Get some practice! Especially if you want to use aluminum, we have had a professional machinist do some of our welding, and the first time he did it it broke (luckily before it got out of the shop) and he's been welding for at least 40 years...and small mistakes happen a lot with aluminum, any one will tell you that. Anyway, he hasn't had a problem since then, but he always does a test run with the same alloy before you weld.
If your looking for an alternative to welding thats still light and easy to fix, my team has been very happy and slightly fascinated by the latest rage in the facing industry, Screw Rivets! (Look up Rivet Nuts on
McMaster for more info)
Kind or works like this
/off topicness