16 Hours of GMAW Training/Instruction?

[John Baptist]

I began welding 52 years ago. I keep buying my way deeper into it. If I could have seen my own future, I'd have bought great welder(s) 52 years ago. I've owned a good many welders, each an upgrade. Most wasted money, as they only were replaced by a better welder.

I suppose you need to learn if welding is for you, some do, some don't.

Duly Noted great advice, I think i just fell into this trap just much further down on quality lol

[old miner called Pop]

I never went to school for welding so I couldnt say if the price is right for what you are thinking of doin, but to me 375 beaver skins sounds a bit pricey. You can learn GMAW in 16 hours easily, Im not sayin you could pass a weld test in that time but for a hobby guy you will do fine as long as you apply yourself to learn.

You mentioned clothing...get the heaviest blue jeans you can find, and the heaviest denim or twill shirts you can find and maybe a greenie from Tillman or a leather jacket. MIG weldin makes a lot little bb's called splatter and sometimes they dont feel too good. Make sure all that stuff you wear is cotton or wool. Dont get the polyester and nylon crap unless you really want to pick melted plastic out of your arms and legs. Keep in mind if you go with wool and some folks claim wool is best but they usually put some kind of polyester crap in it to hold the wool together these days.

I dont know anything about the welder you picked out to buy, as a matter of fact I dont know much of anything about those little welders, all my experience comes from using big engine drives of 400 amps or more and old Lincoln torpedo welders, they were usually 500 amps or more. These guys on here can steer you in the right direction for that information.

Good luck have fun and be safe

[Willie B]

If I could do it all over again, my first welder would have been a Miller Dialarc 250HF with cooler. When I started, helium was available & there is very little you can't do with TIG. The Dialarc is heavy, but mine had a wagon under it, & you won't likely move it much. Worst criticism: It needs a big circuit to perform well.

[Ambull01]

"If I still have no clue what I'm doing after this weekend class I'm going to do then I may think about going the CC route but hopefully I'll be able to pick and choose the classes vs doing the whole program.
"
You'll most likely will not need any more classes for GMAW.

These types of work space classes are great and just what one needs to get the ball rolling.

No need for Community College classes that are geared more for a trades person career route.

I should probably just look this up with an online search or something but I'm tired and kinda lazy right now, just got back from a camping trip lol. Does the community college route teach you about fabrication? I have a lot of ideas/plans of what to make with welding (maybe a utility trailer, fire pits, maybe a wood stove, one of those luggage carrier things that attaches to the back of your vehicle, etc.). Or maybe it's more find a design online and hopefully there's step-by-step instructions I can follow lol.

I never went to school for welding so I couldnt say if the price is right for what you are thinking of doin, but to me 375 beaver skins sounds a bit pricey. You can learn GMAW in 16 hours easily, Im not sayin you could pass a weld test in that time but for a hobby guy you will do fine as long as you apply yourself to learn.

You mentioned clothing...get the heaviest blue jeans you can find, and the heaviest denim or twill shirts you can find and maybe a greenie from Tillman or a leather jacket. MIG weldin makes a lot little bb's called splatter and sometimes they dont feel too good. Make sure all that stuff you wear is cotton or wool. Dont get the polyester and nylon crap unless you really want to pick melted plastic out of your arms and legs. Keep in mind if you go with wool and some folks claim wool is best but they usually put some kind of polyester crap in it to hold the wool together these days.

I dont know anything about the welder you picked out to buy, as a matter of fact I dont know much of anything about those little welders, all my experience comes from using big engine drives of 400 amps or more and old Lincoln torpedo welders, they were usually 500 amps or more. These guys on here can steer you in the right direction for that information.

Good luck have fun and be safe

Just bought some pants that feels really thick/heavy duty, hoping that will work for a while. Found a shirt/jacket on Welders Supply that's cotton in the torso section and the sleeves are leather. I'm all about safety. Picking plastic out of burns doesn't sound too fun.

