Lead free solder

[David Schwab]

Cars had leaded gas and no catylitic converters?

And no seat belts!

And they delivered mail twice a day, and on Sunday too...

I'm two years behind you...

[Mark Hammer]

...and television ended around 11PM
and the best darn music mags on the planet were Downbeat and....hmmm

....and dresses were big enough that you couldn't get near a woman
....and the mark of distinction in a man and an amp was tweed.

[nathanscribe]

Interesting. What about the comparison between Lead-free and lead-free with silver added? I've seen mixed info on which requires the higher temperature. The silver solder is plenty more expensive here. Is it worth it?

I'm using an old 18W iron, currently with leaded solder, but will have to move over to lead-free for some things (being in the UK) that I intend to sell, when I get my backside into gear, and wondered about whether I would need a new iron, and which solder to go for too.

[norwegian]

Found this post while googling for "lead solder" chew. I would chew lead solder while soldering boards when I was young (12 or so), didn't understand the hazards. I did it pretty often for a couple months as I explored the hobby.

Now, I worry about the effects almost constantly. What is meant by lead solder not being the biologically active kind? Isn't Pb, Pb? If anyone could help me put my mind to rest, you'd be helping a weary soul.

Please?

[BackwardsBoB]

I think JGundry has a point.

I don't think we should panic because a couple of Frenchmen are eating PC boards. We should just make them stop it.

That said, sit and solder for a few hours, and tell me you don't feel like you need a shower. I do worry about the fumes, and I hate flux on my skin. And switching to lead-free hasn't changed things.

Nasty fumes. Don't know what's in 'em, but it ain't air.

[oahu]

leadfree soldering is...

...like having safer-sex. it's safer, but it's more fun without...

no jokin' now, i've soldered really a lot the last 8 years (mostly every 2nd xlr-cable in the theatre where i work, i would say 5000 to 50000 lead-solder-joints? i have no f***in' idea???), and i smoke cigarettes (about 1 1/2 packages per day), which is much more unhealthy, not even talkin' about mcdonalds...

so what?! life is killing you! i'm still living...

greetings from vienna

[jrfrond]

Here's a link to an article I wrote concerning RoHs compliance, FYI:

http://300guitars.com/index.php/arti...-to-musicians/

Lead-Free solder was invented to prevent widespread pollution of our natural resources via the dumping of millions of disposable electronic products into the ground. It was not to address toxicity levels to humans, which is generally limited to people who actually USE leaded solder, and not the people around them.

Tell your wife that if she flies in a plane or goes into the hospital that she is surrounded by products using LEADED solder, because LEAD-FREE solder connections are inherently more unreliable. Hence, critical electronics like avionics, medical, military and NASA are EXEMPT. Who throws away planes? Who throws away guitar amps?

There are WAY more important things to worry about than being surrounded by leaded solder. I've been a tech for 31 years, and I'm normal...really...I think.

[jrfrond]

The smoke and fumes from soldering are the flux inside it, not the lead. You may not want to breath it, but it is not full of lead vapor.

I asked my doctor is after 50 plus years of soldering I should have a metals test, and he told me that unless I eat the stuff, I needn't bother. Lead poisoning comes from injestion, not fumes.

Most household cleaners are far more dangerous - to you and the environment - than the solder you will use.

Enzo! Cinquanta anno??? Mi paisano!!!

Nothing like old Eye-talian ingenuity!

[jrfrond]

The smoke and fumes from soldering are the flux inside it, not the lead. You may not want to breath it, but it is not full of lead vapor.

I asked my doctor is after 50 plus years of soldering I should have a metals test, and he told me that unless I eat the stuff, I needn't bother. Lead poisoning comes from injestion, not fumes.

Most household cleaners are far more dangerous - to you and the environment - than the solder you will use.

Enzo! Cinquanta anno??? Mi paisano!!!

Nothing like old Eye-talian ingenuity!

[R.G.]

Lead forms quite a number of compounds, like most metals. The simple lead-oxides are much less readily absorbed into the chemistry of the body than things like lead acetate, some others.

However, the proper amount of lead is zero, so chewing on it is not good.

Whatever I could tell you here would mean nothing, because you would then have to wonder (a) whether I know what I'm talking about and (b) whether your solder was readily absorbed and (c ) whether it is still in your body and (d) what the effects are and (e) and (f) and...

Go to a doctor. Tell him you think you were exposed to lead, and is there a test he can run to tell you how much lead is in your body and whether any treatment is needed. That's far better than spending all your time wondering.

