Hello, advice on my lab, and what solder to buy please

[tooki]

That's RoHS and it has nothing to do with consumer use.

Leaded solder is banned in the EU because somebody really smart determined that it may cause birth defects if ingested

We should probably request a similar investigation into the fluxes used in lead-free solders now

It looks like hunters have no restriction and can go on spreading lead into the environment (17500 tons per year in Italy alone).
BTW a while ago I read that game eaters have high levels of lead in their body because bullets fragment in many small pieces and so it is not possible to completely remove it from the meat.

This. So much this. Where's the goofy old marquee tag when you need it?

Ammunition accounts for far more environmental lead than electronics ever did: this article (German) from 2015 says that in Switzerland, lead ammunition was responsible for "more than twice as much [environmental lead] as transportation, commerce, and industry combined". (Emphasis mine.) 200 tons annually. And that's after the 1998 and 2012 restrictions on using lead shot for waterfowl.

And despite that, the entire electronics industry had to give up lead? Absurd. Talk about not going for the low-hanging fruit first...


<off topic> Honest but rhetorical question: I wonder if low-level lead poisoning is responsible for gun lovers' attitudes that we gun opponents find incomprehensible... </ot>

[sokoloff]

If a hunter or gun aficionado gets inadvertent lead exposure from their hobby, I suspect they are more concerned with bleeding than lead toxicity.

I agree the environmental deposition is a concern, but other than eating/smoking after handling ammo (most of what you handle is copper/brass anyway), I doubt they get much lead in their system from the hobby.

[tautech]

If a hunter or gun aficionado gets inadvertent lead exposure from their hobby, I suspect they are more concerned with bleeding than lead toxicity.

Hell yeah !
I much prefer to stay on the safe end of a firearm. 

I agree the environmental deposition is a concern, but other than eating/smoking after handling ammo (most of what you handle is copper/brass anyway), I doubt they get much lead in their system from the hobby.

Yet for hunting in some countries use of homogeneous copper/alloy projectiles is now mandatory.

Apparently all the wars that mankind has ever had throwing lead musket balls and large caliber projectiles in the millions billions is of little concern whereas the use of the modern small high power firearms for hunting with devastating terminal efficiency on game where a very high percentage are taken with just a single shot is of greater concern for the anti lead zealots. 

[magic]

It's anti-gun zealots, the anti-lead ones are concerned with pregnant mothers eating solder paste

I researched this EU ban a while ago and it came as a result of pedantic enforcement of some general regulation that teratogens are not supposed to be available in consumer products. I'm surprised that there is even an exception for ammo, all other lead alloys for any purpose are banned too.

[Jwillis]

Although I should only speak for myself but many of us here grew up with lead painted toys ,mercury thermometers, lawn darts ,peanuts,and gluten. Look how many of us survived. It's astounding. We now live in a society of obsessive compulsive neurotics and Eviro-Nazis that presume to live forever in a Utopian world. Good luck with that .Some of these people need more counselling than I do.
Most legislation is base less on facts and more on probable re-election. Case in point is California .Apparently everything will cause cancer.

With reasonable use and proper ventilation, lead solder is just as safe to use now as it was before. If by chance someone does decide to chew on a electronic board they'll most likely die from electrical shock before the lead has any effect.Either case ,chalk one more up for Darwins Law.         

[not1xor1]

Although I should only speak for myself but many of us here grew up with lead painted toys ,mercury thermometers, lawn darts ,peanuts,and gluten. Look how many of us survived. It's astounding. We now live in a society of obsessive compulsive neurotics and Eviro-Nazis that presume to live forever in a Utopian world. Good luck with that .Some of these people need more counselling than I do.
Most legislation is base less on facts and more on probable re-election. Case in point is California .Apparently everything will cause cancer.

With reasonable use and proper ventilation, lead solder is just as safe to use now as it was before. If by chance someone does decide to chew on a electronic board they'll most likely die from electrical shock before the lead has any effect.Either case ,chalk one more up for Darwins Law.       

The main and most dangerous source of lead was tetraethyl lead.
Most restriction on usage of heavy metals are right and based on solid scientific reasons.
The problem is that politicians usually are more sensible to the interests of powerful lobbies than to science facts (and in most cases they have absolutely no understanding of that matter).

