But the laptop was protecting the table!
Did the team captain also learn to place open containers of liquid further away from keyboards? 
Hey, that bottle may be closed.
Just because there are what appears to be bottle caps on the table… :rolleyes:
Because we all know that this year’s game challenge is to use bottle caps from sodas as wheels!
Sadly this isn’t new to 348, we had a Freshmen girl leave a hot soldering iron on top of a laptop last year. It almost melted all the way through it…
Andrew,
A half inch left or right could have really ruined your day. Have you tried scratching off the solder? It might come right off and then you don’t have to worry about it scratching the LCD or falling into the keyboard.
I agree with Al, you could have had a much worse day here. Programming and electronics may go together sometimes, but soldering is one of the times that it should be kept separate.
When I student I was working on soldering up our pre season bot and the fire alarm went off. Without thinking I got up and walked out leaving the soldering iron, in the stand, on the table. Needless to say, after 30 mins we were allowed back in, my tip was totally black. :rolleyes:
Aww. I thought you were about to say you caused it…
Now I’m disappointed. 
we haven’t killed a laptop yet, but we have had one team member use pipe solder to solder wires. Needless to say, it didn’t go well and there was solder all over the table for weeks
For those of you just stopping by, there are different types of solders. The type referred to in the previous post does not contain flux. Without flux, the solder and the wires are dissimilar metals and have oxidation on the surfaces preventing the solder from adhering to the metals. In soldering pipe, an acid base flux is wiped on the surfaces before they are heated. In wire solder, the flux is internal to the solder wire. It is usually in a single core rosin based flux running down the center of the solder wire. Some manufacturers make a multi core flux. In either case the flux melts with the solder and flows onto the joint during the process. Flux does not make up for dirty surfaces or improper heating of the wires. Do not use pipe solder/acid flux with electronics wiring particularly on circuit boards.
Thanks Al. I always learn something new from your posts.
that’s what we told the kid… he didn’t listen and learned the hard way
I’m very lucky it did not land on my trackpad, it scrapped off and now you can barely even notice that anything happened unless you look very very closely.
This is true, mind you in hindsight it kinda gave the laptop and nice design touch.
I accidentally got solder on a finished wood surface and you can’t tell that it happened unless you are specifically looking for imperfections in the finish.
(I was aiming for a cup of water but that is a story for another day.)
I’m always amazed by the number of people at work that have trouble learning not to solder while wearing shorts…
I’m sure we’d all like to hear that one 
I really really shouldn’t laugh but…
It only takes once!
Regarding soldering and fire alarms, (such as those found in schools), am I correct in saying that there is no chance of soldering setting off the fire alarm, because they are activated by heat, not smoke?
You are so not correct. You won’t set off a ceiling sprinkler, since those are indeed triggered by heat, but the electric sensors are almost all smoke detectors and will go off.
Smoke detectors are called smoke detectors for a reason. If you are soldering in an area with a smoke detector, you really should be using an exhaust fan.
Sandy,
People set off smoke detectors all the time if they are working right under the detector and there is no air movement. Most often, the fumes are dissipated quickly enough to prevent false alarms.