Welding Tips
By no means a welding expert here, but it is a very forgiving art. Even a bad weld is very hard to break, you can prove it to yourself with a vice and sledge hammer.
Having said that from your initial pics, I would up the gas. It is the easiest ways to get good welds, and gas is cheap. Obviously technique is the cheapest, but having enough (or slightly more) gas is way cheaper then a thousand grinding wheels and man hours of cleaning. Plus if you are like me, a good portion of your welding will be upside down, out of position, filling gaps, etc where basic techniques are hard to employ. I will probably get a lot of flack for this because it seems that half of the people on this forum are professional machinist, but I am just trying to speak layman to layman.
Second having any kind of rail or hand support really helps, like using a torch. Assuming you are right handed, find a piece of I-beam, channel, square tubing, etc that is about as tall as your fist. Stick that in line with your weld area, put the backside of your left hand on it, right hand with gun on top of the left, and slide across it while you weld. Makes it really easy to keep a consistent tip distance and angle. All you have to worry about then is your settings and speed.
The third thing I would do is get an auto-darkening helmet with the larger lens. If have one that is about 2-2.5 times the size of the standard, and it makes a world of difference. It is not particularly fancy, just maybe the second from the bottom of the line at airgas.
peanut butter sandwiches for lunch here I come.
