I did some googling and understand now that it's likely that my welder came this way, ie without a contactor. Not ideal but I think I will be able to live with it, adjusting how I begin a bead and taking some precautions with the gun.

hi there, registered for this forum today. I am a pure welding beginner. I've watched various youtube videos to some sense of what to do. I acquired a welder almost by accident, the guy I bought a compressor off of was almost giving it away so I thought what the heck. Just this afternoon I assembled...