OK so I guess I'm going to learn the hard way. The directions were very clear not to let go of the spool and let the wire unwind. Well it slipped from my hand and it unwound. How big a deal is that? I rewound it as best I could and fed it into the machine. It seemed to feed OK and the wire was not slipping. I'm going to watch a few YOU Tube videos before I actually try it out. Here's general question for those who know what their doing. I don't have a welding bench. And I don't see myself getting one. I picture most of my welding repairs to be "in the field" so to speak. So what is the best set-up? I mean how would you attach the ground clamp (how close to the actual welding section) and what about securing the parts? I can picture myself using a set of concrete building blocks as a base to set the material on. Here's an example. My son just asked if it would be possible to add a clip or small extension on to a grill grate that will span the new fire pit he built. By the way I'm going to use my generator as the power source if that makes any difference.