I bought one of the cheap Lincoln Weld-Pak machines a couple of years ago. While it is a pretty good machine, I wish I would have sprung for a better one. I exceed the capability of the machine pretty regularly. I thought that I would just use it for sheetmetal, but I've used it for a lot more. It doesn't have the oats to do anything more than simple (upto 1/8 inch) work. I do a lot more fabrication than I thought I would. Don't scrimp.