of heatstroke working at a forge outdoors in the middle of a Texas summer -- but you might give them a call anyway. The welding classes tend to fill up quickly as they have a very limited number of spots per class (like 6?) since it's essentially a lab class and there's only one instructor to oversee everyone and make sure nobody is doing anything too dangerous.