I've been busy on the house renovations today.
Plus the INLAWS are over for a a stay :|.
Having them here is normally not to bad but father inlaw has retired now and he's doing my head in with all of his UTLIMATE WISDOM.
FAR OUT! he goes on about all the great stuf he made at his work.
Then when he tries helping me with reno's he falls over his feet, cuts the material too short, breaks my tools. (1 being my cordless saw!!). Ignores me when I say to leave something for me to do, and complains and argue's wondering why I dont take his advice!!. I'm scared for what will happen next.
Anyway sory about the too much information
I'll go out into the shed tonight and get a couple of pics of the drill bit and the panel I have been preparing.
If you have an angle grinder or better still one of those "renovator" vibration tools (I just got one and it is fantastic for small fidly bits you want to cut out of wood, plastic, steel, plaster etc.
Cut out the rust till you have good metal first then prep the peice to go in so you get a neat fit. I would butt weld the area's that join where you cut but you can overlap it too. You should easily be able to do that part yourself. Then if it's ready to go just find someone who can weld it for you.
Use a couple of clamps to hold it in position and give it some tacks.
If you have a mig handy you could have a go yourself. The trick would be to set your welder just a little hot and do short bursts of about 1 second per weld. It's not imposible to weld a job with rust like yours.
In fact as you weld you'll know if there's rust behind what your welding cause it will flare up and melt away your weld really quick.
Another avenue to take could be to put your plate in and silicone it in with something like windscreen sealer(sikaflex or similar). That would hold as strong as a weld.
Just have an overlap and seal in between the layers. (and be sure to clean the area so there's no grease or wax)
Should get some pics up soon.