Never step on your soldering iron!!

[FM-77]

Oh man, my foot hurts .... a lot!

I am in the middle of modding my SNES and it's a bit messy here in the apartment, so walking around can be a bit tricky. I had my soldering iron on, and it was lying on the floor (on a metal stand). And I walked over to my couch to fetch an RGB cable and when I took it, I felt something weird on my foot. I didn't really realize what was going on, until I feel a strong, burning feeling. I quickly removed my foot, but it still stings -- my sock has melted and is hot! I take off the sock and my foot is all burned. Not fun.

It burns terribly, but I'll continue to mod my SNES now.

[NFG]

The smell of burning skin is not pleasant, and if your foot was closer to your nose you'd notice it lasts for several days.

On the bright side most soldering burns will heal.

In keeping with the spirit of the thread...  You ever shake solder off the tip of your iron and notice that it splashes and solidifies (cools) almost instantly?

I wanted to see how quickly it really cooled, so I splashed some on my palm.  

Don't ever do this.

It hurt quite a bit, and I had a red mark for about a week.

[Blaine]

I've more or less moved onto using my buhtane soldering iron exclusively. It heats up instantly and I seem to have better control with it. Granted, refilling it is an issue but I don't do a lot of extensive soldering sessions. Usually just a couple minutes at a time. (besides I can get large cannisters from the dollar store).

The benefit germaine to this thread is - When I'm done, I put the cap back on it. No accidental burns in me or the table.

An infinitely better purchase than my ColdHeat iron, which I wish I could trade for a goldfish or something more useful.

[ORTA]

That's okay! the smell of a burned foot is not a big issue, the big issue for me is when my  foot smells when I didn't actually stepped on a soldering iron  

[Vorde]

That's okay! the smell of a burned foot is not a big issue, the big issue for me is when my  foot smells when I didn't actually stepped on a soldering iron

ewww....
I didn't need to know that...  :blink:

I burned myself twice with my soldering iron. Once on my finger (I was dumb, and it seemed like there was no heat coming off of it, so I quickly tapped it. I didn't feel anything for like 2 seconds then BOOM, the pain was like lightning    )
and once on the back of my finger nail (did you know they can actually melt?)

Anyways, I'm fine now but ,ow....

[Vertigo]

I constantly re-burn my index and middle fingers on my right hand (I'm left-handed) because if the iron slips I'm nearly always holding things close and it slips onto the same place on my fingers. I'm resigned to having that one pink line across two fingers for quite a while now.

[Segasonicfan]

heh, great topic =P  I have sooo many soldering iron burns, it's rediculous.  I have scars on left and right forarms from setting my arm ontop of my 850 degree soldering iron on occassion O_O  I also get the burns index and middle fingers but in my case it's because I hold the things I solder to and appearently my fingers don't make for a good heatsink =P

-Segasonicfan

[atom]

The smell of burning skin is not pleasant, and if your foot was closer to your nose you'd notice it lasts for several days.

On the bright side most soldering burns will heal.

In keeping with the spirit of the thread...  You ever shake solder off the tip of your iron and notice that it splashes and solidifies (cools) almost instantly?

I wanted to see how quickly it really cooled, so I splashed some on my palm. 

Don't ever do this.

It hurt quite a bit, and I had a red mark for about a week.

I have a hole in my thumb right now thats probably a 1/4 inch deep from a solder drip falling off my iron. Yeah they do heal pretty nicely though just make sure to clean it out with peroxide. In the two years ive even owned one, ive probably burnt myself a good 10 times. Its almost always having to do with the cord getting caught or hangning off the table.

[ido8bit]

Okay, I'll add mine...

I have a habbit of wiping the iron tip clean on my jeans when I don't have a sponge handy.  

I also have a habbit of hanging around the house naked when on hot days  (no AC here).

One hot summer day I decided I needed to install some switches in my Megadrive.  You know what happens next...

