[Tomo]

Hey,

I have been asking around among industry bunch. They told me they no longer use lead in any of their products.

This bothers me, because I am a fan of normal solder with lead in them. I like it because it melts at lower temperature. Lead-Free types melt at higher temp and if I am not careful it is easy to make poor solder joints.

If this is the case with the industry bunch, the commercial availability of my good ol' Tin/Lead solders is going down the drain in future. I should think about switching to Lead-Frees.

Anyone got really nice ideas of adjusting to lead-frees?

Tomo

P.S. I am using RadioShack(!!!) 0.022 dia 62/36/2 Silver-Bearing Solder. This stuff is pretty nice ... hard to believe yes?

P.P.S. Please let's stick to Generics. Some of us will have problems importing stuff. Thanks.

 

[RnB180]

lead free solder is the answer to Rohs compliant electronics. Only the UK will be enforcing this law July 2006.

I suppose big companies are switching over or they'd lose the UK market.

me personally.. unless WBT or Cardas creates some high quality lead free solder, Ill be sticking with the eutectic.

the Rohs law does not necessarily just apply to solder, it also applies to everything electronics. Including heat shrink, wiring and so on. Pb is not the only chemical that has been banned, I believe there are others such as flame retardants and so on. When I ordered my wiring I made sure to contact the manufacturer to ensure it was free of the toxic chemicals.

Did you know PVC contains lead to maintain flexibity?
and "standard" teflon contains toxic flame retardents.

Rohs - Restriction of hazardess substances.

 

[Kenny12]

i've got some 4% silver / 96 % tin stuff, its tons harder to put that on than normal 60/40

 

[Tomo]

Hi,

Anyone know how to solder well with GENERIC Lead-Free solders (mean NO Cardas etc.) other than solder baths?

I used to chew lead-weights to attach them to the fishing line and handle fishing weights (which is Lead) with bear hands. ... Kinda sleep with it for anticipation for following day fishing. ... Hehe I suppose I would "expire" horribly or something.

Tomo

 

[Francis_Vaughan]

The new lead free hand iron systems use hot nitrogen preheat. So you need a bottle of nitrogen, a flow regulator and an iron with a gas delivery system. Roughly doubles the price.

Metalic lead is not an easy source of toxic levels. Just handling it is actually pretty safe. Lead piping was the norm for centuries, with no evidence of real problems. (Hint, why is the profession called plumber?) Lead salts are much worse. Kids chewing flaking lead based paints were the classic.

 

[Tomo]

Quote:

A plumber works with water pipes, once made from lead, with lead solder for the joints. The Romans used lead pipes, and the word plumber comes from the Latin word for lead, plumbum. There is no Latin, or even Indo-European, etymology for plumbum but it bears a distant similarity to the Greek word for lead, the standard form of which, molubdos, gives us the name of another element in the Periodic Table, molybdenum. Two non-standard forms, molibos and especially bolimos, are even more similar to the Latin.

I found this at www.dictionary.com Wow I did not know. Very cool.

Also, I am very relieved. Thank you, Francis.

Tomo

 

[afxdave]

Having lead fumes around isn't appealing to me, so the move to lead-free seems to make sense. Realizing that there's toxicity all over is just a fact of our modern world. If I can avoid direct contact, then I feel a little more comfortable.

For the last few years I've been using Kester "44" Sn62Pb36Ag02 which has excellent solderability when used with extra flux. What kills me is the clean up process with the flux remover. Having masked PCB's makes clean up even more of a hassle since they're subject to streaking and take extra care. So cutting out a step from this process is favorable.

It's boiling down to either a different solder, or stronger cleaning agents for flux removal. Water soluble, or no-clean seem appealing, but I haven't found much from either Cardas, nor WBT regarding this. Cardas only says: "activated rosin core or organic water base flux;" which sounds confusing. I have a solder pot to fill also, so this is a big move for me to make.

 

[tangent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by afxdave Having lead fumes around isn't appealing to me

Dude, lead vaporizes at about 2000 kelvin. It's also one of the heaviest elements occuring in nature, so even if there are solid lead particulates in the rosin smoke, they will fall toward the earth rapidly. The smoke itself is a far bigger danger than the lead, and it's easily taken care of with a small fan.

The biggest risk of lead poisoning in soldering is having it on your hands and then transferring that to your mouth somehow. So don't do that. Wash your hands after soldering.

