Before Severe Weather Strikes

[Adam in CO]

Know how the public is warned (via siren, radio, TV, etc.) and the warning terms for each kind of disaster in your community:
WINTER STORM WATCH
Be alert, a storm is likely
WINTER STORM WARNING
Take action, the storm is in or entering the area.
BLIZZARD WARNING
Snow and strong winds combined will produce blinding snow, near zero visibility, and deep drifts.
WIND CHILL
Seek refuge immediately.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY
Winter weather conditions are expected to cause significant inconveniences and may be hazardous, especially to motorists.
FROST/FREEZE WARNING
Below-freezing temperatures are expected and may cause damage to plants, crops, or fruit trees.

[ROX]

These could be considered good marrige tips as well.

[CO Hummer]

Duty cycle is one simple way of further reducing overall heat input. By welding in short, spaced beads you can join panels without overheating any large areas. First the piece should be "tacked" every few inches, with bead lengths of 1/2" or so. Make several passes after that, filling in the gaps bit by bit and not working any one region for long. The workpiece's thermal spreading will cool the small HAZ (*) pretty quickly if the total heat deposited remains small. A spot cools much more rapidly than a line.
The edge of a thin metal piece presents a special case, a "boundary condition" which behaves differently than the bulk. With half the heat dissipation ability of the bulk, the edge will tend to burn back, distort and so on. This can be addressed by reducing heat (although this may force you into running blob mode), by different choice of metal overlap configuration and by carefully running the arc.
A true butt joint in thin material is difficult to make. A -perfect- butting is hard to do on formed sheet metal, and any gaps will tend to enlarge in the welding process. For this reason a lapped weld is often preferred. A panel can be flanged to let the two pieces overlap but keep the final surface flush. The flange provides a backup as well in case of erosion of the edge on the top piece. =========\\W++++++++++++ \\====A second sort of joint is a butted-V which protects the edges as the weld hits the sidewalls without necessarily reaching the bottom of the groove.

[KenP]

Originally Posted by Adam in CO

Before Severe Weather Strikes

Buy HURRICANE TAPE