RoHS Compliance

[jason lollar]

Any thoughts on if there is a way to get an exemption?
After reading the material it appears that if the pickups are part of an assembly that was assembled by professionals that they may be exempt from compliance.
If not anyone have tips on using the leadless solder.
Pickup covers- I heard something about nickleless nickel at the last namm show- does nickel fall under RoHS.
One source told ne hexavalian chrome was OK and another source in the text says its not.
Any problems with nickel silver meeting RoHS?

[Matt T.]

We just had the environmental health folks perform an 8-hr. exposure analysis for hexavalent chromium at my job...but that's an area that I'm not that familiar with. I just know that OSHA doesn't like it...and after checking the front page of the RoHS site, neither do they apparently. Sorry not much help but here's the OSHA link.

[Spence]

This is becoming a nightmare and it's just not funny. I had to invest in a solder station which could handle the higher temperatures of lead free solder. But it's a pain because the lead free solder is almost impossible to pool. So tele baseplates for example are a huge pain. My next investment will be one of these:

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares...duct&ID=80419A

simply so that I can solder at very high temperatures without damaging any sensitive part of a pickup.

Health & Safety though important is mostly absurd outside the environment of the office workers who draught up all this crap. Having been shot at at close quarters during an armed robbery I can testify that health and safety went straight out the window....

[WolfeMacleod]

I just sent in an inquiry...

Greetings.
I am a manufactuer of Electric Guitar Pickups based in the USA, and I have grave concerns about the ROHS standards and how if will affect my product sales in the UK.
In my product, very small amount of leaded solder is used to solder very fine-guage wire, finer than the hair on your head. We have attempted to switch to lead-free solder to meet your demands, but the product is failing at a very accelerated rate. These products were designed to operate for 20-50 years or more, and products are failing within six months because of the lead-free solder. Failure rate like this is unacceptable.
We are concerned about our product meeting ROHS standards, but feel that to offer the residents of the UK a sub-standard product would not be good for business relations.
Also, some of our products use a "nickel silver" cover for protection. Nickel Silver is also known as German Silver. I have been informed of a possibility than Nickel Silver may not be ROHS compliant. However, to switch to any other material is simply not possible because of consumer demands and peformance effects.

This ROHS compliance seems to affect a very wide variety of products, from capacitors, to resistors, musicial instruments, and other things . It seems to me that this wanton abolishement of products is going to ban the UK right back to the stone-age, does it not? I think you are not considering the far-reaching consequences of these acts.

Thank you,
Wolfe Macleod

[David Schwab]

Wow... this is the first I'm hearing about this. Don't know why I missed it...

So how much lead solder is in a pickup anyway? I guess nickel base plates and covers are out? I think I only have to worry about solder...

I see even nickel/silver fret wire is on the list!

At least one company has nickel free fret wire available now:

http://www.lmii.com/

"Our new Evo gold fretwire is a copper alloy that has been used for years in the optical industry. It contains no nickel and therefore meets the ”nickel free” European standard. It stands the test of time and can really dress up your guitar. With a Vicker’s hardness of HV5/250, it is harder than our nickel/silver wire (HV5/200), but softer than the stainless (HV5/300)."

I always knew nickel was toxic, but people have been handling it for years as coins and fretwire and stuff...

[jason lollar]

david, where did you see the list that nickel silver fretwire was banned- a link if you can remeber please.
Navigating the immense amount of information is difficult.
I did see someone filed for an exception on musical instruments but havent found if it was passed, regected or waiting for consideration

[Joe Gwinn]

david, where did you see the list that nickel silver fretwire was banned- a link if you can remeber please.
Navigating the immense amount of information is difficult.
I did see someone filed for an exception on musical instruments but havent found if it was passed, regected or waiting for consideration

Where was this exception request seen? With luck, it will cite specific paragraphs of the regulations.

By the way, the point of RoHS is not that the user is in danger from the solder within, but that after the product becomes landfill, the the lead and whatever else will leach into the environment.

But there has to be some numerical tolerance, an allowed fractional weight. They cannot forbid one nanogram; everything has nanograms of lead in it. There has to be a numerical limit, and for things like guitars we may well have enough wood to overbalance the tiny amount of solder used on the pickup.

I have to wonder about a limit on nickel, as this would make stainless steel cookware illegal. We should read the actual regulation before believing that nickel is a problem. Likewise, metallic chrome. Stainless steel is nickel, chrome, and iron.

And I wonder what the story on lead-acid batteries is. Perhaps all the manufacturers needed to do was to promise to recycle the lead. Given the lack of alternatives, it isn't obvious what else could be done.

[Joe Gwinn]

In my product, very small amount of leaded solder is used to solder very fine-guage wire, finer than the hair on your head. We have attempted to switch to lead-free solder to meet your demands, but the product is failing at a very accelerated rate. These products were designed to operate for 20-50 years or more, and products are failing within six months because of the lead-free solder. Failure rate like this is unacceptable.

When pickups fail in six months, what exactly happens? Coil wire break at the solder joint? What does the failure point look like under magnification?

[Just Bob]

Nickel is not a banned material under RoHS. The issue there is that many nickel plating formulations have historically used lead and cadmium additives. Likewise, there are brass formulations with and without lead. See http://www.pfonline.com/articles/100501.html Electroless nickel plating IS available that meets EU requirements. You have to make sure that you ask specifically for compliant processes. A lot of people, however, have allergies to nickel and I try to avoid it.

