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My experience is that if you're an expert at welding you might be able to get the job done with a cheap welder. You'll hate it, but you can do it. If you're not an expert you'll hate it and do terrible work, too. The worst thing about cheap welders is that they're so hard to use. The 110 requirement is a serious limitation. The companies that produce real welders---Lincoln, Miller, Hobart, ESAB---make low amp wire feed welders, generally flux core only, that run on 110V. Cheap they ain't, though. Harbor Freight sells a version of that kind of welder but I think you'd be ahead to just buy one of their hammers and hit yourself with it until you got tired of that. You'd save over $100 that way. At Christmas I bought a HF 80A inverter stick welder that runs on 110. With a coupon it cost me $100. It won't run 1/8" rods or even 3/32" 7018, but it works okay with 3/32" 6011, 6013, and 7014. I suspect it would run 3/32" 6010 okay too, but I didn't have any. It's a lot harder to strike and hold an arc with this welder than with any quality name brand welder I've used, but I can weld with it. However, see paragraph 1 above. I've probably spent more hours welding than just about anyone who doesn't do it for a living. I'm not too bad at it. All the best, Stan
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