[Boatanchors] soldering iron safety

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

I used to do that fairly frequently.  Although I probably never created a 
fire hazard because I never lay an iron down on the bench but always put them 
back into stable holders, I finally got tired of burning up tips and 
heating elements.  I bought a mechanical (clockwork) timer designed to fit into an 
outlet box and added a box, the timer and two duplex outlets to the 
workbench outlet string immediately behind the maintenance part of the bench.  The 
Pace soldering/desoldering station stays plugged into it and any time that I 
use another iron, it gets plugged into one of the timed outlets - only.  
The timer goes up to one hour, and if the work session exceeds that, it only 
takes 2 seconds to crank it up again.  

Robert Downs - Houston
wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
MVPA 9480

In a message dated 01/14/2016 11:57:54 AM Central Standard Time, 
ranchorobbo at gmail.com writes: 
> Well, I did it again:  I left a soldering iron on all night in the
> shop.  Would have not even found it this morning had I not gone to the
> basement looking for a clip lead and some capacitors before heading
> off to work.
> 
> I am going to put a sign on the basement steps that says "Soldering Irons 
> Off?"
> 
> Any one else have safety ideas?  Putting the iron on a timer is one
> that I thought of.
> 
> 73
> 
> Rob
> K5UJ