Pedal building, it's a dangerous job...

[Heath]

...but somebody has to do it.

[IvIark]

Did a Little Angel Chorus bite you back?

[rocket88]

damn. i haven't had any blood drawn, but burns i've had many. i forgot one of the rules we previously discussed about not trying to catch a soldering iron when it falls.

[inefficiency]

Haha, I keep catching the joint on my thumb with the iron when I'm trying to squeeze into a tight space. Keep leaving a little round spot that looks like fried chicken.

[Heath]

I left it without a specific description of what happened for dramatic reasons :D

I must have knocked some clipped leads off of my desk onto the carpet under my chair.  When I get up, since it's a roller chair on carpet, I naturally put my feet down and push back.  Well, this time I ended up with one of those big-ass 1N4001 leads buried about an inch into my foot.  

[Heath]

inefficiency wrote

a little round spot that looks like fried chicken.

For some reason that description just cracked me the fuck up.

[inefficiency]

Jesus that sounds a bit painful. I managed to jab one into my finger recently and it wasn't too great.

Haha, I think we've all experienced fried-chicken-thumb before.

[dexxyy]

rocket88 wrote

damn. i haven't had any blood drawn, but burns i've had many. i forgot one of the rules we previously discussed about not trying to catch a soldering iron when it falls.

every bit as important, NEVER, and I really mean NEVER, solder shit when your only in your boxers. That`s when you`ll find out the true meaning of pain. Speaking from experience.

[Heath]

Every once in a while I just simply "go stupid" and attempt things like picking fuzz off the end of a really hot soldering iron.. :/

dexxyy wrote

every bit as important, NEVER, and I really mean NEVER, solder shit when your only in your boxers.

Heh... I have to admit here, I solder in my boxers.  I'm a single dude in an apartment.  I wear pants at home roughly 1% of the time.    I get home from work, shoes off, pants off, hell yeah.  I LOVE people knowing that if they call me at home, they must talk to me sans-pants.

I DO, however, sit leaning OVER my desk at all times.  I have no desire to be known as "Old Solder-Crotch."  

[rocket88]

Heath wrote

I left it without a specific description of what happened for dramatic reasons :D

I must have knocked some clipped leads off of my desk onto the carpet under my chair.  When I get up, since it's a roller chair on carpet, I naturally put my feet down and push back.  Well, this time I ended up with one of those big-ass 1N4001 leads buried about an inch into my foot.

i've had that happened before, but thankfully i've got really thick skin on my feet and i catch it before it can make me bleed. i have a habit of holding the copper de-solder strip while using them and constantly burn my fingers.

Heath wrote

Heh... I have to admit here, I solder in my boxers.  I'm a single dude in an
apartment.  I wear pants at home roughly 1% of the time.    I get home from
work, shoes off, pants off, hell yeah.  I LOVE people knowing that if they
call me at home, they must talk to me sans-pants.

I DO, however, sit leaning OVER my desk at all times.  I have no desire to
be known as "Old Solder-Crotch."  

not going to lie, as a young, non-single dude i'm the same way. my girl always gives me the "really?" or "seriously?" look when she gets home and sees me wandering around sans pants, or i just walk around sans shirt in jeans like a redneck.

i will admit though i have not soldered in boxers, but have sans shirt. while not as dangerous as no pants is pretty stupid. also, i feel out of my chair laughing at the rule of NEVER soldering in boxers. all this makes me think we need to create the 10 Commandments in Pedal building.

commandment 1:  NEVER, and I really mean NEVER, solder shit when your only in your boxers.

[JaviCAP]

Never have had serious problems with drills and or / soldering irons.....but.....fretsaws and files should be banned from my home.

I remember still with pain a serious cut in my middle finger just under the nail from side to side while sawing a knob in order to be able to place inside of a old one to get it restored.. holy shit, I still dont how how I was able to do that, but a nice scar remebers me of this every fucking day :P

J.

[Heath]

JaviCAP wrote

 a serious cut in my middle finger just under the nail from side to side while sawing a knob

"Sawing a knob" is just destined to become a new metaphor for something complete different than the subject at hand (HA!!).

Still, all joking aside, your story made me cringe.  Fingernails + cuts = fucking ouch.

[Heath]

rocket88 wrote

 i just walk around sans shirt

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that.  I'll solder in my boxers any day of the week before I'll solder shirtless.  I'm pretty good at protecting the crotch, but I'm sure I'd solder a nipple inside of an hour.  I've brushed little cooled splats of solder off my shirt way too many times.

[rocket88]

javi, i raise my middle finger in honer of your pain. it makes me hurt just thinking about that happening.

heath, i hear ya, but remember i still don't have any good exhaust in my office where i solder to between the fumes and the fact that i enjoy a beer, or two, or eight  while building that i don't even notice if i get hit with some solder splatter.

[Beaker]

I did 25 years as toolmaker - milling, turning, grinding etc. and that has left me with a deep respect for the damage that even the most innocent looking tool can inflict on the human body. I just physically can't start my pillar drill up without safety glasses on.

So far I've not hurt myself badly building pedals, but I know it's only a matter of time.

I'm like Javi though - five minutes with a file in my hand and I literally have a file IN my hand.

[inefficiency]

I need to stop having a beer whilst building. I keep doing really daft things like wiring the input/output the wrong way round or putting an IC in the wrong way round.

[Heath]

inefficiency wrote

I need to stop having a beer whilst building. I keep doing really daft things like wiring the input/output the wrong way round or putting an IC in the wrong way round.

I get that when I try building stuff at 4am.  I get to work by 7am severely sleep deprived, work 9 hours, come home, and look at the mess on my desk and think "What in the hell was I trying to do?"

I once spent 2 hours going over every layout I could find on this site trying to identify what I was trying to build in the wee hours of the morning "What the shit was I doing with a 555 timer?!"