[old miner called Pop]

No digging plastic out of your body aint fun at all. That jacket will work fine, I have 2 or 3 of em, now give you a hint about them, starch the cloth part good, and when it does eventually wear out get a plain greenie cut the sleeves off of it, then cut the leather sleeves off of the other one and sew the leather sleeves onto the greenie. Been doin that for years and it works out pretty good, Ive done this 5 or 6 times with the same sleeves. Considering I do a lot of overhead very heavy cutting jet arcing and welding i got a pretty good track record with them. You bein a hobby guy should work for you excellent

[Willie B]

Cotton, wool, or linen are natural fibers not prone to melt. For the arc flash protection there are several suppliers of clothing. They offer NOTHING in my size. I use Carhardt, or jeans. I do NOT buy clothes to weld. I use my oldest stuff. Overhead welding, I have a welding jacket I wear 10 minutes at a time, the heat kills me. Learn to embrace a few errant sparks. They won't kill you. They build character.

[kize]

375 for 16 hours of welding instruction = 23.44 per hour. People flipping burgers make more than that. Its worth it even if you don't like what you've learned in the class.

[old miner called Pop]

Cotton, wool, or linen are natural fibers not prone to melt. For the arc flash protection there are several suppliers of clothing. They offer NOTHING in my size. I use Carhardt, or jeans. I do NOT buy clothes to weld. I use my oldest stuff. Overhead welding, I have a welding jacket I wear 10 minutes at a time, the heat kills me. Learn to embrace a few errant sparks. They won't kill you. They build character.

I must one crazy character then...my back neck chest belly and my arms look like I been shot about 27 times with buckshot. The latest one was a nasty one. Last week I got a little greedy with an overhead weld...I had it goin on with that weld and just kept goin it was goin in there so pretty...the slag fell off and landed on my nose and burnt into my safety glasses I pulled the safety glasses off and the slag pulled hide off of my nose...Good thing i had those glasses on my eye woulda got burnt real bad.

Its kinda like these burns on my arm aint bad but the one that rolled down into my britches and settled on the boys dont feel good at all. It all depends on where they land and settle

[Willie B]

I must one crazy character then...my back neck chest belly and my arms look like I been shot about 27 times with buckshot. The latest one was a nasty one. Last week I got a little greedy with an overhead weld...I had it goin on with that weld and just kept goin it was goin in there so pretty...the slag fell off and landed on my nose and burnt into my safety glasses I pulled the safety glasses off and the slag pulled hide off of my nose...Good thing i had those glasses on my eye woulda got burnt real bad.

Its kinda like these burns on my arm aint bad but the one that rolled down into my britches and settled on the boys dont feel good at all. It all depends on where they land and settle

I'll bet the fellow who started this thread won't ever do the stuff you do.
When the weather is right, I'll wear a welding jacket, or put it on in hot weather to do an overhead weld, but it kills me to wear one in hot summer weather.

[Broccoli1]

I should probably just look this up with an online search or something but I'm tired and kinda lazy right now, just got back from a camping trip lol. Does the community college route teach you about fabrication? I have a lot of ideas/plans of what to make with welding (maybe a utility trailer, fire pits, maybe a wood stove, one of those luggage carrier things that attaches to the back of your vehicle, etc.). Or maybe it's more find a design online and hopefully there's step-by-step instructions I can follow lol.
.

The CC class might teach fabrication but it seems pricey.

I would take the Work Space 16 hour class and discuss yer fabrication plans with the instructor. The Advanced GMAW class just might address fabrication.

[Ambull01]

Cotton, wool, or linen are natural fibers not prone to melt. For the arc flash protection there are several suppliers of clothing. They offer NOTHING in my size. I use Carhardt, or jeans. I do NOT buy clothes to weld. I use my oldest stuff. Overhead welding, I have a welding jacket I wear 10 minutes at a time, the heat kills me. Learn to embrace a few errant sparks. They won't kill you. They build character.

What size do you wear? I noticed a lot of welding jackets are all XXL or something similar lol. I'm cursed with a slight build, only wear medium. I'll probably sweat my butt off in a welding jacket during the summer, it gets really humid in VA. I'm hoping the cotton torso will help a bit with that along with my garage fan.

I must one crazy character then...my back neck chest belly and my arms look like I been shot about 27 times with buckshot. The latest one was a nasty one. Last week I got a little greedy with an overhead weld...I had it goin on with that weld and just kept goin it was goin in there so pretty...the slag fell off and landed on my nose and burnt into my safety glasses I pulled the safety glasses off and the slag pulled hide off of my nose...Good thing i had those glasses on my eye woulda got burnt real bad.

