sweet, i've been out all morning screwing around with it and think i've got the hang of it, just needed to widen the bevel a bit more, about 60 degrees, and put a little gap between the two pieces and it looks good. the fillet weld is seeming a little harder to get down, but i'm sure it'll come with practise.

eff it, i'm just gonna wire up 220 and use the old transformer type stick welder. this isht is taking farr too long. I can get a good HAZ and penetration on 1/8 but just can't seem to get enough heat into 1/4" without spending more time than the duty cycle on a small pass. plus, i'm thinking about using 3/8" and revising my whole mounting design.