Source: [Google Groups] https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!original/triangle.general/Hy5xOzyEa3g/oPN4AL87xHMJ From: "Thomas Gauldin" Subject: A note of caution Date: 1998/04/28 Message-ID: <6i4uj5$rpu$1@camel15.mindspring.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 348454106 X-Server-Date: 28 Apr 1998 16:02:45 GMT X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Newsgroups: triangle.general,misc.consumers.house,rec.woodworking I seldom publish cautionary notes, but a recent incident at my home was so unnecessary, that I thought I'd share it with the rest of you. Last week, I accidentally cut a coaxial cable on my deck carrying the feed from a microphone to an amplifier. Being a nice day today, I decided to splice the line. To do this with the least amount of line loss to the signal, I thought it best to solder the wire and braid, rather than twist them or use wire nuts. To gain adequate cable for the splice, I had to use a 1/4" nut driver (similar to a screw driver) to remove a hex screw holding the device in place. There was no plug nearby for the soldering pencil, so I plugged it into a weatherproof outlet on the house, and while I prepared the two ends of the wire for soldering, it heated up. When done with the preparation, I unplugged the soldering pencil and took it to where the splice was to be made. The solder joints were done quite rapidly, wrapped with tape and I began to gather up the tools and stick them in the hip pocket of my jeans, since I also needed to carry some plants down to the workshop. The painful lesson I learned was to NEVER confuse a hot soldering iron with a nut driver when sticking tools in a hip pocket of your jeans. -- Tom Gauldin, Raleigh NC -NetMeeting ils.four11.com, Live Birdfeeder Action ICQ 7022136 fax (919) 676-1404 ftp://ftp.mindspring.com/pub/users/scoundrl/ftp_anno.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- Here's to the land of the Longleaf Pine, The Summerland, where the sun doth shine, Where the weak grow strong, and the strong grow great, Here's to Downhome, the Old North State.