Brian, Nice looking welds. I take it you just added the over kill of weld for more pratice. 7018 is a bit tricky, lots of guys like to tap it on the steel, but I have found striking it like a match works best for me. I also break the flux off the end of the rod between welds. Your cover pass where the top and bottom meet on the face looks like it was too hot or you didn't hold the edge long enough. not real bad. all in all though your welds look pretty good for only having the machine a short time. Real sure they will hold fine. Be sure you have all the slag out of the weld before machining slag will kill an end mill real quick.Mark