Ttt

You can buy welders, rods, masks, aprons and all the other equipment for not much over free at many estate auctions.

Keith

A welder is a worthy investment. Just get the nicest one you can. For what you're doing it doesn't have to be pretty, and the more rod you burn (or wire) the better you'll get. There is something to be said for the really nice machines though..I tried getting some rod to weld aluminum and it looked like bird poo (and I'm a pretty good stick welder), I took my project to my neighbor who builds and repairs aluminum boats for a living and he let me use his tig setup which I have never done a minute in my life. Everything came out super clean and pretty, due mostly to the machine because that's what $30,000 buys. My Lincoln ranger 250 has never let me down, and it doubles as a back up generator that can run pretty much anything you want (my whole cabin and then some) but it definitely wasn't that spendy.