/diy/ - Do It Yourself

I want to learn how to stick weld and cut metal with an oxyacetalyne torch. I' m gonna go ahead and save some cash myself and put this stuff in my dad's warehouse for me to learn on my own.I researched the general costs and I"m looking at about $600 for the high end weld machine and $500 for the bottles, torch and gas for the oxy cutter. Is that a reasonable estimate? Any beginner mistakes I may be missing? Can I cut corners using the harbor freight stuff?

This is about the price fro 2 college classes too but I haven't had good experiences at community colleges. Is that still something I should think about or can I learn most of it on my own?

I need to do some welding in 0.8mm (1/32) steel sheets. All I have at home is an oldish stick unit that I can't for the life of me drop below ~50A. Also, at the location I have no space to put any kind of plate behind. Is there any combination that can work with this, or I'm better off just trying to source a mig unit for steel this thin?