Saw you asking about this from the V6 board, so here's my input:
I have a Lincoln Electric Weld-Pak 100. It comes set up for 0.035" flux core wire (FCAW). 'Fact, that's the only difference between the Weld pak 100 and the Mig Pak 10! Mig Pak 10 is set up for solid-core gasless welding (GMAW).
I scammed Home Depot against Lowe's for the price. Lowes sold it for $10 less, so Home Depot had to beat it by 15%.
Then I bought the FCAW-to-GMAW kit for the WeldPak 100, ran about $100. A year later I picked up the gas bottle from a local welding store for $150 (C25 mix), and a few months after that, I bought a Hornell Speedglas "Utility" auto-dimming helmet for $180. (Got overcharged compared to webprices, but bought it locally- guy said if it EVER breaks, bring it back, they'll replace it right then and there for me!!)
Remember that FCAW needs more amperage to burn the flux in the wire (to create the sheild), so you won't be able to weld sheetmetal. Sounds like you knew that already, though. Another bonus of GMAW is that the welds are SO much cleaner looking! Not only is there no flux to wire-brush off, but the beads look much better. Since gmaw wire is thinner (0.025"), the welds are also more precise.
I recommend finding the Haynes "Welding Techbook", in any car parts store. Got mine from Lowe's Home Improvement. It goes over all the types of welding out there (oxy-acet/arc/fcaw/gmaw/tig/plasma), gives a tool/equipment section, and shows a sample project. It helped me make the "big decision" to go with MIG. It also tells you how to use each type of welder! For MIG, it talks about "reading" the welds, how to tell if there's too much amperage or not enough, if the wire feed speed is too fast, angle of gun to the work metal, "stickout" (i forget the right word)- how far the wire extends from the gun tip before you start, etc. It's invaluable!!
Then came the decision for "which MIG??". Found out Campbell-Hausfeld welders are made by Century, who also makes the Craftsman welders. Lincoln Electric makes their own. Plus, LE's been in business for a lonnnng time, and are well known in the industry. (CH is too, but you don't hear of too many people with CH welders!) That's why I spent the extra for the LE unit. I figure this is the last welder I'll ever buy, so I might as well not skimp on things.
Even
http://www.harborfreight.com sells some MIG's, but if they're made by Chicago Electric, that means they're made by a no-name Italian welding company, with a harbor freight name slapped on 'em.
Also consider the gun that comes with the MIG, for consumables (parts that die with age- such as the tips). My gun is a Magnum 100L, which is compatible with Tweco guns. Make sure you can buy your consumables at the local welding store!! Imagine finding out your tip is ruined, and you've gotta wait a week for them to come in the mail, because the local store doesn't stock 'em.
There's other "big names" out there for welders, too, such as Hobart or Miller or HTP America, but they're gonna be even more money than the LE one I have- and even with that one, I had to spend an extra $100 for the GMAW conversion kit. (It fit my finances better to buy the welder for $300 and get the conversion kit a few months later.)
Hmm... what else... oh yeah- it's not a piece of cake to change from flux core to gmaw- unless you have a second gun! You've gotta change the lining and the tip, too.
Some welding tools that you should hit the local welding store for- welding gloves, "real" welding helmet (not the helmet-on-a-stick that comes with welders, that's good for people that want to watch), nozzle dip (if you do GMAW), those helper magnets, and if you can find one, a magnetic ground clamp (helpful for clipping your ground electrode to a car body or exhaust pipe).
Here's a pic of my welding setup, taken before my "emergency weld job" that I've talked about on the body/appearance board!
, check this out, it looks like a CH and its 259.99 Im waiting for more details.
