Last weekend my DIY speaker build almost caught fire

I was wiring up a pair of budget bookshelf speakers from a parts kit I got for $40. I got careless and left a soldering iron resting against the inside of the MDF box. Smelled burning wood after about 10 minutes and pulled the iron out just in time. The char mark is about an inch wide and I had to sand it down and repaint the inside. Anyone else have close calls with soldering on cheap builds?

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emmajackson13d agoTop Commenter

and that's exactly why I always test fire safety stuff before even thinking about cranking up the volume. A buddy of mine melted a hole clean through his enclosure because he left a hot iron sitting on top of the veneer while he went to get coffee. The smell hit him the second he walked back in the room. MDF does burn but it takes a while to really catch, so you got lucky catching it when you did. For cheap builds I started using a metal stand for the iron and keep a wet rag nearby just in case something smolders. Sanding that char out probably took some effort but at least you saved the box instead of having to start over from scratch.