Its kinda like these burns on my arm aint bad but the one that rolled down into my britches and settled on the boys dont feel good at all. It all depends on where they land and settle

Damn! You don't wear a welding helmet? I'll never weld anything without a helmet, especially after reading that lol. I'm a total nerd when it comes to wearing safety/PPE gear. When I run my chainsaw I wear one of those helmets with with built on earmuffs and face shield, put on chaps, gloves, safety glasses, and leather boots.

I'll bet the fellow who started this thread won't ever do the stuff you do.
When the weather is right, I'll wear a welding jacket, or put it on in hot weather to do an overhead weld, but it kills me to wear one in hot summer weather.

lmao nope, I definitely do not want slag falling on my nose or hot metal settling on my testicles. I don't see myself ever doing overhead welding though.

The CC class might teach fabrication but it seems pricey.

I would take the Work Space 16 hour class and discuss yer fabrication plans with the instructor. The Advanced GMAW class just might address fabrication.

That's true, good point. Just spoke to the instructor on the phone briefly but he seemed to be a friendly guy and wasn't irritated with all my questions so good sign lol. I was planning on fixing the rusty rear quarter panels on my truck with panels and adhesive but now I'm thinking I may try to butt weld it with lots of tack welds. Saw this video last night:
The guy makes it looks super easy so I know it's not going to be like that when I attempt it but I like that method. Tacking it onto the side of the vehicle then cutting out the sheet metal. I just have to figure out how I'll get the cut piece out. I think I'll practice welding for a few months then attempt the fix. I'll also bring the panels and truck with me to the class and try to get the instructor's opinion on my plan.

[old miner called Pop]

What size do you wear? I noticed a lot of welding jackets are all XXL or something similar lol. I'm cursed with a slight build, only wear medium. I'll probably sweat my butt off in a welding jacket during the summer, it gets really humid in VA. I'm hoping the cotton torso will help a bit with that along with my garage fan.



Damn! You don't wear a welding helmet? I'll never weld anything without a helmet, especially after reading that lol. I'm a total nerd when it comes to wearing safety/PPE gear. When I run my chainsaw I wear one of those helmets with with built on earmuffs and face shield, put on chaps, gloves, safety glasses, and leather boots.



lmao nope, I definitely do not want slag falling on my nose or hot metal settling on my testicles. I don't see myself ever doing overhead welding though.



That's true, good point. Just spoke to the instructor on the phone briefly but he seemed to be a friendly guy and wasn't irritated with all my questions so good sign lol. I was planning on fixing the rusty rear quarter panels on my truck with panels and adhesive but now I'm thinking I may try to butt weld it with lots of tack welds. Saw this video last night:
The guy makes it looks super easy so I know it's not going to be like that when I attempt it but I like that method. Tacking it onto the side of the vehicle then cutting out the sheet metal. I just have to figure out how I'll get the cut piece out. I think I'll practice welding for a few months then attempt the fix. I'll also bring the panels and truck with me to the class and try to get the instructor's opinion on my plan.

YES I wear a welding hood...the slag fell off when I flip my hood up...its one of them welds where the slag just peels off behind the weld as your welding when you got it goin on good. I dont know if I bumped the slag when I flip my hood or if it just got too heavy to hang there....but it was one pretty weld for sure. It aint the first time its happened I got nasty one across my throat when I got too greedy once...that took 3 months to heal up

[old miner called Pop]

I'll bet the fellow who started this thread won't ever do the stuff you do.
When the weather is right, I'll wear a welding jacket, or put it on in hot weather to do an overhead weld, but it kills me to wear one in hot summer weather.

He probly wont, except for maybe experimenting with some overhead work. I wear a full leather jacket in the winter a lot, keeps my old bones a bit warmer. Workin outside in the winter can be brutal but I would still rather work outside than in a shop, outside I get myself goin better and nobody bothers me at all when im outside, except maybe to see if i need anything or if Im still alive. Lots of times I see no one for days at a time, I like it that way, I just in my own groove and run with it.

In the summer I just wear heavy denim or cotton work shirts over a t shirt, unless im directly under somethin doin heavy gouging or welding, and in most cases its one of those jackets I told him about

[12V71]

He probly wont, except for maybe experimenting with some overhead work. I wear a full leather jacket in the winter a lot, keeps my old bones a bit warmer. Workin outside in the winter can be brutal but I would still rather work outside than in a shop, outside I get myself goin better and nobody bothers me at all when im outside, except maybe to see if i need anything or if Im still alive. Lots of times I see no one for days at a time, I like it that way, I just in my own groove and run with it.

