Leaded Solder...After All!

[Rochey]

Partially related...

I hooked up an old PC fan to a 12V wall wart, just to see how many fumes it'd suck out of the way (and not let the smoke go directly up my nostrils!)

I was terrified when I saw how much smoke was drawn towards the fan. From now on, I'll always use a fan.

Cheers

/R

p.s. I was discussing this with a colleague at work too (the whole ROHS thing, and solder etc). He said "when's the last time you went fishing? Old fishermen still use lead weight to pull down the line into the water!... and then lose the line and weight in the water!"
Food for thought.

/R

 

[JohnRoberts]

I prefer the look of old school lead based solder connections. It's easier to tell from the appearance whether you have a good connection. I had to learn and adjust to the new lead-free solder joints ending up looking like a marginal leaded solder joint. 

I have a roll of each on my bench but prefer the lead.

JR (trying hard to be ROHS).

 

[Rochey]

JR (trying hard to be ROHS).

Join the club. I'm learning quickly that the production tools required (Reflow oven, hot air tools) required for lead free are much more expensive and difficult than a simple electric skillet required for the leaded paste.

Thankfully, European legislation has a loophole for shipping individuals products from abroad. If an individual from the UK orders a product directly from us (in Dallas, TX), then the product does NOT need to be RohS compliant. However, if I ship to a European disty, then they do. In addition, if a customer takes a module, such as the new Eden Mic Pre board, and puts it in another product, THEY are responsible for ensuring that it's RoHS compliant.

/R

 

[JohnRoberts]

Since the vast majority of my PCB assembly is done by a contract manufacturer I opted for ROHS circuit board fab. The cost difference for me was not significant.

I have a personal philosophy, "when in doubt do what's right", and much of the world seems moving toward lead-free so I am trying to be a good world citizen (in that respect at least).  8)

JR

 

[Rochey]

Completely agree. Once the Eden Mic Pre's take off, I hope to have the income to get a small reflow oven that'll do the lead free. (I have TUBS of PB free paste that I need to use!)

 

[JohnRoberts]

You might be able to DIY a toaster oven with a simple temp sensor, and small micro...

I have seen something like that around on the WWW.

Not rocket science, unless you get real hairy... computer temp control would let you do a lot of tricks to mimmic pre heating curves et al.

JR

 

[Rochey]

John,

you and I are singing from the same hymnbook!
However, a proper reflow oven (from China... so may have *some* risk) is $250. The recommended Black and Decker oven for hacking is over $100, plus the microcontroller board and solid state relay, and most importantly TIME are against me.

As I mentioned earlier, once a few of the Eden's sell, I'll definitely invest. (With Keith's blessing... I hope)

/R

 

[AMZ-FX]

I dropped a 5 lb. roll on my foot once................
Jus sayin'
Best,
Bruno2000

That's nothing compared to the time I dropped ball of molten solder onto my inner thigh while (foolishly) soldering wearing shorts...  I won't ever make that mistake again!!!

Another lead solder injury...



-Jack

 

[Rochey]

put some lead in your pencil, did you?

 

[bitman]

I have been huffin' it all my life to and for all I know could be way screwed up I dunno....

My wife calls me a spaz, does that count?

 

[Phrazemaster]

Wanted to share...after starting this thread I thought I would try a roll of some IA423 unleaded solder by Johnson Mfg. It's supposed to be eutectic, even though no lead (I kinda thought it was just marketing since I didn't think there were any eutectic unleaded solders).

Anyway, after soldering up a couple little Sound Skulptor STS boards, all I have to say is, WOW! This stuff rocks!  ;D  It seriously sets as fast as leaded, and has the bright sheen we know and love from our 63/37.

Geez I sound like I work for them but I don't. Anyway, this stuff works awesome with my liquid rosin. Just, a dream. And I don't have dirty hands after working with the solder, like I do with the leaded.

Mike

 

[tv]

Wanted to share...after starting this thread I thought I would try a roll of some IA423 unleaded solder by Johnson Mfg. It's supposed to be eutectic, even though no lead (I kinda thought it was just marketing since I didn't think there were any eutectic unleaded solders).

Anyway, after soldering up a couple little Sound Skulptor STS boards, all I have to say is, WOW! This stuff rocks!  ;D  It seriously sets as fast as leaded, and has the bright sheen we know and love from our 63/37.

