To anyone looking to buy a small machine, I'd stay away from the El' Cheapo welders you see at Walmart and such. Buying a Hobart guarantees that the machine can be serviced locally. The Hobart/Miller company is really great about their service and support. I spent quite a bit of time on their online Forums and the employees and Miller / Hobart have always been very helpful.

There's good information in the book. My main gripe is the author assumes you'll be reusing most of the same components that you started with. I had planned to put a hotter cam in the motor and I know I need to check the clearance between valves and piston...none of this is covered. He just says slap the heads back on.

This is another book that will probably be nice to have around if you're a beginner.

People like the Oz-man, who actually orchestrate their music. Not only do the lyrics mean something, but the music has more than 3 chords.

SOAD brings just that to the table. The music is thick...very thick. It's stuff kids can still bang their heads to, but for the real listeners, you can hear some stuff going on. The lyrics...at first glance might seem like your average B.S. not so. Theres a real message to what's being said. Plus I love the switch-up between melodies. good stuff.

The Haynes manual is probably better than the Finch book. It gets into a little more detail with the processes and provides useful insight into thing. Shows defective welds etc.

Again, I'd recommend going to one of the welder manufacturer sites like Hobart, Miller or Lincoln and buying a learning set on the process you want to master.

Although I don't have much experience with welders, my opinion of this machine is pretty high. ...

I've gone through one spool of wire so far, and I haven't encountered any problems whatsoever.

If you're a beginner, this is a very good investment. I'm rather partial to Miller and Hobart products after having dealt with their customer service people...the guys at miller really know their stuff and they are VERY helpful. I cannot comment on Lincoln...but I know when I am ready for a bigger welder, I'll be buying something that is either Blue or White. =)

Ron does a good job of detailing the tools you will need to work with metal, but does not spend much time actually showing you what to do.

Most of the projects were presented in a general way, he didn't touch much on the specifics of how to do complete the tasks. It was more like watching a 30 minute show on how to fabricate many parts associated with a race car. Surely you cannot expect to be able to take this information and build a race car.

All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the trade. Even if you manage to learn one thing from this book, it's one thing you didn't know prior to reading it.

I was a little disappointed that the author did not cover more after market parts, and give more examples to building a sound motor.

The author wrote in such a way where you feel like you are in middle school learning about motors.

In summary, fair book, fair price, decent amount of information but not alot on after market parts. More theory, less practical examples.