18 Jan
2010
18 Jan
'10
8:32 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
Off-topic, but modern consumer electronics (particularly the cheap 'own
brands' tends to be assembled in thin sheet-metal cases with edges that
will give you a nasty-ish cut if you catch them.
Minor cuts/bruises/strains/burns are, alas,
something that happens all
too frequenctly. (particuarly the cuts and burns...) I try to avoid them,
of course, but they happen.
Cuts, lacerations and bruises tend to be all too common when working on
any computer, not just old iron. The copper heatsink in my machine Can't remember the last time I burned myself
working on a PC though. On
Modern components shouldn't get hot enough to burn you :-). Glassfets are
another matter. And an IC that has developped internal shorts can get hot
enough to burn you, some DRAMs were prone to this.
"old iron", never (I haven't had the joy
of working on a PDP or similar,
though "some form of PDP11" is still on my "things I want to have owned
at least once in my lifetime" list). Last time I burned myself with a
soldering iron was when I was trying to fix the Jupiter Ace (which
reminds me, I still haven't managed to get Lee Davison to return that
thing... grrrr...)
Yes, I was thinking of bruns from the soldering iron, or something heated
by it Most of the time it's when I am soldering a piece of wire to a
large-ish metal object (pin of a 4mm plug) and I don't let it cool for
long enough before taking it out of the vice. Two nasty burns I;ce had
from such causes were the time somebody tripped over
the mains lead of my
soldering iron, pulling the latter back through my hand so I
ended up
holding it by the metal shaft (and it was a few seconds before I realised
it), and the tiome I dropped a blob of molten solder on my skin.
-tony