Well,,, I did the Ebay dive today and bought a Millermatic 200. It looks like hell, but the guys says it works fine. I'm crossing my fingers. $480 for the welder and $250 to freight it. For that price I can rebuild rollers, hose, sleeves, etc., and still have a good machine. Everyone I talked to says the 185 or 200 models in the Miller, Lincoln, Hobart welders are good. Now to get over to the Metalsdepot.com site and buy up some bumper and receiver hitch material for the "lil one" on the way. Muhahahahah!
don't know how your local city is laid out, but for the smaller fab jobs like that i typically go to the steel yards and dig through the drop. i've built a lot of good stuff buying the steel for scrap weight. especially when i don't need a full stick of any one material. if someone orders 15' of a certain metal, they just throw the other 5' in the remnants pile and then will sell it to customers for the same price they get paid for scrap. it's a great way to save money... if there is a steel yard close by.
Good point! I've done this B4 and it is a great way to save money. If not then, I've found that MetalsDepot.com is the best place to purchase steel compared to several of my local suppliers as long as you dont need lengths greater than 96". -Greg