Always assume the soldering iron is hot!
Oh, I’ve done them and many others as well. It’s called “experience”. When someone tells you “I know from experience”, it means they learned it the hard way and you will to… It’s human nature
I knew this was going to be a good thread. Thanks for sharing!
I'm assuming/hoping you found a better way. Care to share?
When you have a 3P pack of batteries don't just chop through the wire, that will short it out...
I make sure not to leave the house while charging li-ion batteries.
Clean your workbench or area. You’ll be happy you did so afterward.
Vacuum where you work every once in a while.
Keep your soldering iron’s tip clean and tinned. If you’re not gonna use it in the next 10 minutes, unplug it.
Solder things before you attach them to heatsinks.
Well, the odds are better for a skilled craftsman such as yourself, for the rest of us it’s a guaranteed fail!
Even more important… never sit your soldering iron on the edge of the bench then sit on it… my friend found out about this the hard way.
And never solder in the nude… personal experience on that one…
My Tektronix DMMs will scream at you if the probes are in the amps sockets and the meter is not set to amps.
Another DMM tip: NEVER buy a DMM that does not have auto-shutoff!
Flux ...Use more flux and tin everything
Buy japanese batteries
Never buy crap batteries at any price
Friends ...don't let friends buy junk batteries
When you find a great light ...Buy a few spares
Find a mentor or a role model on blf who likes light s that you like and buy what he buys
Pm members more often ..lots of discussions are going on just under the surface
Sell lights you're not using and not interested in
Call your mother
And the non-budget light rule which is about the opposite - if it’s a really cool new expensive light with some unique feature wait till after they have corrected/repaired the initial bugs. Those seem to make it through testing at an alarming rate.
Don’t push on the bulb of an HID.
Never show off your lights during the day.
+1
Never try to sell a light outside during the day.
Add a o-ring under the rubber boot on your clicky to make an unstable light tailstand ... simple mod
You can play dress up with your lights by simply adding a few colored rubberbands to the grooves in a light .
You can make your light ...Brown
by baking it at 450~500 in the oven ....(take off melty bits first)
buy eneloops or Low self discharge AAA or AA nimh batteries instead of what appears to be the higher mah versions
Only buy an independant channel nimh charger
keep your powder dry
Good advice, at one time I was showing off a small high power AAA light and the comment I got was that it looked just as bright as a Maglite Solitaire 
Buy LSD cells.
Don’t leave cells in the charger. Once they are full, they are full.
Let your soldering iron heat up for ages, then wait some more. A hot iron works a lot better and soldering gets done in a fraction of the time.
Make sure what you are soldering can’t move. And once you are sure, make doubly sure.
There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.”
Some funny ones not related to lights
We’re all mature until someone pulls out the bubblewrap
If you’ve never jumped from one couch to another to avoid the lava, you have not had a childhood
Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”
Never lick a steak knife
You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time
You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment
The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers
A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)
Black holes are where God divided by zero.
The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day
If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you
If you hire a cleaner to clean your house (or your wife), make sure all your precious parts, such as drivers, are put somewhere she can’t get her grubby mitts on it, or it’ll end up in the bin.
Great advise in this thread, especially those dealing with soldering irons. When picking up a soldering iron always look to make sure you are avoiding the hot end.
This one is for lasers, but can be applied to high power flashlights as well:
Do Not Stare Directly Into the Laser with Your Remaining Eye.