[motorcritter]

I got the cheap HF flux welder, and some good wire. The welder was an 'open box' sale, so it wasn't an expensive outlay. It's good for light metal, like auto body sheet metal. I got it primarily to repair the spring perches on one of my Benz sedans. Since the GMC is getting a nice professional paint job, I'll let them do the clean up (I got it with the floors and rockets already done, rather nicely at that). Flux core is pretty dirty, and it needs a good contact surface to get a good bead- not that hard to do. Practice on some scrap stuff, it shouldn't take long to figure out what to do, and not do. The HF auto dark helmets are nice, cheap, too. I had a bunch of welding 'stuff' - leather gloves, chipping hammer, etc. from my Lincoln arc welder and Victor gas outfit, so I was all set. My old helmet was pretty pathetic, hence the new one. A light duty welder like this is useful for a whole lotta stuff. I've used them to remove snapped-off studs and bolts, mend/alter/build exhaust systems and fabrication work for custom setup stuff. I've got a Hobart 240V heavy-duty one buried in a storage hangar. I haven't needed it-yet.