Post your stupid mistakes here

[davent]

Using de-soldering braid for the first time, and holding it with my fingers as I apply the iron

We have these brainfart threads once in a while and you'd think that everything was said already.

But invariably, every single time without fail, there's a new one that wasn't mentioned in any of the previous iterations.
You, sir, just made my morning! 

That's the only way i've ever used solder braid, there's another way?

After i bought an infrared thermometer i ran test to see how hot an object i could hang on too, found i could go a lot hotter and not get burned then reflex would appear to allow... uuuh warped mind... not recommended!
dave

[alanp]

TRANSISTOR ORIENTATION! Why can't I remember the basic ones? or at least remember to look if I am subbing one.

I did this one the other day - The layout had two identical trannies in the DOD compressor facing the same way.  Somehow, I had one going the opposite direction.

I tend to always look up the datasheets these days if I'm not using the designated transistor.

[madbean]

I've mentioned this one over the years. Never let the two 9v battery leads come into contact with steel wool by accident. I caught it quick, luckily.

Or, in case of apocalypse, start a fire with a piece of paper, a 9v battery and steel wool.

[eldanko]

Some of you may remember from my PIF a couple years ago...

I once worked on the same nonfunctioning PCB on and off for about 9 months before I realized that the polarity protection diode was in backwards.

[stevie1556]

This thread is making me feel so much better about my mistakes. Cheers guys

[danwelsh]

Doing initial testing of the amp I just built.  No b+ voltage or very little like .18volts.....light was on. So I scratched my head a little couldn't figure out for the life of me what was wrong....so I emailed a tech guy and he replies with "Dan, put your black probe to ground, red probe on the b+ fuse, then flip your standby switch on and off".......it was at that moment I was like. ......no way. I didn't......but yup I did switch upside down lol.

[sturgeo]

I had a new one last night whilst verifying a new board...

IC Big Muff with the tone bypass switch (no its not as obvious as the tone knob doing nothing with the switch down), fired it up, no sound, bollocks!

Turns out i'd picked up a ON-OFF-ON SPDT instead of a ON-ON, switch was in the middle position killing the signal 

[blearyeyes]

On a DoubelGanger build the indicator LEDs flashed while the effect LEDs were dark, and effect LEDs flashed when the indicator LEDs were dark.
According to the poor fellow that was trying to help me figure out my mistake: "that is not possible".
I spent days trying to figure it out.  I had reversed both of the indicator LEDs polarities.

+1 to almost every one of the stupid mistake already posted.

[GermanCdn]

Well, most of the common ones are covered, so let's try some new ones

Installed the 100 uF cap backwards in Jacob's phaser.  Since I had matched a set of trannies myself, thought that was the culprit, so I was switching them with the power still plugged in when the cap blew up in my face.  Fortunately I was wearing my glasses at the time.  Left ear (my good one) rang for a day.  Lesson - always wear glasses til it's boxed up, and unplug it if it ain't working right.

Left my soldering iron on all night.  Twice.  In two different houses.  Fortunately my wife didn't catch on either time and nothing caught fire.

Soldered in shorts.  We've covered that.  Wrote a PIFmas carol about it.  Bad idea.

[dont-tase-me-bro]

Earlier this year, I started making pedals because it seemed like a way to save money

[jubal81]

Earlier this year, I started making pedals because it seemed like a way to save money

Ding Ding. Winnah!

[selfdestroyer]

Earlier this year, I started making pedals because it seemed like a way to save money

Classic!

Cody

[Stomptown]

Installed the 100 uF cap backwards in Jacob's phaser.  Since I had matched a set of trannies myself, thought that was the culprit, so I was switching them with the power still plugged in when the cap blew up in my face.  Fortunately I was wearing my glasses at the time.  Left ear (my good one) rang for a day.  Lesson - always wear glasses til it's boxed up, and unplug it if it ain't working right.

I had a cap blow up in my face about a month ago and I wasn't wearing safety glasses!  Needless to say, I got very lucky and learned a BIG lesson for sure! 

[Stomptown]

Just thought of another one!  A couple years ago I was etching an enclosure (ferric Chloride) and I noticed the reaction was going a bit exothermic.  I made sure to have water close by and I frequently cooled it off in a water bath.  I was certain it was under control so I walked away for about 1 minute.  When I came back I watched it spontaneously ignite from about 4 feet away!  Basically there was a fairly loud boom and a ball of fire that would have done serious damage had I been closer.  I dumped a bunch of water on it to slow the reaction and removed the enclosure as quick as possible.  It was pretty scary stuff!

[lars]

I once stripped the wire leads for one of those cheap, make-on-the-fly power plugs, not realizing they have vampire taps that dig in when you slide on the cover. Needless to say, when I plugged it in into the wall, I had a 120v short.
Thankfully all I fried was a voltage regulator.