Lead-free solder update
Oct 18, 2013 at 2:02 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 21

swifttal

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Yes yes, I know, another solder thread. But it has been a few years since a good thread on the topic has happened. Particularly I am interested in the European solderers who had to switch (or even anyone else who chose to switch).... After a few years of practice, does lead-free solder still give you problems? How was the learning curve? What's your favorite lead-free solder / Have the lead-free solder formulas/products improved since RoHS was implemented?... etc, etc, etc...
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 7:45 PM Post #2 of 21
  Yes yes, I know, another solder thread. But it has been a few years since a good thread on the topic has happened. Particularly I am interested in the European solderers who had to switch (or even anyone else who chose to switch).... After a few years of practice, does lead-free solder still give you problems? How was the learning curve? What's your favorite lead-free solder... etc, etc, etc...

You might try sending a PM to dsavitsk.  He is ECP Audio and built an L-2 for a European customer using lead-free solder, I think.  From everything I've heard, it's still not as good, but he may know some special tricks that make it acceptable.
 
Oct 31, 2013 at 3:53 PM Post #3 of 21
Bump... Thanks Tomb, I sent him a PM, hopefully he can share some of that captured wisdom
 
 
Anyone else using lead-free? Have the products improved much in the near decade that Europe and much of the world have been mandated to convert? With necessity being the mother of invention, I was just curious to see if anyone had experiences with that large gap between leaded and lead free... if it has narrowed, etc...
 
Nov 1, 2013 at 6:00 PM Post #4 of 21
Nov 1, 2013 at 8:35 PM Post #5 of 21

Yeah, I think the general consensus was stick with 63/37 44 flux from Kester.  There are others who like good 'ol 60/40, but unleaded solder in audio electronics is a poor way to go.
 
I took the assumption from the OP that he was serious and had to have a non-lead solution.
wink.gif

 
P.S. people are crazy about lead contamination.  If you don't eat or drink the stuff or wear it 24 hrs a day, there isn't a problem.
 
Nov 1, 2013 at 10:01 PM Post #6 of 21
That seems to be the consensus of Americans that don't use the stuff, however we don't see any one complaining about the solder joints on Sennheisers, Beyers, Meier amps, etc. so something must be going smoothly... or does anyone have any ground truth out of the big name euro factories of higher qc fail rates?
 
Nov 1, 2013 at 10:03 PM Post #7 of 21
Kinda like how gun guys know pre 64 Winchesters are the quality stuff and the post 64 stuff is worth less, we don't see this with the hd650 for example... Never seen a post stating pre-rohs Sennheisers advertised on the site once... Thoughts on that?
 
Nov 1, 2013 at 11:00 PM Post #8 of 21
Kinda like how gun guys know pre 64 Winchesters are the quality stuff and the post 64 stuff is worth less, we don't see this with the hd650 for example... Never seen a post stating pre-rohs Sennheisers advertised on the site once... Thoughts on that?

I've had to repair my K701 when the wires came apart in the right channel (with my trusty 63/37-44 flux solder).  On the other hand, my HD580 and HD600 are pre-ROHS.
 
That's just me, though, I'm pretty sure it's not statistically valid.
wink.gif

 
Besides, referencing that thread at DIY Audio was emphasizing preference - given a choiceIt wasn't really about what are the things you need to do to compensate, pitfalls about quality control, special fluxes, iron temps, etc.  You might be able to still get responses on those things - but I doubt that it will be as a preference.
 
Nov 1, 2013 at 11:30 PM Post #9 of 21
Oh for sure I get that, and for workability I still am using leaded as well because I'm still pretty much a beginner... but as new products emerge due to mandates, the market typically catches up to the demand of quality... was just trying to gauge what progress has been made in almost a decade.
 
I mean for another example in the 70s/80's if you were into cars, carbs and straight pipes were the preferred and higher performing product... Fuel injection and EPA devices killed everything... But the market caught up and now we have Bugatti Veyrons as quick as fighter jets and 30 thousand dollar mustangs cranking out close to 500 horsepower stock using fuel injection and catalytic converters which everyone thought would never be better than the old tech... Ya know? Just trying to gauge where that market is at the present with some experience from actual users
 
Nov 1, 2013 at 11:37 PM Post #10 of 21
And to bring it closer to home, there are 8 gagillion cocktails of steel, one for each type of folding knife you want from cutting boxes to gutting pheasant... same pretty much for other alloys and metallurgic products, but we only have like 3 options for lead free solder? Or has the market improved? Etc etc... I'm sure I'm just sounding redundant at this point...  Any thoughts from our European / overseas fellow headfiers?
 
Nov 1, 2013 at 11:42 PM Post #11 of 21
And thanks Tomb for sharing the K701 experience... is that a common problem with the AKGs? Only had mine for like 20 hours so never encountered any problems... but my hd650s are about 2 years old with thousands of hours, etc... hadn't really heard any problems either.
 
Nov 1, 2013 at 11:55 PM Post #12 of 21
I built speakers professionally in the mid 90's all the xovers and internal wiring was lead tin flux core solder .
Last year I replaced all my interconnect and headphone cables and used Furutech lead free with silver .
Functionally and practically I did not notice any difference , no bad joints and no failures so far .
 
Nov 2, 2013 at 1:35 AM Post #14 of 21
Look into SN100C solder, it's really good stuff, and there's heaps of data and testing about it online, NASA quite likes it too IIRC.
 
With a good iron, I think it's just as easy to work with compared to your standard 63/37 solder, I don't notice a difference at all.
 
Nov 2, 2013 at 2:23 AM Post #15 of 21
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!
 

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