[Snowtractor]

HI JOrdan,
you can get a cheap mig for 150 bucks at cdn tire or princess auto, I have seen thm on sale for 99, inverters make it possible. They are only a 15% duty cycle but that is enough with patience. That is 1.5 minutes of welding and 8.5 minutes of rest time. With spot welding and tacking you almost never reach the limit. Don't bevel the edges, you are already dealing with thin metal.
I used my cheapo to weld 2 5/8" peices together. I preheated with a torch and then welded small beads. Took 17 beads to weld and fill the v groove , but it is still together and it is used as as the main bracket on a snow plow. Many beads help relax stresses that build up, but if I had my stick welder up and running I would have used it and done 6 passes.
If you are not using gas, then use flux core and remember to knock the flux off after the weld cools. Gas is nice because there is no cleanup.
YOu might , also, want to use an antispatter spray on the surrounding metal and a tip dip to keep spatter from building up in the tip. Every so often just give a tap on the bench and the tip will come clean.
I have welded metal screen to a very light frame to make a bug screen for my diesel , so they work on light stuff fine. A nice littel tip, practice on scrap sheet first to get your heat and speed right. It should sound like frying bacon sizzling continuous. No stops and starts and breaks in the sound. And lastly , migs start cold and get hotter so the start of a weld might not penetrate but build up a bit, called cold lap. Again should not be a problem spot welding . It helps to start laying a bead on a scrap peice the same thickness and having someone turn up the wire feed screw up and down until you get that nice sound. You can hear the difference immediately that way instead of stopping , adjusting, and starting over.
Should get you a perfect job combines with all the other info the lads have volunteered.
Sean