re: Any place around BR to take a welding class?

Probably be fine. What kind of stuff do you plan to mainly be working on.

On thing to look at is duty cycle. That one is 30% at 130amps which mean that at 130amps you can weld for 3 minutes out of every 10

That's a good machine and what I would go with. Get that a decent grinder for $30 and this Band Saw and you'll be well on your way. That band saw can be used as a verticle band saw and horizontal.

As far as grinders go. I've had a job using a grinder from the time I was 15 till just a few years ago. I've used old school black and deckers, Metabo, Milwaukee, Dewalt, Harbor Freight, Makita, and the orange black and deckers. A few months ago I went out and bought a new grinder for the house and went with Harbor Freight. For the amount that I use it suits me just fine. If I decided tomorrow to open a welding shop I'm going all Metabo.

As far as cut off blades we've used all different types. Again, at the price point that they are sold for and how quick they cut the Harbor Freight cut off wheels are fine. Best I've ever used was Flexovit, they last and cut really good.

Best advice I can give you for a grinder is to not remove the guard and make sure your shirt is tucked in. Wear glasses, a long sleeve shirt and full face shield.



These are the gloves that I always worked with, except I used the Tillman brand. They held up pretty good, the sleeve around the wrist keeps out the BB's and they were thin enough that you could feel what you what you doing and thick enough to be okay to weld with.