Harry, I hear ya my man!
I am turning 65 this year and will retire comming next summer.
So here goes, last summer, after a lots of thinking about, I pulled the trigger on a shinny brand new Miller "Multimatic 215" which can do TIG, MIG and stick. It is way above your budget but I have a few special needs that guided my choice and I don't want to expand here.
Now I am no welder! but I have the drive to learn! (and learn to drive!)
So in your case, I think I can give some educated advise here...
- Get a MIG! you can probably find a good machine used wthin your budget and MIG, although I am still not very good at it, is one of the easiest process to learn!
- MIG, and other processes comes with some 'unforeseen' expenses.... Mig uses a mixture of argon and CO2 gas, you will have to pay for the first tank and then for each fill up.
- Among the unforeseen expenses, you will need some tools, a helmet ($$$) gloves, coat etc...
- Like some other guys said, 240V 30A circuit is not going to make it. For your little shop you need at least 50Amps, and a sub panel this size does not exist. Then you look at 60 and 100A subpanel and find that 100A subpanels are less expensive than the 60A!
- In sizing your panel, you can always cheat in thinking that you will use only one tool at a time.... then comes a friend to help! So allow 30 A for your welder, 15A for lighting and another 15A for other tools. (Yup! that's 60A total)
- You might also need power for heating or air conditionning, depending where you live
Some other considerations...
Your shop being 10 X 14, forget flux-core welding! you will axphysiate yourself! This process produce an awfull lot of smoke... So is Stick welding. Mig with gas wil be just bearable if you do just a few welds. TIG is harder to learn, but seems to produce the least fumes (I might be wrong here, some will correct me)
Install at least TWO fire extinguisher, and not near the machines! If a fire ever catch, you want to be sure to be able to reach one or the other without flames in between!
My $2 CDN ! :-D