Let me start with a preface: I am a millwright, I have a machine shop / metal fabrication shop and weld mostly heavier industrial things and some lighter sheet metal. I have an old TIG / Stick welder that is probably 30-40 years old that I bought used 20 years ago and currently a lincoln 250 amp Mig welder, and in the past several Miller MIG welders. OK with that said, here is my suggestions:
a. It takes more knowledge and skill to stick weld, but if you learn to stick weld you will have a foundation where learning to MIG will be a piece of cake. Stick welding has some benifits, you can weld steel, stainless, hard face, cast iron, and sort of aluminum. You don't have to have everything super clean to get a decent weld, (but it alway helps). You can weld outside in the wind, (hard to with MIG or TIG). you don't have to have a bottle of gas, regulator. You can get deeper penatration, and stronger welds with a stick, but it is not as fast to lay down a lot of metal as it is with MIG. You can find cheap used stick welder fairly easy, some of them industrial duty for what you can buy a MIG at Home Depot or Lowes.
b. Because MIG is seemingly so easy to do some people pick up a gun and just pull the trigger, that they never really learn how to weld. You can get very good quality welds with MIG, TIG and stick, but you have to learn. Because it is harder to get the feel of striking an arc stick as opposed to just pulling the trigger on a MIG gun some folks think that they are getting decent welds with Mig when all they are doing is piling some metal on top of what they want to weld with out really welding. However if you know how to weld and watch your puddle you can get good welds with both MIG, TIG and stick.
c. I agree with the gentleman earlier: find your local welding dealers. They service that industry only and they know their stuff, Home Depot is a lumber yard not a welding supply house. Yes HD can have some good buys, (I can get cut off wheels for my chop saw cheaper one at a time there then what I pay for a box at the welding supply), but they only carry the smallest welders and the smallest selection of supplies.
d. Don't buy a wire feed welder that is not set up to use gas shielding. No flux core!!! Yes it is cheap, but you will regret it and fight with it and it just isn't user friendly. Don't buy a welder that runs off of 110 volt power, it is too small and when you get into welding you will regret not having a "real" welder. Also 110 VAC welders have a low duty cycle, weld for a couple minutes then stop and let it cool down.
e. OK now I will go off on my personal rant!!! In todays economy there are great deals in used equipment. This is usually industrial equipment used by business that have gone out of business long before their welders were used up. Because I buy equipment at industrial auctions I daily get emails on upcoming auctions. There is also Craig's list, there are a lot of guys that bought tools or toys and need the money now. In my opinion the two biggest names in welders is Miller and Lincoln, they are the big names because they earned that reputation over many decades, this is not to say that there aren't others, buttttttttttt. I personally like Miller
https://mechanicguides.com/best-cheap-welders-money/ but the last wire feed I bought was a Lincoln because they had a promotion at the time. the way I see it you can either buy a new bottom of the series small welder or a used more than you will ever need industrial machine for about the same price.
f. one other plug: you will need a helmet: I buy the el cheap o auto darkening helmets at harbor freight for $39.99 on sale. I know usually harbor freight stuff is crap, but the helmets are a good deal and work well. I also buy their welding gloves. sometimes you can get away with cheap gloves and a decent helmet, but not your welder, get something worthwhile.
g. Find good local suppliers: a good welding supply house, a good steel warehouse or service center and look on their bulletin boards for used equipment and ask them if they know of anyone wanting to sell used machines. Welding supply houses may know a customer who wants a bigger, or different machine but hasn't bought it because they have a good used machine now.
h. Like any skill, read and learn all you can then spend time doing it. Get some scrap steel and weld, weld weld. watch your puddle and play with it, pull it, push it, watch it.
