Learning to weld

[TFrench]

Gas is available from hobbyweld without a BOC contract - you pay a deposit on the bottle then just pay for refills as you need them. I'd look at spending a bit more on a hood than a cheap n nasty one off ebay - they tend to be made of stuff that gets a bit melty which isn't ideal....

 

[novocaine]

buy a spool of flux core. You can run a gas set as a gasless set (can't do it the other way round though). lets you weld in environments which you can't get away normally. a bit different to normal MIG welding but doable.

 

[heimlaga]

I do all my welding outdoors and in my oppinion stick welding is the only reasonable option for me.

You need a very good and very expensive mig and some rather good quality wire to produce a decent result with gasless mig welding. The gasless migs sold for hobby use only produce splatters and some sort of iron sponge infused with nodules of flux.
A normal mig with gas is only for indoor use except if you build some sort of tent arond the job or if you weld only on calm days. Actually MIGs are banned by law from use on load bearing components at construction sites. As soon as a part of the gas is blown away it affects the strenght of the weld.

My stick welder is a 1960-ies Unitor rectifier. It runs on 16 ampere three phase and pruduces up to 200 amperes welding current. With it I can weld any thickness from 1,5mm and up. The thickest I have ever welded was some 30mm plate. I have pathed up some 1mm thick things too but then the weld quality ends up doubtful. Good quailty rods are important to insure good quality welds. I normally use Elga P48.
Acid rods such as Elga P45 and Esab OK46 are pretty much useless though many hobbyists like them because they are slightly easier to weld with. The welds become very brittle especially when the remperature is below freezing. At -30 celsius they shatter like glass.

 

[novocaine]

well it's an opinion so fair enough, have you tried it though? given it a few hours of practice to see if it really does just leave poop stains and and porous weld?

I manage just fine running the small and (I'd say in the cheap price bracket) Kennedy 150 on fluxcore and keeping the gas on the Kemppi. manage alright with it outside too. It's a very different technique (akin to half stick half mig) as said but well worth being able to do. Duel shield (flux and gas) is allowed on construction but as it take as a bit more kit and a different skill set to stick it isn't seen unless in very high risk areas (welder earns more), I saw it on some of the pipelines out in Saudi.

whilst I own and use stick it's next to useless on a car, great for tractors and diggers but that's another story.

please note I'm not saying don't learn SMAW first, that's the way everybody should start, but don't rule out learning other forms too, a 1 trick pony does not a skilled craftsman make.