Here in Italy, hunters are still around 7-800 000 (they used to be more than 1 700 000 forty years ago). Most of them are organized in associations and supported by rich manufacturers of weapons, specialized garment and gadgets and unfortunately they have the right to vote.
With the new politicians arising in the continent (it looks like a remake of the Dumb and Dumber movie or Idiocracy) they are likely to go on with their right to pollute for a while longer and more than ever.

[magic]

And that's after the 1998 and 2012 restrictions on using lead shot for waterfowl.

And despite that, the entire electronics industry had to give up lead? Absurd. Talk about not going for the low-hanging fruit first...

It's also after REACH and RoHS. They have gone after the low hanging fruit first

[sokoloff]

The main and most dangerous source of lead was tetraethyl lead.

That's why I'm so looking forward to a viable drop-in replacement fuel for 100LL for aviation piston engines.

[tooki]

And that's after the 1998 and 2012 restrictions on using lead shot for waterfowl.

And despite that, the entire electronics industry had to give up lead? Absurd. Talk about not going for the low-hanging fruit first...

It's also after REACH and RoHS. They have gone after the low hanging fruit first

My point was that the trivial amounts of lead in electronics solder is not the low-hanging fruit. That would be the much, much larger amounts of lead in ammunition and gasoline (which in many countries still has lead in aviation fuel, even if it was eliminated from automobile fuel).

Car batteries also contain huge amounts of lead, but since the recycling rate on car batteries is very high, little of that ends up in the environment.

[HobGoblyn]

I’ve now ordered everything recommended in this thread:)

Looking forwards it all turning up.  I got all 4 of the tools tooki linked to on  Reichet’s site, I also ordered the flux and crispers mariush linked to.

Also got most of the other bits and pieces (still have a few test leads to get)

So far my only slight annoyance is that one vid I watched suggested getting an 0805 sample book, I found the following on eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0805-Practical-SMD-1-Resistor-And-Capacitor-Kits-Pack-Box-Component-Sample-Book/312614474728?hash=item48c94653e8:g:aIkAAOSwnktc3nds

And stupidly didn’t read the description properly. It only contained resistors.  I contacted the guy and said I’m happy to keep it, but he should take the word capacitor out of the title, but his response was that the actual description was clear.  Personally,  as there’s only one book to buy (it’s not a listing with different book choices) , I disagree, but life’s too short to worry, will hunt eBay for a few cheap 0805 caps.

Thanks everyone for all the advice

[mariush]

You could just order 25-50-100pcs out of every capacitor you need.
You won't need 170 unique values, just limit yourself to the most common, like the E12 series for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_series_of_preferred_numbers#Lists

    E12 values (10% tolerance)
        1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.2, 2.7, 3.3, 3.9, 4.7, 5.6, 6.8, 8.2

    E24 values (5% tolerance)
        1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4, 2.7, 3.0, 3.3, 3.6, 3.9, 4.3, 4.7, 5.1, 5.6, 6.2, 6.8, 7.5, 8.2, 9.1

So for example get 10nF, 12nF..82nF,100nF, 120 nF .. 820nF , 1uF, 1.2uF, 1.5uF...8.2uF, 10uF....100uF
We're talking about maybe 12x3-4 = ~50 unique resistor values.

Use NPO/COG for very low values, X7R/X5R for let's say anything above 1uF ... voltage rating 25v or higher,  that's what you'll probably get in 0805 package

If you check tme.eu you can quickly select 12 values and the voltage range and the quality (npo/cog/x7r/x5r) and then sort results by price for the qty you plan to get.
It would take you maybe 1h or so to pick all of them.

You can also pick more of the ones that are often used like 100, 220, 330, 470, 820 ... i'd say these are the most common used.

Above 10uF, consider electrolytic capacitors or polymer capacitors. Aim for 105c rated, low impedance capacitors... lots of kits will have general purpose capacitors which often aren't suitable to repair electronics but can be used in hobby projects.

[tooki]

I’ve now ordered everything recommended in this thread:)

Looking forwards it all turning up.  I got all 4 of the tools tooki linked to on  Reichet’s site, I also ordered the flux and crispers mariush linked to.

Also got most of the other bits and pieces (still have a few test leads to get)

So far my only slight annoyance is that one vid I watched suggested getting an 0805 sample book, I found the following on eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0805-Practical-SMD-1-Resistor-And-Capacitor-Kits-Pack-Box-Component-Sample-Book/312614474728?hash=item48c94653e8:g:aIkAAOSwnktc3nds

And stupidly didn’t read the description properly. It only contained resistors.  I contacted the guy and said I’m happy to keep it, but he should take the word capacitor out of the title, but his response was that the actual description was clear.  Personally,  as there’s only one book to buy (it’s not a listing with different book choices) , I disagree, but life’s too short to worry, will hunt eBay for a few cheap 0805 caps.

