First Welcome! Always good to have new Roboteers

If you don't have a space to do welding then perhaps you could build a machine out of plastic first? I made my first robot using a Drill and a Jigsaw... and a lot of mess. Even now our live event bots are done with those tools as its just cheaper. We do the occasional but of welding but nothing drastic so you might be able to get away with setting it up outside on an evening or morning when no on is around.

We have cut everything from HDPE to Titanium with our jigsaw so provided you take your time you can cut almost anything!

Failing that, the Hackspace is a good idea, or find another local roboteer and ask to pop over. Most Roboteers accept Beer/Cider/Pepsi as payment