In the summer I just wear heavy denim or cotton work shirts over a t shirt, unless im directly under somethin doin heavy gouging or welding, and in most cases its one of those jackets I told him about

In the days when I spent a lot of times under scrapers cutting buggered cutting edge nuts, I learned to really like any leather that would cover every square inch of my body and not complain about the temperature that day.

[old miner called Pop]

In the days when I spent a lot of times under scrapers cutting buggered cutting edge nuts, I learned to really like any leather that would cover every square inch of my body and not complain about the temperature that day.

Yup...thats one of those jobs no matter what you do or where you put yourself its gonna find you and your gonna get burnt... dozer edge bolts too

[12V71]

Yup...thats one of those jobs no matter what you do or where you put yourself its gonna find you and your gonna get burnt... dozer edge bolts too

Yeah, used to use those huge rivet washing tips that really blew a lot of melted metal rain, but didn't hurt the frog if you were half careful.

[Willie B]

"Damn! You don't wear a welding helmet? I'll never weld anything without a helmet, especially after reading that lol. I'm a total nerd when it comes to wearing safety/PPE gear. When I run my chainsaw I wear one of those helmets with with built on earmuffs and face shield, put on chaps, gloves, safety glasses, and leather boots."

Note his picture; hart hat & shield. I'm guessing there's a gap between.

I feel his pain, as a teenager I did something very stupid. I melted a big liquid gob of steel with a big oxy/acetylene welding torch. I was sure I was well out of the fall line gravity would take it. It travelled significantly sideways to land under my watch. In panic, I ripped my watch off taking 1/4" thick layer of flesh exposing off white bone the size & shape of a watch. Took many months to heal & was so soft it tore open easily for a very long time. 50 years later, the scar is barely visible.

[Ambull01]

YES I wear a welding hood...the slag fell off when I flip my hood up...its one of them welds where the slag just peels off behind the weld as your welding when you got it goin on good. I dont know if I bumped the slag when I flip my hood or if it just got too heavy to hang there....but it was one pretty weld for sure. It aint the first time its happened I got nasty one across my throat when I got too greedy once...that took 3 months to heal up

Damn that's some crappy luck/timing lol. I bet that one on your neck hurt like hell. Speaking of neck burns, maybe I need to look into a leather neck protector or something lol.

You ever heard of someone going to one of those pick-a-part/junk yard places with a battery powered cutoff tool and cutting sheet metal from the cars? I wonder if they would kick me out. There's a pick-a-part place about 10-15 minutes away from me. It's only $2 to go in to look for parts. They haven't charged me a few times for some small parts I found in the yard. I'm thinking about buying a new Milwaukee 12volt cutoff tool (I already have a couple of batteries and three Milwaukee tools) and going to town on the cars in their yard. It would be an almost endless supply of sheet metal and metal in general!

[old miner called Pop]

[QUOTE=Willie B;8830429]"Damn! You don't wear a welding helmet? I'll never weld anything without a helmet, especially after reading that lol. I'm a total nerd when it comes to wearing safety/PPE gear. When I run my chainsaw I wear one of those helmets with with built on earmuffs and face shield, put on chaps, gloves, safety glasses, and leather boots."

Note his picture; hart hat & shield. I'm guessing there's a gap between.

I feel his pain, as a teenager I did something very stupid. I melted a big liquid gob of steel with a big oxy/acetylene welding torch. I was sure I was well out of the fall line gravity would take it. It travelled significantly sideways to land under my watch. In panic, I ripped my watch off taking 1/4" thick layer of flesh exposing off white bone the size & shape of a watch. Took many months to heal & was so soft it tore open easily for a very long time. 50 years later, the scar is barely visible.[/QUOT

It fell on my nose after i flipped up my hood, dont know if I knocked it down when I flipped my hood or if gravity took over and the slag fell off and I just happened to be at the right...or wrong spot. But it was a pretty weld

Dammit man I know that hurt. A torch blew up in my hands about 20 years ago, my right hand was a huge blister the size of a cantalope in about 2 minutes, my left hand got it too but as bad. Never in my life did I have that much pain and for so long a time.I went back to work 2 weeks later, (self employment pushes you harder, got to pay the bills) my hand was still pretty raw and healing up but I kept it wrapped up and did most of my work with left hand. About 4 months later the pain left. I knew what my brother-in-law went thru. House fire early 60s, he pulled 7 of his brothers and sisters and his mom and dad out of there, burned up pretty bad, mostly 3rd degree burns He was in the hospital almost 2 years, they literally grew skin on his body from patches they cut off the inside of his thighs, the only part of his body that wasnt burnt real bad, he is 71 now and has scars that still crack open and bleed. They turned him down when he tried to go in the army, they couldnt read xrays of his chest thru the scar tissue but they found out later his lungs were burnt pretty bad too. Hes got lots of health issues from all that now.

