X&$#*&%& Doggone Mo*%^#$*@%$ SOLDERING IRON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kaneboats]

I hate the soldering iron. Forever. Threw it at the wall. I hope I never use one again. :mad:

[jmvotto]

I hate the soldering iron. Forever. Threw it at the wall. I hope I never use one again. :mad:
Uh-oh
What did you do?

[dusty2221]

Grabbed the hot end did ya?

[wolfeman131]

Hope ya didn't drop it on any vinyl.

[bergermaister]

Grabbed the hot end, threw it at the wall, bounced off and landed on the vinyl? :-|

[moombadaze]

Grabbed the hot end, threw it at the wall, bounced off and landed on the vinyl, rolled over and knocked the BEER over!


But whatever happened, I to hope to never use one again--ever, never again.

[wolfeman131]

^^We have a winner!

[newty]

A good iron and the right solder make it much easier. I have used one once. It was awesome. The one I have is garbage and has been thrown more than once.

[kaneboats]

Not the skin-- the skin would heal. Much worse.

The soldering iron I have (had, RIP) is about 30 years old and works like crap. It was taking several minutes to heat the connections and then the solder would take enough heat away I could not make a joint. I was a hand short, trying to hold the wires out of the tower and speaker, the solder and the iron. I kept setting it down on a mat for a second to try to rearrange things. The mat was on top of a tarp I had down to catch metal shavings, solder drips, etc. Anyway, I must have bumped, dragged, whatever the cord and twisted the iron so that the tip was touching the tarp. It immediately burned thorough the tarp and the vinyl on the back corner seat. Big brown hole right in the middle of the cushion. I threw the soldering iron at the wall and immediately felt better. Now I have to order a cushion cover-- oh well-- get a new soldering iron -- way overdue -- and fix the wall.

[newty]

I had one of those DUH moments two years ago. I was jumping a buddies dead battery with my stereo battery bank. I set the cables down and they arched on the carpet and left a nice big melted spot in the middle of the floor. Now you know the rest of the story, and why I replaced my carpet a season early.

[wolfeman131]

OK, I feel a bit better as I don't see mention of a spilled beer! :)

That sucks, Pat. I feel your pain too. I spent days working in the new house to flip the direction the doors open for the master bath per the Boss' request (read: demand). It's double doors, so I had to router new hinge mortises and the top catches then fill the old. I had to custom rip new stops for the jamb, prime, paint, etc. Getting ready to rehang the doors and can't get any of the other 4 people in the house to help me for 5 min. Ended up getting po'd and leaned a door against the jamb so I could yell for a hand. As I walked away, the door fell thru the open jamb onto a stepstool and split open. My language was similar to yours.

[kaneboats]

There is a frustration level when you are trying to make something better and you end up making it worse or making a new problem. I suppose it comes down to poor planning. We have this vision of how it's going to go and when we encounter obstacles we just react instead of STOPPING, STEPPING BACK and making a new plan. I should have done a test run with the soldering iron to make sure it was up to the job. I should have gotten a new soldering iron before I started. I should have laid down better protection-- but what does a guy with 6 kids know about protection anyway?

[newty]

but what does a guy with 6 kids know about protection anyway?

LMAO classic!

[Jet]

I feel you..It was a lil cold last night and I was working on my floor job and the motor mounts and I smashed my the same finger nail 4-5 times and hit my thumb 3-times with a full swing hammer chiseling some stuff and ALL were a tear in the eye level of pain. I picked up my arm to throw something..and then stopped. Today its funny, yesterday not so much. I did get some work done on her though to make up for going to the boat show and game yeserday. : ))

[mnpracing]

Here's what I have. Works like a champ...

http://www.hakkorc.com/

[themurph]

It is all in the planning, and even the cheapest soldering iron will work just fine.

I recently soldered 4 tower speakers to two wires coming from the radio head unit

You have to get your shrink wrap and everything installed first, then connect all your wires together using a "western union" joint and then just lay the tip of a tinned soldering iron onto the bare wire for just a couple seconds. Test if the wire has gotten hot enough by touching the wire with the solder (resin core is best) Do not touch soldering iron with solder - only the wire. If the solder instantly melts, just allow a little bit to get sucked into the joint.

Most people run into problems by expecting too much solder to get into the joint and then it starts dripping out of the joint and onto your carpet

[kaneboats]

Well, I was holding the dang thing on there for 90 seconds and it wasn't getting hot enough to draw any solder in. The iron is ancient (RIP). I only had a few connections and I don't do this stuff all the time so I didn't run out and buy a new one.

[lsvboombox]

Time to get the cold fusion One ...... "as seen on tv"