Pics of my stepnotch, do you see any issues?

looks great, keep in mind anytime u ground down a weld you compramise strength, if its not fully penetrated then u just weakend it, but then again if u welded up th inside 2 then you added strenth from that, and if u welded up both sides u should b fine

The top plate should have been set above the side plates. Then you would have had a nice step to fill in instead of piling the weld on top of the material. With the step, you can grind the weld smooth and most of it will still be there. It actually takes less effort to smooth out.

Looks fine. Those welds look good if you are really just starting out. I wouldnt stress about it. Your "home made" brackets always look like somthing you would buy. I need to have pete makin my brackets.

i think you need to slow down your welding speed itself and over lap more. if you beveled BOTH edges, it will be plenty of penetration you just have to much under cut.

what james said. just slow down. and dont pull so far. try pulling about half what you pulled on those and it will keep the heat closer together, and also make you slower. atleast thats what happens when i shorten my movements.

If you are worried about it. Just weld up the under side solid. Then you will have no worries.

When I welded up the other notch I took my welder off 'auto set'. I played with wire speed and temperature and got more penetration out of it. The problem is, I'd weld one 6" segment and think I have the welding setting totally dialed in, then I'd weld the next 6" and there's little air bubbles in it. Anyone know what the deal is?

And Andy, I am one step ahead of you...already welded up the inside

Problem is I know what I great weld looks like, I just expect the same out of mine, which probably won't happen since I've only been welding for 1 day.

i am absoultyly no one to talk and have their opinion taken serious because im a peon as well but from my experience, that notch is killer looking 9 yes shallow but if the shoe fits... wear that sucker!) but for beginer welds i would say youve got a great start compared to a lot of other beginers.... like everyone said, i look for a little more blue meaning the metal possibly heated up more and got more penetration and would make it stronger but i wouldnt worry about what youve got there!!! ive seen much worst last through dissasters. overall, i am impressed if you care!! hah

This blue area everyone keeps talking about is called the HAZ (heat affected zone).

I think you will be fine. Especially welding on the other side.

As far as the welds not being consistent, you probably have a Miller brand gun. That would be part of the issue. On their larger welders they come with a Bernard gun now days, but the smaller ones still come with Millers own gun, which suck. I had the same issue with mine. Got it warrantied, and still had issues. Bought a Tweco and never looked back.

Seth, you're not the first person who'd told me the Miller guns are crappy. I'll have to look into getting a better gun soon. I'd be a lot futher along with this project if I wasn't such a perfectionist, but I guess that's what'll set me apart for all the other layed out Armadas

Anyhow, I cleaned out the tip and turned off my fan that I had blowing on me and my welds started looking so much better. I went ahead and filled in all the unwelded area between my stitch welding on the inside (you can see that I'm finally getting good penetration). Here's the step notches all welded up, ground down, and ready for installation.