See if you can take a class at a local tech school. Seriously. Might be able to use their equipment after the class.
Edit- several people have recommended Central Ga Tech to me for machining... maybe welding too. Regardless, I think you'd save a lot of trouble and money learning from somebody.
I went to Middle Ga Tech for about 2 years for CNC Machining. Actually Machine Tool Technology they called it. I had an instructor the last 2 quarters I was there who was a War Vet with severe PTSD. I always thought this guy is on the brink. One day he asked who took the answer sheet for the test from his desk. Of course none of us answered, bc none of us took it. He went fucking apeshit ballistic and wiped everything off his desk...I stayed put. The dude was nuts, I'm not moving. The 2 guys up front got up and started helping him pick everything up and then one of them hands him a sheet of paper he picked up and says, "Is this the paper you were looking for?"
I finished that quarter and never went back. I cannot deal with unstable ppl like that. I never asked him any questions even when I needed to bc I literally was scared to bother him, I didn't want to be the guy who pushed him over the edge.
