I'd be proud to do some fabricating on the bench. It'll stand up to some heat & bangs without warping

May i commend you on your welding to, it looks quite fine. I've seen so called qualified welder's dribbles & they're not as good as that.
It looks like you use Spatter Spray? Keep your self away from the fumes, it's nasty stuff 
What do you cut your sections on? I presume a Band Saw :-?
Thankyou for the kind words Pete.

I do love metalworking; so very satisfying to take metal that has been 'chucked' and make something useful.
I cut the sections using a 1mm. thick 'slitting disc' in a 2.8Kw. angle grinder.....I have a steady hand and can follow a scribed-line quite tidily.
I don`t use anti-spatter spray; I have some, but I find that at the 'sweet-spot' setting on the MIG and with 95%/5% (02/Argon); I can do
spray transfer and spatter isn`t too much of an issue.
I find that projects like this, are ideal skill-refining practice for me; using multi-process` and differing material gauges/types.