Probably why I don't chime in. The welders I have always used have been shop 220v Miller and Lincoln units. Machines that would take up decent real estate in a garage. Current machine is similar to the Miller 252. I have a Millermatic 200 that I set up with .025 to do sheet metal with but it doesn't get used much and I'm thinking of converting it back to .035. The Millermatic 252 has always had .035 and is used on everything, including sheet metal. With no issues. Once upon a time I had a Harbor Freight style 110v gas MIG in my home garage, but it died a quick death and went away quickly. My vote is for a welding class also. But, like Bartamos said, find yourself some scrap and practice, practice, practice. And I don't care what the metal or how new and fresh it is, clean, clean, clean! Yup, that even means cleaning the scale of the fresh steel. When you cut a piece of steel, see that shiny edge? That's the kind of surface you want to be welding. Scale and other crap just make for a poor weld. This is especially important on aluminum! Start with a good machine that can do most all jobs and before you know it, you'll have new friends asking you to make them stuff.
Later on, you can learn about how metal moves when you weld it, why you're getting lava craters in your weld, how to get penetration and not make the weld look like bubblegum and how to weld vertically and overhead.