[NFG]

My dad used to wipe the iron on his jeans as well (do we all do that?) but kind of stopped after he wiped it on his synthetic slacks one day while he was dressed up spiffy-like.

Melted plastic on skin is not cool, don't believe the lies.

[FM-77]

My dad used to wipe the iron on his jeans as well (do we all do that?) but kind of stopped after he wiped it on his synthetic slacks one day while he was dressed up spiffy-like.

Melted plastic on skin is not cool, don't believe the lies.

This is very familiar. Didn't you write that in the "how to solder" page?


Edit:

NOTE! Don't do this in the summer when wearing shorts, it hurts. Also, as my father once found out, if you're wearing synthetic slacks or dress-pants it's a bad idea to run a hot iron across your leg.

Yes.    

[NFG]

This is very familiar. Didn't you write that in the "how to solder" page?

Heh, I knew I'd written it somewhere before.  Good story, no?

[atom]

Okay, I'll add mine...

I have a habbit of wiping the iron tip clean on my jeans when I don't have a sponge handy.  

I also have a habbit of hanging around the house naked when on hot days  (no AC here).

One hot summer day I decided I needed to install some switches in my Megadrive.  You know what happens next...

OMG PLZ STOP RIGHT THERE

[phreak97]

i've burned myself a bunch of times in the 5 or so years i've been soldering, probably the worst was when i was soldering at 4am and i was really tired, for some reason i was holding the iron with my left hand, and not thinking while soldering a joint, i grabbed the metal shaft part with my right hand like you hold a pen.. only touched my fingers, not the area at the base of my thumb.. but i held it for a good second or so.

made the next week of school really great fun

all you leg-wipers out there: you can buy good stands which come with a place for a sponge and a sponge aswel for like $12.. dampen the sponge so you dont burn it. this is how educational institutions teach you to do it:P

[Guest]

You should always run a burn under cold water for a good 5-10 minutes. It makes a massive difference to how quickly it heals and I've found that it often stops it hurting completely, or at least minimises the pain.

Standing on a hot iron doesn't sound like much fun.

And I thought those little stands with a sponge were pretty standard issue. You often get one free with these cheap low power electric irons. I have a gas iron (just uses regulat butane like a lighter) but for most jobs I much prefer the electric one.

[Guest]

Yeah uh, been reading a lot of the mods and interesting tech info on these forums, and thought I'd share my soldering story.

Was soldering the back of a male db9 end and guess what, you know how those pins are the same pins that you're soldering but the iron is in one hand and the end is in the other hand? poked a hole all the way through my finger and hit the fingernail. fortunately it was the top of the fingertip.

Also I have a few spots on my hands, arms, legs where hair will no longer grow due to constant burn. ouch.

[atom]

You should always run a burn under cold water for a good 5-10 minutes.

Depends on what effect you're going for. Running it under cold water slows down the blood flow, numbing the pain. Running it under warm water increases the blood flow speeding up the healing process. I of course, use cold water.

[Endymion]

You should always run a burn under cold water for a good 5-10 minutes.

Depends on what effect you're going for. Running it under cold water slows down the blood flow, numbing the pain. Running it under warm water increases the blood flow speeding up the healing process.

Do you have any citation for this at all? Not anywhere in any piece of medical advice or first-aid treatment have I ever seen even a suggestion of using warm/hot/lukewarm water to treat a severe burn. It's pretty much cold water all-around, or else skip water in the case of a third-degree burn.

[atom]

You should always run a burn under cold water for a good 5-10 minutes.

Depends on what effect you're going for. Running it under cold water slows down the blood flow, numbing the pain. Running it under warm water increases the blood flow speeding up the healing process.

Do you have any citation for this at all? Not anywhere in any piece of medical advice or first-aid treatment have I ever seen even a suggestion of using warm/hot/lukewarm water to treat a severe burn. It's pretty much cold water all-around, or else skip water in the case of a third-degree burn.

I learned it in school... cold decreases blood flow, warm increases blood flow. Increased blood flow is increased healing. Oh well if I'm wrong its what I was taught.