Well, all that likely scared you off of welding, but there is a lot of good that can come from metalworking, once you have the capability.
When I decided that I needed wheels under my 52" Unisaw, the price of a good frame and wheels of the right design to fit was hundreds of dollars. I liked the HTC design, but not the price. Then I found out that HTC was having a fire sale to get rid of some models that weren't selling. I looked through their list of those in the sale and picked out one that had the wheels, brakes, and over all shape of what I needed and ordered it. The price they sold it to me barely covered the shipping costs. When it came, I figured out what needed to change to fit my saw, cut it apart and stretched the dimensions by adding 1 X 2" square pipe pieces where needed, and welded everything back together. The HTC frame had a dark gray metallic paint on it and Lowes had a rattle can of metallic gray paint that proved to be a perfect match. I ground the welds smooth and painted them and new added metal with that paint and it was a perfect match to HTC's color. So now I have a perfect fitting Unisaw wheeled base that looks exactly like the custom made HTC base, at a total out of pocket cost of less
than $30.
We wanted a good reliable DC stick welder with TIG capability, but at the time, the prices for new or even almost new were beyond financial reason. I found and bought a "package deal" of an old Miller DialArc welder with TIG torch, a Century MIG welder, 5 owned gas bottles, a small oxy-acetylene torch set, hand tools and supplies from the estate of a former welder and bought it all for $600, then proceeded to clean and fix up the welders. The Century proved to be more of a toy, but a clean up and paint job made it desirable and it sold easily for $140.
Since the Miller DialArc Welder was very short, we made an equal size frame out of 1 X 2" square steel pipe and put it on top of the dolly wheels and base that came with the DialArc, then put the DialArc on top of this frame. Inside the frame became space for the TIG Cooler, also DIY, and the Foot Pedal, plus parts for the TIG torch, etc. to make it a complete and easily wheeled package, but then I found some 30' #2 welding cable extensions in the boxes, so they are now cleaned up, coiled, and on top of the DialArc for use when needed. This is now a significant workhorse of a shop welder.
Since the largest gas bottle was "too big" to handle easily, and not a size presently in the gas company's exchange program, I traded it to the gas company for a smaller personally owned bottle and some friendship of the gas company. The rest were readily exchanged for full personally owned bottles at the usual refill cost. Buying one of these bottles new runs about $140 each, so you can see that between the welders and the gas bottles, it was a pretty good deal, and this is not even considering the supplies and other items that came in the deal.
Be careful about buying gas bottles from private sellers. The following is the National Welders way of doing business here. Smaller welding supply facilities will have different, and usually more relaxed rules and prices, but they are rapidly being bought up by National Welders.
Know what sizes are accepted for exchange, and know what the top ring around the valve that's showing ownership means. Many people rent their gas bottles and then never return them, then years later try to sell them. If you buy one that belongs to the gas company, they will confiscate it and charge you the past due rent when you bring it in for refill. You will be out what you paid, plus this overdue rent, which can be up to $100 or so per year, and you will be back to needing to buy or rent a bottle of gas to use yourself. Privately owned bottles have no writing on this top ring. Make sure when you exchange a bottle with no owner label on this ring that the exchange has no owner label on it's ring too. Gas company names for companies that no longer exist are considered owner bottles too, since there are no records for them. The larger the bottle, the cheaper the gas in it costs per cubic foot. Basically, you are paying part of the gas charge as a per bottle refill handling fee.
Charley
