just gonna throw in my two cents worth here. I used to weld quite a bit at work and still do at home. I borrowed my uncles lincoln 130-135? It was a 110v unit for a small project i was working on. If you are gonna weld super light metal and only super light metal, you will probably get away with it. You are going to wanna get the gas kit for it, makes for a much easier time ( plus you don't have the nasty's left on the weld) I gave up on his as I'm used to using miller 250's at work. I bought a hobart 175 from toolking for a little over $400. Its a 220v unit, welds everything I want to or else I can use the stick. Can weld from sheet metal up through 1/4", can go thicker if I feel like running multiple passes. All said and done with bottle, cart, and accesories I'm in it for around $750. Like others have said, if you can't swing it now ( I had to save for a while) wait and get yourself a quality welder, you're gonna thank yourself later. Remember, every welder manufacturer out there over rates what their machine can do. If it says welds 3/16 in a single pass, plan on it being more around an 1/8 in a pass and so on. Also pay attention to duty cycle, theres nothing worse than waiting on a welder to cool down during a project.
Chris