jon price wrote:I keep looking at RC, and there is some interesting stuff out there, but until there is an alternative to LiPo batteries I won't try it. If you look seriously at the safety precautions advised by level headed commentators you wont try it, If only because melting those expensively created locos is bad for morale.And before anyone tells me that all you need is to do it properly, well "doing it properly" on the kind of custom rigs we will require is not going to be easy, and the less easy it is the more chance of failure.
"Charging Location. As you saw above, a LiPo charging fire likes to shoot flames in all directions. You should really try to charge your batteries in places where a flame like this will not catch your house on fire. If you have a garage or basement with concrete or brick walls, that’s a fantastic place. A bathtub without a shower curtain is another decent idea. Another excellent option is just on a driveway outside of your house."
http://www.propwashed.com/lipo-battery-charging-basics/
If you use a soldering iron, it gets very hot and could start a fire, or cause serious burns to skin; so could acid fluxes, the acid is nearly as strong as that in a fizzy drink. The fumes given off could damage lungs and eyes, even with resin fluxes. Some people even still use solder containing lead! Of course, Cyanoacrylate is an alternative, but that will adhere to skin very well, and could tear skin if pulled away too hard. Not only, but heat such as from a soldering iron on cyano causes it to give off very dangerous cyanide fumes. Then, most solvents used for making polystyrene kits contain, or are entirely Methyl Ethyl Ketone, a highly volatile liquid which evaporates into a gas with a flashpoint of -7 deg. C, any naked flame in the vicinity causes an explosion.
So.. H&S advise that you should NOT learn to make anything for yourself, it's much too dangerous...
Zeb.