Never wore a watch while welding for that reason. Made that mistake though with my wedding ring....burnt my finger bad when hot one got on it, after that i wore it on a shoelace around my neck.

Im thinkin this fella might be lookin for a different hobby after all these horror stories us old timers could tell

[Willie B]

Damn that's some crappy luck/timing lol. I bet that one on your neck hurt like hell. Speaking of neck burns, maybe I need to look into a leather neck protector or something lol.

You ever heard of someone going to one of those pick-a-part/junk yard places with a battery powered cutoff tool and cutting sheet metal from the cars? I wonder if they would kick me out. There's a pick-a-part place about 10-15 minutes away from me. It's only $2 to go in to look for parts. They haven't charged me a few times for some small parts I found in the yard. I'm thinking about buying a new Milwaukee 12volt cutoff tool (I already have a couple of batteries and three Milwaukee tools) and going to town on the cars in their yard. It would be an almost endless supply of sheet metal and metal in general!

Get a sabre saw, or metal bandsaw for sheet practice if butt welds are what you are going for. cut it in half, weld. After it cools cut more. Old sheet from cars is a lot of work to get all the paint off. I'd favor a small sheet of clean new steel from metal supplier.

You'll have better luck at first with 10 or 11 gauge. Auto body sheet is likely going to be 20 gauge, worse than tough for a beginner.

[Ambull01]

Get a sabre saw, or metal bandsaw for sheet practice if butt welds are what you are going for. cut it in half, weld. After it cools cut more. Old sheet from cars is a lot of work to get all the paint off. I'd favor a small sheet of clean new steel from metal supplier.

You'll have better luck at first with 10 or 11 gauge. Auto body sheet is likely going to be 20 gauge, worse than tough for a beginner.

Never heard of a sabre saw. Damn so many things I need to learn about lol. Yeah good point about all the prep involved with old sheet metal. Although, I bought my angle grinder over a year ago but just started using it. Just discovered the cutting discs for it too and I'm in love with it now. It's pretty freaking cool seeing all those sparks flying and the ability to cut through metal. I feel like a little kid using that thing. I may actually like doing all the prep work for old sheet metal.

Good idea with starting on thicker sheet metal then gradually going thinner as I build up experience and dial in my welder settings. This beginner GMAW class can't come soon enough! Really looking forward to getting started on this new hobby. Also true about all the horror stories you guys are telling, getting slightly nervous lol. My list of things to buy is getting longer and longer, going to spend over $2k on welding related items soon. So far I have:

Hobart 210MVP $849
GMAW beginner class $375
Welding gloves $14
Welding hammer $7
Vulcan welding cart $120
Aviation snips $12
MIG welding pliers $13
C clamps $28
Welding magnet holders $12
Vise grip clamps $24
Hobart Inventor hood $100
Forney nozzle gel $12
Shop stool $75
Steel welding table $75
Fire extinguisher $20
Two welding jackets $94
Thoroughbred #3 80 cut ft ARGMIX $400
Total $2,230

Still have to get more wire, tips, etc. I think I need to pare down on my list of things to get, I'm getting a bit carried away I think lol.

[old miner called Pop]

Never heard of a sabre saw. Damn so many things I need to learn about lol. Yeah good point about all the prep involved with old sheet metal. Although, I bought my angle grinder over a year ago but just started using it. Just discovered the cutting discs for it too and I'm in love with it now. It's pretty freaking cool seeing all those sparks flying and the ability to cut through metal. I feel like a little kid using that thing. I may actually like doing all the prep work for old sheet metal.