Quote:

For the last few years I've been using Kester "44" Sn62Pb36Ag02 which has excellent solderability when used with extra flux.

I use the same stuff, without extra flux. It works fine as-is.

Quote:

What kills me is the clean up process with the flux remover. Having masked PCB's makes clean up even more of a hassle since they're subject to streaking and take extra care.

Try 99% pure isopropyl instead of whatever you're using. Use plenty of alcohol and a stiff-bristled toothbrush to scrub the board, then blow the sullied alcohol off with "canned air". A few passes, and the board will be quite clean. I only use special flux removers as a final pass, and that only on larger boards where the alcohol evaporates during the blow-off process rather than being pushed off the board along with the flux. Simply using more alcohol solves most of the problem here.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

I suppose big companies are switching over or they'd lose the UK market.

Actually it is entirely a EU thing and either you comply or you are shut out of the European market totally so every manufacturer is changing over.The sad news is the technology,the actual science sucks big wood and is a piss poor excuse for what we have now no matter how big the propanganda machine and ad campaign to try and convince otherwise.

Read the smokescreen content the trade puts out to convince us all a stick directly in our eye really does not hurt then do some actual research.The truth behind the myth is not pretty with reliability on the verge of taking a major hit.

 

[Voodoochile]

Quote:

Originally Posted by afxdave It's boiling down to either a different solder, or stronger cleaning agents for flux removal.

Classic case of replacing a knife with a bullet, eh? Shifting the issue from heavy metals to aromatic solvents, problem solved for now.

[/kidding]

 

[afxdave]

I was just off the phone with Brian at Cardas. He said their solder uses a water soluble flux. So this would allow me to use more conventional cleaners without all the funky vapors. Figure the extra $$$ can be factored in as paying for convenience.

Sonic Craft has 1lbs. spools for $40!!! I'm all over it.

Who says you can't have it all?

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangent Dude, lead vaporizes at about 2000 kelvin. It's also one of the heaviest elements occuring in nature, so even if there are solid lead particulates in the rosin smoke, they will fall toward the earth rapidly. The smoke itself is a far bigger danger than the lead, and it's easily taken care of with a small fan.

There are Bad Things in flux smoke, and lead is probably the very least of them.

Sunday night at about 9pm i was trying to re-tin the flexible leads on a 1968 6111-WA, using a lot of paste rosin flux, slipped and almost burnt myself with the soldering iron, gasped, and enhaled the whole cloud.

It's not so much the coughing and retching right then, it's the fact that i didn't feel right for more than 24 hours. It contributed to a very rough night.


Quote:

Originally Posted by tangent Try 99% pure isopropyl instead of whatever you're using.

One of my mentors is an experienced EE who shifted gears half way through his career and got a degree in chemistry. He now manages lab facilities (spectrometers, etc) for a large, well funded state university.

He tells me that denatured ethyl works better than isopropyl for dissolving rosin flux, and i tend to believe he'd know what he's talking about.

 

[tangent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj denatured ethyl works better than isopropyl for dissolving rosin flux

Any ideas on where to get reasonably pure stuff in quantity? I've tried paint store denatured alcohol, and it leaves a white haze on the board. (Impurities.)

I don't suppose the denaturing has anything to do with it, really....if so, then 190 proof Everclear might be the easiest thing to get.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangent Any ideas on where to get reasonably pure stuff in quantity? I've tried paint store denatured alcohol, and it leaves a white haze on the board. (Impurities.)

I've been using a can of stuff i bought from Lowes. I don't recall much of a problem with crud left on the board. I guess it's not squeaky clean, perhaps.

Quote:

I don't suppose the denaturing has anything to do with it, really....if so, then 190 proof Everclear might be the easiest thing to get.

No, they just add some methanol and other crud so you won't drink it, or something, and methanol isn't any good for flux removal - but 5% of it won't hurt.

I actually know people who have used cheap vodka for the job - everclear should work fine.

 

[RnB180]

Quote:

Originally Posted by afxdave I was just off the phone with Brian at Cardas. He said their solder uses a water soluble flux. So this would allow me to use more conventional cleaners without all the funky vapors. Figure the extra $$$ can be factored in as paying for convenience. Sonic Craft has 1lbs. spools for $40!!! I'm all over it. Who says you can't have it all?

I think Cardas offers two variations, the water saluable one is the organic correct? Ive read online the organic solder can corrode the metal over time.