Welding Woes, to buy and learn / to hire a pro Options

[stateofidleness]

So im almost to the point where welding will be happening on the ol' floorpans

Im wondering whether it is worth the investment to buy a welder and all the accessories needed for the job (could be pricey i presume) or whether it's best just to hire a shop to weld up the holes in my floorpan?

if i DO buy a welder (which i think could be fun and a neat thing to learn), what am i looking for? i have a few small pencil diameter holes to patch and a couple baseball size holes to replace in the corners...

what type of welder should i look for?
what type of welding is best?
what type of metal to use?
where can i buy a cheap welder and acc. needed? (as cheap as possible! i dont mind used)
best to hire a pro?

this would be my first time welding so id probably practice on other things first, but im willing to learn and do it right. ive also got an engman kit on the way, so it would be nice to be able to weld that in myself!

Thanks for the help!

[VaccaRabite]

Seriously. For ~$600 you can really be set up to weld anything up to 1/4 inch thick - which is way thicker then what you will use on your car.

Welding classes are nice - but you don't _really_ need them. You need some balls and scrap metal and a willingness to try a bunch of things that won't work, and fix things that don't come out perfect.

I looked at taking a welding class, and realized that I did not have time. Instead, I read all I could (online, and I book I got from Lowes). I practiced butt welding 1/16th inch walled square tube together. Each time I welded the tube together, I tried to break it apart. The first few times it was easy to break apart. Then I had to use a hammer to break the weld. After 2 hours of trial and error, I was unable to break the weld without cutting it apart (which I did to see what a good weld looked like).

Then I practiced on thin sheet metal. Weld, break, clean, weld etc until I could do it strong. This all took an afternoon.

Then I moved to my car,and got cracking. My welds are not pretty things, but after welding in the front trunk, I got in it, and started jumping up and down on it ( I weight 205, so thats a fair bit of force), and the front trunk floor never budged.

Welding is easy to learn, and hard to learn to do pretty. Dive in and do it. by the time you are done with the car, you will be activly looking for other things to weld together. its seriously fun.

Zach