The silliest thing one can do is spend what hours we have in anxiety over whether we are or are about to be poisoned by some subtle contaminant. Real facts and truth are what dispels those mists. The thread started with someone who was afraid to have lead in the house. Silly. Modest hygene precautions keep it from being absorbed, even by vulnerable children. Your worry is much more real, having actually exposed yourself; but doing the testing is the way to find out. If you have a problem, you can do whatever steps are needed to minimize the damage. I think it's unlikely you do have a problem (since I've carried several lead shotgun pellets inside me since infancy; long story), but if you do, get it fixed or mitigated. If not, the testing will tell you to quit worrying. It's cheap in terms of mental stability no matter what the tests cost.

Go get your weary soul rested, or at least reassured.

Found this post while googling for "lead solder" chew. I would chew lead solder while soldering boards when I was young (12 or so), didn't understand the hazards. I did it pretty often for a couple months as I explored the hobby.

Now, I worry about the effects almost constantly. What is meant by lead solder not being the biologically active kind? Isn't Pb, Pb? If anyone could help me put my mind to rest, you'd be helping a weary soul.

Please?

[Sweetfinger]

I've soldered for years and also worked in(and owned) pottery shops where much of the glazes and colorants contain lead as well as many other nasty heavy metals. Basically dipping my hands in this stuff, breathing dust, etc. This worried me not alot, but just a tiny enough bit that a while back, I was going to need some blood work done, and offhand asked to have a lead test as long as they were gonna be sticking me. guess what....I'm fine. If you were poisoned by chewing solder that many years ago...you would have known by now. Just refrain from eating old flaking paint(I know..it tastes so GOOD!) and everything will be ok. Next time you go to the doctor and they are going to do some tests, have 'em do one for Lead, then you'll know for sure.

[Regis]

"I think it's unlikely you do have a problem (since I've carried several lead shotgun pellets inside me since infancy; long story)"

Got caught stealing apples from farmer Johns orchard when you were a kid, didn't ya, R.G.?

Or maybe he caught you with his daughter behind the Dairy Queen?

Seriously, it's not a big deal to be tested for heavy metal poisoning, go to your doctor.

And, most average humans encounter far more lethal toxins in far higher quantities (Go read some labels on the bottles under your sink or in your workshop) that pose worse risks.

regis

[Rob Mercure]

First off I want to note that, as usual, I agree with R.G. - but do want to make a few comments/notes:

Unlike some other heavy metals, such as chromium, humans have absolutely no metabolic need for lead and any is too much - it competes for calcium in the body and most of the lead you've ever been exposed to is still in your bones.

And leaving lead bullets/pellets in the body isn't considered good medical practice these days. At once time it was thought that the body would "encyst" the pellets - essentially grow a shell around them - but now it's been found that lead "inserted" this way often does leach into the body. Andy Jackson was a pretty hot headed president (and a bit of a criminal IMHO - and I was raised in TN) but in his last few years was incredibly irrational. Someone obtained a hair sample taken after he died and a few years ago analyzed it for lead - Old Hickory carried several many bullets from duels - and found that his lead levels were in the "known to cause brain damage" level.

About 20 years ago I directed the Student Environmental Health Project at Va Tech where we placed student interns to live in communities and analyze environmental issues - one placement was Richmond, Virginia's East End. Richmond's EE was primarily black - the city was the first capital of the confederacy and long term city residents haven't forgotten - and housed a lead smelter, recycling batteries, for several decades. The result was that common dirt throughout the area was highly contaminated with lead and the area's residents showed it with symptoms ranging from sever hypertension in adults to exaggerated rates of slowed development in children. While the cost of removing/capping the soils was too high my intern's work did help them get a federally funded health clinic. So, after having soldered for almost 40 years, I'm careful about my solder use - the material won't hurt me directly but if I were to sweep the shop debris outdoors bacteria would start to metabolize the lead and turn it into a bio-available form.

With that said, while I'm too much of a hypocrit to stop using lead solder (lead free just doesn't wick well enough), I do think that phasing it out is good idea in general. We survived getting most of the lead out of gasoline despite Detroit's whining that this would kill the industry (guess I should also note that one of the nation's first recognizable environmental industrial disasters also happened in Richmond in the 1920s at the Ethyl Corp's "death house" - tens of employees were poisoned making tetraethyl lead for leaded gasoline - TEL absorbs through the skin in an amazingly short time and the Ethyl Corp. continued to "push" new employees into the factory as old ones fell sick until the City government actually moved against the company.).

R.G. - Texas's own Mr. Austin was raised in Virginia in/around the community of Austinville. A'ville was the primary site for lead mining in the USA from around the Revolutionary War until the Civil War - thought you might like that trivia.

Rob

[R.G.]

Thanks, Rob. I've actually been tested for that a few times back in my 20's. The conventional wisdom then was, as you say, "it's encapsulated".

Maybe the tests are better now. I probably should check again. I've had the pellets for over fifty years now...

[PremiumPlus]

OOH boy, I think I'd better buy a few pounds of Kester 60/40 and stock up on incandescent light bulbs too.
Our world is changing for the worse.
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