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Hi, Frank You asked for advice on what kind of welder to buy, but old brought up something which may be even more important: where to learn to weld. If you have access to a voc-tech or community college (or high school) welding program, by all means sign up for a welding class. Here in Olympia, WA the age of students in the welding classes at the community college ranges from 17 to 70. Some of the youngsters begin with virtually no previous experience with tools of any kind, much less welding equipment. My point is, you're not going to be uncomfortable in that setting. If you can possibly take a class, don't try to decide what equipment to buy until you've had the chance to play with what they've got. Try not to fall in love with the wire feed welders so much that you end up spending ten times as much as you need to for what you need to do. Old said that wire feed welding is not as strong as stick. In practice it often works out that way because wire feed makes it easy to produce good looking welds that have little or no penetration, but I'm sure he would admit that a skilled user can produce equally good welds with either process. Old himself could produce perfect welds with wire feed because he's a highly experienced welder. Inexperienced or careless weldors, on the other hand, can produce absolutely worthless welds with the best stick machines available. There is simply no substitute for knowing what you are doing. All the best, Stan
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