First welding task complete
Today I decided to put my new welder to it's first actual task - the first of two repairs to our garage-sale-purchased wood heater. The angle iron in the rear of the firebox, which is supposed to keep the firebricks in place on the back of the box, was all warped and allowed the middle bricks to come loose. So I cut it the welds carefully, and broke it out with a large pair of channel-lock pliers.
Next, I cut a length of heavy angle iron to the correct size, and used my grinder to scuff up the back wall of the firebox to make a contact. Tacked it in place, then proceeded to weld small sections at a time. The downside to my cheap welder becomes apparent when welding heavier metal - it's not particularly high amperage, and on the max amp setting, it's duty cycle is 10%. 1 minute on, 9 off doesn't sound terrible, but when you just want to get the job done it's aggrevating. Still though, it did do the job, even if my welding skills made a weld which while strong, was not the prettiest.
The end result is a weld that looks like metallic acne, but that's okay. It's structurally sound and the metal should be thick enough to withstand the heat of the firebox at least one winter and keep the bricks in place - and that's all that counts. I'm sure by the time I burn that piece of metal up, my welding skills will have improved.
As soon as I track down some heavy-gauge plate metal for the door repairs, I'm all set. I'm also considering welding in a crude baffle, because our wood heater didn't come equipped with one. Just something that forces the heat up and around prior to going out the flue, to hopefully improve efficiency a little bit. I don't suppose anyone reading this is an expert on wood heater design? 
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