Geez I sound like I work for them but I don't. Anyway, this stuff works awesome with my liquid rosin. Just, a dream. And I don't have dirty hands after working with the solder, like I do with the leaded.

Mike

Do you know if/where is it available in EU?

 

[Phrazemaster]

Do you know if/where is it available in EU?

I bought it directly from the manufacturer. I don't know if they ship overseas, but I bet they would. This is not cheap stuff, but believe me, you'll be so glad you got some. Get a 1lb roll and be set for a year or two.

Here's their website:

http://www.johnsonmfg.com/

Good luck!

 

[tv]

Thanks! Bookmarked.

 

[PRR]

> supposed to be eutectic, even though no lead (I kinda thought it was just marketing since I didn't think there were any eutectic unleaded solders).

Eutectic is a general concept for an alloy with a lower melting point than either/any component individually.

Water and salt are eutectic. That's why we salt roads: water freezes at 0 deg C and salt at 800 deg C, but 23/77 salt/water freezes at -21 deg C.

Aluminum is often dosed with Silicon to lower its melting point. Silicon and Gold form a eutectic which is handy for mounting chips.

Lidocaine and prilocaine are solid at room temp, but together are liquid, useful in local anaesthesia.

Iron and Carbon form a complex eutectoid system. It aint easy to melt pure iron. Let some of your fire-carbon contaminate the iron and it is a lot easier. That's part of the reason most early iron had high carbon content, more than you want in good steel.

Not all alloys form eutectics. Gold/Silver combos freeze along a straight line between the melting points of Gold and Silver.

 

[Matt Ward]

He said "when's the last time you went fishing? Old fishermen still use lead weight to pull down the line into the water!... and then lose the line and weight in the water!"
Food for thought.

I believe (and am very willing to be proven wrong) weights used in angling have been lead free in the UK for decades.  As I understand it, lead from weights was found to have contaminated some of the native swan population.

 

[Phrazemaster]

I think they should ban lead bullets. Because, you know, that could be deadly.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Not to mention radioactive armor piercing stuff...  Oh yeah, munitions with a shelf half-life.

JR

PS: I haven't been fishing in a couple decades so remember using lead sinkers. Down here the swans might get their lead poisoning from buck-shot.  8)

 

[Andy Peters]

I think they should ban lead bullets. Because, you know, that could be deadly.

Lead shot has already been banned.

Bird gets shot, hunter can't find it, something else eats it, there's the lead.

Oh, and this: we like to get local beef (Double Check Ranch). They often have a truck at the local farmer's market as well as in a couple of local supermarkets. So we're eating a nice roast, and Jen bites into something and says, "ow!" and she spits out what she thought was a piece of bone.

Nope, it's a bit of steel shot. We find a few other pieces.

So Jen gets on the phone and tells the company what happened. She was told: "Bring the label with you to the farmer's market and we'll take care of you." So we did. We talked to the cowboys, and the label was important because it had a code indicating which animal we got. Their explanation of the source of the shot makes sense. It's all free-range stuff, and out here in the Arizona desert, there are a lot of yahoos who think nothing of shooting a cow in the ass with a .410 or whatever.  Of greater concern to the cowboys was that the slaughterhouse either didn't notice or didn't care (they actually thought former). Apparently, the animal could have been shot a year before it went into the clearing at the end of the path, and in that time the wound would've healed enough to be not obvious at all. Of course the shot was still inside.

Anyways, the point is that if it was lead shot the meat would've been poisoned and the outcome could've been a lot worse.

-a

PS: because they were so horrified by what happened, they gave us a big London broil and like five pounds of ground beef.
PPS: really, their beef is excellent.

 

[JohnRoberts]

[edit]

@ andy.. who would shoot a perfectly good horse? even in the dessert

@J yes a little bizarre, green armaments for killing people

[/edit]

In ancient Rome they made water pipes out of lead, and liked the taste that lead cooking utensils added to food. Apparently ancient wine was liberally laced with lead residue from the containers.
-----
I've heard stories of farmers (in NE)  painting "COW" in big letters on the sides of their cattle to advise trigger happy deer hunters not to take the shot. I never figured out why some people put life sized statues of deer in their front yard. It seem that could draw fire toward their house, from hunters driving by who can't resist the shot. 

Out in AZ its anybody's guess who is shooting out in the desert...

JR