Good idea with starting on thicker sheet metal then gradually going thinner as I build up experience and dial in my welder settings. This beginner GMAW class can't come soon enough! Really looking forward to getting started on this new hobby. Also true about all the horror stories you guys are telling, getting slightly nervous lol. My list of things to buy is getting longer and longer, going to spend over $2k on welding related items soon. So far I have:

Hobart 210MVP $849
GMAW beginner class $375
Welding gloves $14
Welding hammer $7
Vulcan welding cart $120
Aviation snips $12
MIG welding pliers $13
C clamps $28
Welding magnet holders $12
Vise grip clamps $24
Hobart Inventor hood $100
Forney nozzle gel $12
Shop stool $75
Steel welding table $75
Fire extinguisher $20
Two welding jackets $94
Thoroughbred #3 80 cut ft ARGMIX $400
Total $2,230

Still have to get more wire, tips, etc. I think I need to pare down on my list of things to get, I'm getting a bit carried away I think lol.

Expensive hobby aint it?

[Willie B]

I'm old. More commonly people now call them a jig saw. I like using it because it won't bend the sheet if you do it right. If auto body is your thing you then need a few dollies & a good body hammer. Another good ball peen is a good choice for stretching metal after welding. In sheet especially, cooled weld shrinks, it'll pucker the sheet. You have to back it up with some sort of anvil and strike repeatedly on & near the weld to stretch it back to correct size allowing the sheet to lay flat again.

By the way, cutting disks it's mandatory to use a face shield & safety glasses. Disks can shatter sometimes. I've heard horror stories of people cutting an artery in their throat with them.

I also urge you to get a 6 gallon pail from brewing supply. 5 gallon is OK for other stuff. I get the screw top lids from Home Depot. My helmet, TIG gloves, a hair dryer, & welding hat go in the 6 gallon. Face shield & safety glasses in another. Get in the habit of putting helmet in the bucket each time you take it off. It won't get scratched, same with face shield.
If storing grinder(s) in another, remove cutting disks from the grinder when not in use. They get banged around at all, they might shatter. No big deal if you are wearing protection. Tight fitting gloves are a must.

[Ambull01]

Expensive hobby aint it?

Hell yes. I see this initial purchase as an investment of sorts though since the welder should last a long time and the class will, hopefully, give me a good understanding on how to GMA weld. Now I just have to stop myself from coveting Miller welders.

I'm old. More commonly people now call them a jig saw. I like using it because it won't bend the sheet if you do it right. If auto body is your thing you then need a few dollies & a good body hammer. Another good ball peen is a good choice for stretching metal after welding. In sheet especially, cooled weld shrinks, it'll pucker the sheet. You have to back it up with some sort of anvil and strike repeatedly on & near the weld to stretch it back to correct size allowing the sheet to lay flat again.

By the way, cutting disks it's mandatory to use a face shield & safety glasses. Disks can shatter sometimes. I've heard horror stories of people cutting an artery in their throat with them.

I also urge you to get a 6 gallon pail from brewing supply. 5 gallon is OK for other stuff. I get the screw top lids from Home Depot. My helmet, TIG gloves, a hair dryer, & welding hat go in the 6 gallon. Face shield & safety glasses in another. Get in the habit of putting helmet in the bucket each time you take it off. It won't get scratched, same with face shield.
If storing grinder(s) in another, remove cutting disks from the grinder when not in use. They get banged around at all, they might shatter. No big deal if you are wearing protection. Tight fitting gloves are a must.

Ah okay. Yeah I looked up sabre saw and jigsaws popped up, wasn't sure if they were the same thing. Just ordered a ball peen hammer, may have to look around for an anvil now. I'm hoping after this sheet metal project on the truck is complete I'll never work with auto sheet metal again.

Yep just read about cutting disks breaking/shattering. I was just using my safety glasses but I'll probably just use the welding helmet on the grinding mode from now on.

What's the hair dryer for? You just reminded me about some kind of welding hat. I'm follicly challenged so I usually just shave my head. No hair to protect my scalp from flying hot things. All the welding gloves I've seen are HUGE. Not sure if it's that way for a reason or it's just a one size fits all type of deal. Tight fitting gloves for a grinder makes sense though, less material for it to grab hold of. I should have tried to make my own welding cart but for $120 I don't think I could make one for much less.

P.S. good thing welding isn't a fashion show, I have gear/items from several different brands. Hobart welder, Lincoln Electric gloves, HF Vulcan welding helmet, etc. I have absolutely zero brand loyalty lol.

[Broccoli1]

The Hobart 210 is a fine machine, no worries there.

Sheet metal kit
https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...-pc-63259.html

You don't really need Welding specific gloves- just all leather gloves will work fine but welding gloves come in all sizes and thickness based on how much heat you're pouring into the weld.