tools — from a hot soldering iron to a sharp hacksaw — mandates that you
adopt some wise safety habits.Safe soldering........................................................................................
Soldering poses a few different dangers. (You might use solder to attach
various pieces of your electronics project, such as soldering wires onto a
speaker, microphone, or switch.) The soldering iron itself (you can see one in
Figure 2-2) gets mighty hot. The solder(the material you heat with the iron)
gets hot. Occasionally, you even get an air pocket or impurity in solder that
can pop as you heat it, splattering a little solder toward your face or onto
your arm. To top that off, hot solder produces some nasty fumes.Soldering itself takes experience to get right. Your best bet is to have some-
body who is good at it teach you.Here are some soldering safety guidelines you should always follow:Always wear safety glasses when soldering.
Never solder a livecircuit (one that is energized).Soldering irons come in models that use different wattages. Use the right
size soldering iron for your projects, as we discuss in Chapter 3; too
much heat could ruin your board or components.Figure 2-2:
Always treat
a soldering
iron with
respect!24 Part I: Project Prep