[Steve Eddy]

Not just a matter of turning up the temps to accommodate the higher melting temperatures. Google "tin whiskers." That's the primary reason those industries I mentioned previously are exempt from RoHS.

se

 

[swifttal]

I've read the NASA papers and various other links and I can't find examples of tin whiskers anywhere in regards to solder... The only thing that comes up for tin whiskers are for pure tin contacts

 

[swifttal]

But I can definitely understand the military / medicals industries use of extreme caution with tin products for sure. I also respect the wealth of knowledge I find from you around here Steve... do you have common examples of failures or increased QC problems you've come across after the switch to lead-free?

 

[Dogmatrix]

  Was there a bit of a learning curve with using the lead free Dogmatic or was it something as simple for you as just dialing up the temp a tad bit and business as usual?
 
Thanks guys for the opinions pros and cons, keep em coming!

There were a few years between lead and unleaded but it was a bit like riding a bike .
Lead free does not flow as easily and will readily form a spike if you hang around for a moment too long .
Once you come to terms with its "personality" its fine .
Lead is nasty stuff, if you work with it every day it will find a way in .
If you only make a couple of cables there is nothing to worry about but regulators must consider industrial exposure .

 

[nihilill]

I used silver solder(lead free) on a cable I made, using same cheap 25w(?) iron I use for everything else(cleaned the tip first.) My impression was that the lead free being problematic is somewhat exaggeration. I did get a dry joint that looked ok on a socket mod I did but a simple fluxless reheat fixed it.

 

[dsavitsk]

My experience with lead free solder is pretty limited. I bought a small amount of some snooty lead free stuff from Parts Connexion, primarily because I didn't want a pound of it, and it was not that expensive. I can't remember what brand it was for the life of me, but it worked fine for soldering on a PCB. I'd say it was not as nice as working with solder with lead in it, but I also think the difference between my Hakko and my old Weller is larger than from one solder type to the other. Only possible issue was that I needed to add some flux for connecting to ground planes, but that's true with most lead solders, too.