Many Thanks, Wacky Racer
I do appreciate your comments and I know they are from experience and seeing what works and what doesn't.

The gas is deffo the way to go, no questions
..but , for this, one off. I am trying , maybe foolishly, to keep costs right down.
I'm guessing that at a minimum, the Argoshield light gas (93/5/2) would be £30, and the wire £5... whereas with the gasless, it'd be about £1.

I don't do much welding ,
as I have sparked up the welder about two times last year !
(maybe that'll change as more rust reveals itself)

LoI Just today, I have just, got the £3.25
1.5mm mild steel plate from ebay,
and my first thought was
"flipping heck, that'll take some hammering " :)

I have been practising with some 1.5mm, (which I found in the street)
Maybe it is just because the spare 1.5mm was to hand, so I spent an hour or two welding with it..... maybe if I had've had 1mm handy, I would've seen the difference.

I think I'll ditch the 1.5mm ...

To be honest, that "botchit" plate, I tacked on ,is from a computer case, & must be about 0.6mm , or 0.8mm, and that was real easy to bend and shape..

I was concerned that if the mot guy tapped it with a hammer, the thinner plate would make more of a noise over the hole, than a thicker one..
That's what I was thinking , whether it has any truth in reality , is another matter..

I was thinking of grinding the edges of the 1.5mm down to 1.0-1.2mm for the welding,
but that doesn't fix the bending and shaping issues..

I think I shall get some thinner ,as you advised at the beginning :)
I get there in the end :D

If I am going with gasless, for the time being ...
I'm gonna check what the min thickness is for a noobie..
if it's 1mm, I'll try 1.2mm for learning errors

Many thanks again, Wacky Racer

Cheers
Liam

Edited by liammcl on 28/02/2017 at 23:13