[JGundry]

This stuff has the lowest melting point of any lead free solder I have found and the flux is supposed to be non corrosive. I have not tried it yet because it is pricey. http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=093-584

I have been using lead free solder for my effect pedals from the beginning with no problems yet. It is harder to work with than lead solder. The biggest pain is that the high iron temperatures make the rosin smoke like crazy. It does not flow well either. Circuit Specialists sells some lead free solder that flows okay, at least better than the Kester lead free stuff but it does not have a wash free flux so it is no good for anything but covers, if that. I have not tried it for covers yet but I think it may work.

By the way anyone soldering should get a good fume extractor. By good I mean one that costs in the range of $900.00. The lead, flux and tin are all bad for you. Many may think this is overkill but I even wrap a folded over post it note over the wire so my skin is not in contact with the wire. After a day of soldering I noticed I was having a metallic taste in my mouth even with lead free solder and a fume extractor. I figured I must be absorbing it through my skin so I use the post it and have no metallic taste anymore. Lead is suspected as a cause of brain cancer. I know of one maker with brain cancer. Tin is often contaminated with a radioactive isotope and exposure to it increases your exposure to gamma radiation which increases a persons cancer risk.

[Alex/Tubewonder]

Hi folks, my 1st post, been lurking in here occasionally..

I've been converting to ROHS during past 10 months and have gathered some info and experience. Basically, ROHS (and don't forget WEEE) directives came about caused by all the throw away short life span chep products. Household white goods, TVs, PCs, cellphones etc are the real problem. It's an environmental and therefore also a health issue.

We on the other hand are having hard time imagining that anyone would throw away our products. We expect them to be cherished and passed on as family heirlooms.

The substances that directly affect us, amp, effects and musical instrument builders are lead, hexavalent chrome, mercury, some flame retardants as used in power resistors and such.

The problem or the pain in the neck is that the limits set on contents of these substances in a product are based on homogenous material. This means that it's not the lead content in an amps total weight that has to be below allowed limit. Each homogenous part must comply, for example: resistor with tinned copper leads, homogenous materials under consideration is resistor ceramic body, connecting caps, copper wire and tin as well lacquer coating, each of these must comply with ROHS limits by itself.
So, a small glob o leaded solder in a pickup renders it non-compliant.

That's why you need to get a ROHS compliance certificate from component manufacturers.

Exemptions: There is no mechanism within the EU commission for individual exemptions, however you can put forward a motion calling for exemption of a certain product group. Such motion regarding "professional equipment with expected life span of minimum 10 years" has been submitted to the EU commission. At this moment it is not known if the motion will come for vote or not. I'm afraid it will not as it is to generally worded and open to a very wide interpretation.

In the meantime, collect ROHS certificates for all materials that you use, get new tools like soldering stations, wire cutters, pliers etc since your old ones are lead contaminated.
Collect all your leaded components/materials and store them in a separate location - a box under your desk is not ok.

Where and when can you still use leaded solder and components?
- equipment that you build for your own use that you will not pass on to other party.
- service and repair of products already on the market prior to ROHS enforcement i.e. repairs and service of vintage stuff.

Lead free solder: I'm getting very good results with Alpha Metals SACX0307 Fluitin 1532, sold in EU by RS-Components, stock No: 514-5085, good wetting and flows nicely. Flux stinks like a morgue though...

Hope this has been of some help.

[Just Bob]

In the meantime, collect ROHS certificates for all materials that you use, get new tools like soldering stations, wire cutters, pliers etc since your old ones are lead contaminated.
Collect all your leaded components/materials and store them in a separate location - a box under your desk is not ok.

.

Very nice discussion. You certainly know more about it than I do. I knew about collecting certificates and new, uncontaminated soldering stations. But, EVERYTHING in my shop is microscopically contaminated with lead after 30 years. Leaded brass cut on the machine tools, all test leads have touched leaded solder, all equipment exposed to solder fumes, as well as the building itself. It's 100 years old and has been painted many times with leaded paint. How far does this go?? Are they implying that I have to build a whole new shop to be compliant? Some snippers and a soldering iron, OK. Paying attention when I order parts is fine. But, there are many thousands or a million parts in my inventory that are not compliant. It is simply not possible to store them elsewhere, as is replacing all tools and equipment that may have a few atoms of lead on them.

[Alex/Tubewonder]

I think that in your case with a million parts in your shop it might be simpler to dedicate a separate area to ROHS work and parts storage - I assume you won't have a million of them for some time yet. Then just let this area expand with time. Just make sure you don't let leaded stuff into that area. As far as contamination of test equipment, test leads etc - I don't see this as a problem. We don't need to rush in panic, there won't be any "ROHS police" chasing lead atoms.

[Possum]

oh no.....

I think Greg mentioned something about this to me. This just applies the EU, right? What are they going to do about ALNICO? Cobalt is poisonous, nickel is bad? Aluminum? I'm going to stock up on lead content solder in case it hits here.....

[Just Bob]

Hmmm. The shop isn't big enough for what I have stuffed in there now. A separate area would be impossible, maybe a separate bench. Nothing is separated now. I have close to a thousand little drawers and bins filled with parts. A thousand pieces each of a lot of resistors and caps adds up pretty fast. Most of them bought before RoHS was invented.

What is their definition of "separate" ? A building or a room or a bench? Is there any actual enforcement for small manufacturers? It's good enough for me to just say I'm compliant? I can build with compliant parts and solder, but beyond that, who knows?