I did eventually buy an SMD ceramic cap kit, since I kept needing them, but consider instead just buying an empty SMD binder (as in, one with empty plastic inserts, just no components) and then ordering some of the most common values. I'd actually go even narrower than mariush suggests, like perhaps just 1.0, 1.5, 2.2, 4.7 per decade (with as many of the 1.0 as the other 3 combined). I find I use 100nF (104) more than anything else, but sometimes 10nF (103) and 1nF (102). Anything higher is electrolytic, and I just don't do the kinds of things that use smaller values. (Other than crystal oscillator load capacitors, which I just purchase as needed, since that's a relatively picky application.)


Actually this reminds me of one other suggestion I had: organization. How to store and organize tools and parts quickly becomes an issue. People have different ways of doing it, so just start thinking about it already — do you want boxes? Tubs? Drawers? Baggies? Binders? How will you label them — printed labels? Handwritten labels? Marker? And how do you want them sorted?



As for the ebay vendor... ::sigh:: Maybe try reminding them one more time that the description is accurate, but the listing title is not. I hate how the Chinese vendors pack their listing titles with all sorts of imprecise, related terms, rather than accurate ones so that you can exclude the stuff you don't want.

[HobGoblyn]

Is the capacitor voltage simply the maximum voltage it can take?

In other words, is there any difference in using say a 200v or  100v or a 50v cap on a circuit that's less than 50v?

Thought I'd check before I order my 0805's

Many thanks
 

[mariush]

Yes, the voltage rating is the maximum voltage the capacitor can handle.

With electrolytic capacitors, you may often see capacitors rated for higher voltage than needed because other technical properties of the capacitor are dependant on the internal volume of the capacitor.  So for example, on computer power supplies you may see 10v rated electrolytic capacitors on the 3.3v and 5v outputs, even though a 6.3v rated capacitor could have been used, simply because the 10v rated capacitor has the same diameter and it's maybe just a few mm taller, and due to bigger volume it may have lower ESR and higher lifetime rating.

Ceramic capacitors have capacitance that varies with voltage and temperature : a 1 uF 16v rated ceramic capacitor will not be 1uF  when used with 12v, it will be less.
See this PDF for a good explanation :
Temperature and Voltage Variation of CeramicCapacitors, or Why Your 4.7μF Capacitor Becomes a 0.33μF Capacitor
https://pdfserv.maximintegrated.com/en/an/TUT5527.pdf

For this reason and others, you will often see 0402 or 0603 16v or 25v rated ceramic capacitors used with 3.3v chips, for example, when 6.3v or 10v rated would be safe.

For decoupling capacitors (0.01uF, 0.047uF, 0.1uF for example) you may see even 35-50v rated capacitors used because the capacity is so small.

For ceramic capacitors I would say don't buy anything rated for less than 16v unless very expensive (ex 4.7uF ceramics may be expensive at high voltage ratings)
For electrolytic or polymer capacitors, I would suggest 35v or 50v rating for anything under 100uF as they're all gonna be about the same diameter (<8mm) and above 100uF,  the most common voltages are 6.3v (only useful to you if you'll want to repair electronics and you need to replace a capacitor and you can't use bigger capacitors) , 10v (can be used for any low voltage chip like 2.5v,3.3v, 5v, with lithium batteries etc) ,  16v (for use with 12v parts like fans, relays, computer power supplies) and less often  25v  (common in older lcd monitors and useful if you decide to power circuits with laptop adapters that output 16.5-20v)
 

later edit :

Also, you shouldn't be afraid of 0603 parts, they're just a bit smaller than 0805 and still quite easy to solder, even if you're older. 
0805 fits very well between 2 pins of a header with 0.1" space between holes, so they're great to use on prototyping boards or between pins of a DIP chip, but 0603 is also capable of this and just a bit smaller (with a bit extra solder on the pads you can easily use a 0603 instead of 0805)

The reason I mention it is because you may find 0603 much cheaper and easier to find compared to 0805, as factories most likely focus their production on smaller parts to sell more volume.  You may find you can order 100 or 250 pcs for the same price of 50 0805 parts, so it would be worth going with 0603 in that case.

