My experience locally was that the first store I went to was full of asses.

The second store I went to was so helpful, that they have a customer for
life. Ten minutes with these guys is worth 10 hours of poking around on the
internet.

I bought my welder (Miller 175) on e-Bay.....I shop for supplies/gas/etc
where the people were most helpful. I live in Houston, so I can afford to
blow off the asses, another shop is around the corner.


"Peter Grey" wrote in message
ink.net...

"SteveB" wrote in message
news:cgN0e.4015$AN1.1304@fed1read03...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thank you guys!!!

... for all of your advice you gave me on getting
started in the world of welding.

My question now is, where does one get more for ones money,
when buying a welder?

Ebay?
Harbor Freight?
Others?

What are your recommendations from personal experience?


My recommendations from personal experience (first welding course in
1974) is this:

Buy a machine from a local dealer, a manufacturer or a distributor. This
includes many local shops and Internet businesses. If you buy one on
ebay, it may not have the documentation to qualify for warranty.

(Valid stuff snipped)


As a welding newbie I tried to do what you suggested. I really wanted to
support my local vendors and have been around enough to realize that
buying for price only is short sighted. I live in San Francisco and
bought my first welder from the local well known supply house. As I got
to know them, I realized that most of the folks that worked there didn't
know diddly and didn't stock what I wanted. The guy that did know
something wasn't very pleasant to deal with. I found the same situation
at the other big local supply place.

The next welder I bought, I got online. It was cheaper than if I'd bought
locally, arrived faster (the local guys didn't have what I wanted in
stock), and all the needed paperwork for registration and warrantee
arrived with the welder. I've been getting my supplies online too.
And... it's easier to get advice from the metalworking and welding NG.

I really wanted to support my local welding folks, but they seemed
determined to keep an inexperienced small user at bay.

Peter