Most stupid item melted and ruined when it fell on the soldering iron holder...

[peteb2]

  Most of us are really careful and never have an accident. Then along comes that moment and you're really busy, have'nt bothered to clear the workbench up for a while and something ends up toppling over, coming to rest way too close so it's touching the hot soldering iron that's parked in its benchtop holder.... and you just do not notice until...!

I haven't done this stupid thing in years and it stems purely from not making time (spending 5mins) and having a tidy up....

The latest? i have to put my hand up for my 'bionic eye-balls'... my very cheap (i own multiple pairs of various quality) headband visor-magnifiers.

I recall at the time I could actually smell plastic melting but when you have the hot-snott glue gun running as well and the resistor load pile as you load test a SMPS that begins to heat and give off that hot heatsink smell, you miss things....

So what have you 'melted' ?.... come on own up....

[Cyberdragon]

My PSU terminals.

[Brumby]

I will admit to having the exact same headband magnifier - but no melted bits.

The dog, however, did chew through the headband.  The headband is now rejoined with gaffa tape, which also isolates my skull from the teeth puncture marks.

[Ampera]

Besides my hand

the soldering iron itself.

My holder (which is part metal, part plastic at the front) has cracked on the plastic, and now barely holds the iron anymore.

Besides that in my stupider moments I have rested the iron on the table as if it were a pen (it is a pen, but a very burny pen), and have left some nice burn barks in the table.

[trophosphere]

The cord from my headphones.

[ajb]

At one point when I was in high school, I was helping some younger kids with an electronics project, including teaching them how to solder.  One of them set my soldering iron--a basic Radio Shack 15W fire stick that didn't come with a stand--down on top of the spool of solder.  None of us noticed until it had melted halfway through the plastic spool. 

The kid's parents bought me a new soldering iron as an apology--a much heftier 150W soldering gun, that I guess they figured was an upgrade?  I didn't complain, the other iron still worked, and barely even smelled any funnier than usual once most of the plastic burned off!

[Ampera]

At one point when I was in high school, I was helping some younger kids with an electronics project, including teaching them how to solder.  One of them set my soldering iron--a basic Radio Shack 15W fire stick that didn't come with a stand--down on top of the spool of solder.  None of us noticed until it had melted halfway through the plastic spool. 

The kid's parents bought me a new soldering iron as an apology--a much heftier 150W soldering gun, that I guess they figured was an upgrade?  I didn't complain, the other iron still worked, and barely even smelled any funnier than usual once most of the plastic burned off!

The moral of the story is, work with kids, and let them break your stuff, so their parents buy you better stuff.

[Halcyon]

Not melted, but I had a rather expensive idiot moment a few weeks ago. What's worse, people pre-warned me.

A few months ago, I bought a new phone. Because I'm not one to generally drop things and the phone usually lives in my bag, I didn't bother getting a protective case for it. I was told by family members I should have a case and even had offers to buy me one, of course I knew better.

As I was carrying boxes to the car (with my nice new shiny glass phone resting on top), it slid off, straight onto the concrete garage floor. The screen didn't stand a chance and shattered entirely. After a trip to the Samsung store and $300-odd dollars later, I now have a case for my phone :-)

[imidis]

I try and always keep the soldering iron away from it's cord. It's always an interesting feeling when you start to smell something other than solder/flux. I think the last thing I notices that was a headset repair. Just barely got it so it's not visible. 

[Ampera]

I try and always keep the soldering iron away from it's cord. It's always an interesting feeling when you start to smell something other than solder/flux. I think the last thing I notices that was a headset repair. Just barely got it so it's not visible. 

Smell? You can smell? You must be a superman, because I can't smell at all.

[plazma]

In high school I modified TI-85 calculators (capacitor hack for speed boost). I burned the display flex cable of one unit by accidentally touching it with my soldering iron. Luckily I was able to bypass the burned conductors with enamel wire. The flex was very easily burned. It was some kind of plastic sheet with carbon powder conductors.

[IanMacdonald]

Was a case in the TV trade years ago where a large metalworking soldering iron was left running overnight on top of a plastic TV cabinet. Eventually the heat penetrated the stand, and the cabinet gave way. In the morning the iron was hanging vertically inside the set. Fortunately not touching anything flammable.

At least this led to the boss having a safety review of the place, which was probably a good thing.

[jonovid]

my hands I have the scars to prove it. when a father let's his 8 year old use a soldering iron.

[Iwanushka]

My finger between joint and nail, had a nice deep 3mm+ hole, I even didint feel it and happened while picking a call while soldering, only noticed this after the call that something started to smell like BBQ

[SeanB]

My first digital multimeter, had the soldering iron floating above the display for a few minutes while doing something else, and the display plastic and the side of the case melted, and the display had a black section. I liked that meter, it was the first digital meter I bought, had a genuine Intersil 7106 in it as well, and had been checked with a HP calibrator as well, and passed within 2 digits on all AC and DC voltage ranges as well. Could not find another display to fit there either.

[theleakydiode]

Got a new soldering iron tip and it had a little plastic shipping cover on the end (it was sharp).

Guess who forgot to remove it before applying power? I was like "what's that smell?" only to look down and see that plastic cover melting to the tip. 

That tip never did take a tin well, I wonder why! 

[Ampera]

my hands I have the scars to prove it. when a father let's his 8 year old use a soldering iron.

It always smells so good....

Luckily mine were very minor, as humans have the reflex to stop touching things that are too hot to be touched.