[Johnboy]

I've also ordered the following books:
Learning The Art Of Electronics, A Hands on Lab Course
Am about to order a 2nd hand 2nd edition of Art of Electronics

Just thought I should point out that "Learning The Art of Electronics" is the companion volume to the third edition of "The Art of Electronics" and not the second edition. The companion volume for the second edition is called "Student Manual for the Art of Electronics".

If you've already bought the books, don't panic. The third edition of the main textbook complements the second edition; a lot of people hang on to the second edition anyway, as it does contain some things that were not updated/added to the new edition (and a dedicated RF chapter in particular, IIRC). At one point during the writing, the 3rd edition was described by Winfield Hill as a sort of "additional" volume, rather than standalone ("keep your 2nd edition" he said), but from what I've seen of it they may have eventually dropped that angle. The first chapters of each, at least, are virtually identical.

As to the companion volumes:

I have not actually had a look at "Learning the Art of Electronics" to see what has been changed from the earlier "Student Manual for the Art of Electronics", but there are others on this forum who might supply that information. You may just have to do some hunting around within the newer lab manual to see what best applies to the layout of the older textbook.



Edited for clarity, name error

[HobGoblyn]

Just thought I should point out that "Learning The Art of Electronics" is the companion volume to the third edition of "The Art of Electronics" and not the second edition. The companion volume for the second edition is called "Student Manual for the Art of Electronics".

If you've already bought the books, don't panic. The third edition of the main textbook complements the second edition; a lot of people hang on to the second edition anyway, as it does contain some things that were not updated/added to the new edition (and a dedicated RF chapter in particular, IIRC). At one point during the writing, the 3rd edition was described by Winston Hill as a sort of "additional" volume, rather than standalone ("keep your 2nd edition" he said), but from what I've seen of it they may have eventually dropped that angle. The first chapters of each, at least, are virtually identical.

As to the companion volumes:

I have not actually had a look at "Learning the Art of Electronics" to see what has been changed from the earlier "Student Manual for the Art of Electronics", but there are others on this forum who might supply that information. You may just have to do some hunting around within the newer lab manual to see what best applies to the layout of the older textbook.



Edited for clarity

Thanks. I bought the 2nd edition second hand, ex library book, and didn’t cost much at all. 

I was also going to order the 3rd edition in a few weeks, but according to the “Learning the Art of Electronics” that I’ve just had delivered,  it states in the preface,

If any reader is acquainted with the student manual published in 1989 to accompany the second edition of “The Art of Electronics”, it may be worth noting principle differences between this book and that one. First, this book means to be self sufficient, whereas the earlier book was meant to be read along side the larger work.

[HobGoblyn]

Actually this reminds me of one other suggestion I had: organization. How to store and organize tools and parts quickly becomes an issue. People have different ways of doing it, so just start thinking about it already — do you want boxes? Tubs? Drawers? Baggies? Binders? How will you label them — printed labels? Handwritten labels? Marker? And how do you want them sorted?

Hehe, a lot of the stuff arrived today.

I have a 5ft x 3ft  (152cm x 91cm)  table. 

It looked big with nothing on it.

Am now hunting through the likes of amazon to find suitable storage

Sadly, at present, I don't have a permanent place, the table is our dining room table (mind you, it's only used a few times a year), so no shelves etc.

many thanks

[tooki]

Oh man don’t I know that problem. My bedroom currently looks like a war zone or post-earthquake disaster scene, just from pulling out tubs to get to the tools and parts I needed to build some test leads yesterday, and some breadboard tinkering...

This is one aspect where I do wish I were rich, so that I could have a separate 1000sqft/100sqm workshop, half electronics, half mechanical. But with Zurich rent, that ain’t happening...

[HobGoblyn]

Started putting my lab together.

Already completely run out of space.

Attached pics show table, anti static connector, table with all main bits on it.

As I can't put shelves up, going to make a shelf that sits on the table along the lines of my final attached pic.  Then hopefully I will have space for components and tools

[HobGoblyn]

13 days later and I'm finished.  Bound to be lots of reorganisation as I start learning, bound to be things I've forgotten.

Pleased how it's turned out so far, time will tell

Only mistake is for some reason I ordered the wrong 68 ohm resistors,  they are 2W and about 4 times the size of the others, so need to order the correct ones.

Here's many pics of the finished product.  Last 2 pics are my Arduino stuff.

I also got a box of 630 Electolytic capacitors going from 0.1uf to 1000uf that I forgot to take a pic of

Now to start making things