Lead-free solder legislation UK
- Thread starter OlympicPhil
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If only there was a real alternative. Which I understand there isn't yet..
Yes, there are lead-free solder easily available now - but it simply dosen't work, contrary to what the manufacturers claim.
For solder baths and industrial soldering, things are starting to work now. But for small-scale hand-soldering, there simply isn't anything useable yet...
:sad:
Jakob E.
Yes, there are lead-free solder easily available now - but it simply dosen't work, contrary to what the manufacturers claim.
For solder baths and industrial soldering, things are starting to work now. But for small-scale hand-soldering, there simply isn't anything useable yet...
:sad:
Jakob E.
SonsOfThunder
Well-known member
i posted what little I know about this elsewhere, but I 'll quickly recap:
EU legislation comes into play July 1, 2006. Legislation is under way in China and in California in the US. This only applies to commercial products sold in the EU. Many component manufacturers (TI for example) are going to be lead-free, rather than stock components for both.
There is currently no "drop-in" replacement. There are waivers for certain industries for a few years until the bugs get sorted out (medical, military, communications...). Currently the best replacements require higher temps and *will* require more rework at least until the processes get fine tuned (that means more energy expended in soldering and more failed components in assembly...leading to MORE rework and energy usage!) The "wetting" characteristics of the Pb free subs pretty much reeks/sucks. Don't think that this is news to the solder industry. They have been working on this problem for several years. This was originally supposed to take effect in 2002!
Certain studies say that the metals used in the subs are MORE harmful to the environment than lead. Lead use in electronic solder only accounts for 0.5% of the world annual usage of lead, ammunition uses 4.7%, storage batteries: 81%. I don't buy the concept that 100% of those batteries are recycled.
This should not effect the DIYer so much. I think PbSn solder will work fine on the lead free boards and components. I think the reason that people in the US scoff at such things is because we see that there are many offenses to the environment inflicted by industry, but the individual is usually the one to be punished rather than some big corporation. Granted we need to care for the environment, but the effectiveness and COST involved needs to be weighed against the benefit. If there is no real benefit to the environment, what is the point?
Here's a case in point:
Suppose we want to mandate that everyone use electric cars. Sounds pretty enviro friendly. But until we realize that in many areas of the world, the only source of electricity is fossil fuels or coal, will this mandate accomplish anything? We decrease the pollutants from cars and increase it from power plants. Nuclear energy sources are obviously a solution to this problem, but a malfunction here could be immediately devastating to the environment as well as the people living in it.
HTH!
EU legislation comes into play July 1, 2006. Legislation is under way in China and in California in the US. This only applies to commercial products sold in the EU. Many component manufacturers (TI for example) are going to be lead-free, rather than stock components for both.
There is currently no "drop-in" replacement. There are waivers for certain industries for a few years until the bugs get sorted out (medical, military, communications...). Currently the best replacements require higher temps and *will* require more rework at least until the processes get fine tuned (that means more energy expended in soldering and more failed components in assembly...leading to MORE rework and energy usage!) The "wetting" characteristics of the Pb free subs pretty much reeks/sucks. Don't think that this is news to the solder industry. They have been working on this problem for several years. This was originally supposed to take effect in 2002!
Certain studies say that the metals used in the subs are MORE harmful to the environment than lead. Lead use in electronic solder only accounts for 0.5% of the world annual usage of lead, ammunition uses 4.7%, storage batteries: 81%. I don't buy the concept that 100% of those batteries are recycled.
This should not effect the DIYer so much. I think PbSn solder will work fine on the lead free boards and components. I think the reason that people in the US scoff at such things is because we see that there are many offenses to the environment inflicted by industry, but the individual is usually the one to be punished rather than some big corporation. Granted we need to care for the environment, but the effectiveness and COST involved needs to be weighed against the benefit. If there is no real benefit to the environment, what is the point?
Here's a case in point:
Suppose we want to mandate that everyone use electric cars. Sounds pretty enviro friendly. But until we realize that in many areas of the world, the only source of electricity is fossil fuels or coal, will this mandate accomplish anything? We decrease the pollutants from cars and increase it from power plants. Nuclear energy sources are obviously a solution to this problem, but a malfunction here could be immediately devastating to the environment as well as the people living in it.
HTH!
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