Good call on the glass cutting board. I finally have a use for mine, since I won't let my Henkels near the godawful thing. Dunno why the wife ever thought that glass was a good idea, but now I'm glad she did.

 

thanks for the tutorial,it will be helpful to me

 

I actually prefer laminate counter top material (Formica and WilsonArt brands in the US). I built my workstation out of a solid core door with a sheet of laminate material bonded to the top side, and then set it on two 29" tall filing cabinets to form a large work desk with the filing cabinets for storage.

The laminates are non-thermally conductive, which is why I chose them over glass or an old piece of granite tile left over from our kitchen remodel. The laminates stand up fine to soldering iron temps. I tested several samples from my local home center, and you really had to press on them with the soldering iron to leave any sort of damage. Solder blobs come off of them easily. And you don't risk thermal shock of the tip because they are thermally insulative instead of a thermal sink like glass or the granite tile I had been considering.

I can post pics of the work bench if anyone is interested. It's a really cheap way to make a nice work table.

 

very useful thanks...

 

It's Very Usefull

 

I have heard about potential health hazards when soldering. Such as the rosin fumes causing asthma or the lead oxide (or something like that) causing lead poisoning. Are these concerns valid? Should I take precautions such as wearing a breathing mask, or would a simple fan blowing away the smoke suffice? I do not solder often, but when I do, I solder in 2 to 3 hour segments a couple times a week in a large room. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I was part of a goverment study - the ONLY concern was a very tiny chance that flux fumes could trigger attcks in asthma sufferers.

The results of the study was that there was no need (or reason) for fume extraction unless in a production environment.

Incidently, the modern crappy fluxes don't even cause asthma attacks any more, not even the tiny amount the old fluxes may have - mind you, it doesn't work as flux very well either!

So if you want to use a fan, but it won't make any difference to your health.

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