Advice on purchasing welding equipment

[magicniner]

For structural work on materials with 2mm wall and upwards the best bang for your buck is MMA, otherwise known as stick or arc but MMA (Manual Metallic Arc) is the correct technical term.
MMA uses flux coated rods so no gas or additional consumables are required, just clean your work, clamp it together, weld it up and clean up.
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Ideally get someone who can weld to show you the ropes, if you can't produce good welds with an hour's tuition consider a course, alternatively read around the subject, join welding forums (fora?) watch any tuition videos you can find then ask questions.
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Remember that you should never strike an arc without a welding shield in front of your eyes you will not get "arc eye" (hard UV cooking your eye tissue) if you never expose your eyes to the arc.
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Wear standard eye protection under your welding shield as the slag is glass-like in composition and will shrink, shatter and fly off whilst still hot enough to stick to your cornea.
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Do not expose skin to the arc light as the resulting UV exposure is very unwise and potentially very harmful to long term skin health, wear gloves, long sleeves & long trousers or overalls etc.

- Nick