Pete you source well as do both Curtis and Steve. Your bike is coming along famously.
I ran about 4' of weld on a small bracket to attach saddle bags to my rear racks a few days ago, using an inexpensive 220v flux core wire feeder. This is an under $200 gas or flux Chinese inverter. The results are as good as I take time to make them. I used .030 wire on 14 gauge steel. .023 wire would be my first choice but it's more costly and I can't readily source it locally and didn't want to wait. That said the results were good and I'd think the small welder you ordered could easily one pass 1/8 th inch plate easily with proper material base preparation. Tom mentioned penetration and that does matter. I've made my primary living in steel and welding was a huge part of what I did so I feel certain that the welds shown were not run by an average welder and not using the stick welder you have on order. The welds shown are not, however, run by machine, these are not an example of decent machine weld of today's high quality robotics. I also think you can get nice welds with this welder if you select very small diameter rod, mild steel in 60xx series general use material for this project, though 70xx series is stronger it's sometimes a bit of a challenge to run by home welders. I'd select rod of no more than 1/8" diameter, smaller is better on thin material using such small watt machines.
Your project is a beauty and the gussets turned out really well. Your plan to silver solder them in place as a secondary reinforcement of the frame tubes will be solid enough and really look good at the same time.
Rick C.
