Electronics > Beginners
Rosin-free solder
cdev:
I don't know of any (besides the air dilution technique mentioned earlier) but you should keep up on the colophonium reaction issue and atopy in general.
Trust your body's signals. Your body's reactions to things like that can become very non-linear if you get exposed to them too much. Like the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.
But also, sometimes (often) whats put forward as a solution or replacement has its issues too, sometimes they are worse.
Fresh air is better than filtered air. I would also watch out for dermal exposure.
There is a lot of stuff on pubmed about it. Just search on colophony.
Breadboarding makes lots of sense for somebody in your situation, IMHO.
You probably can trust the medical research on this issue, but if I were you if you find a solder that works for you I would try to keep lots of it around in all sizes so you will always have it and not be tempted to use anything else that could make you sick. Look into using a fan that exhausts the fumes outdoors and replaces the exhausted air with fresh.
--- Quote from: starjump on October 12, 2018, 07:00:37 pm ---Thank you all for your responses.
I understand that rosin flux would be best. Shame I'm not good with the stuff.
Rosin /colophony is a pine derivative and used in industry in all manner of things from floor polish to printer ink.
I can pick up a magazine without worries, but I react with it if it is in it's stronger more concentrated form, ie pine wood sawdust that touches my skin (or enters my airway or eyes).
I will probably have to go with it with precautions but are there any decent alternatives that might work for me please?
Many thanks.
--- End quote ---
mariush:
Buy some nitrile gloves,they're thin enough that you'd still be able to use all the tools and rosin vapors / flux smoke / whatever doesn't get absorbed by your skin. Here's an example: https://amzn.to/2IRE7ix
Use some fan to push air away from you. Ideally use a air filter with activated charcoal, but simply having a fan blow the solder smoke away from you would help.
I'd say use no-clean solders, read the MSDS (material safety sheet) and see what the main chemicals inside the flux are, pick one with less amount of rosin. Avoid water soluble fluxes, as you'd have to really clean the boards after soldering and it's difficult to clean properly.
wraper:
--- Quote from: mariush on October 12, 2018, 10:21:41 pm ---Buy some nitrile gloves
--- End quote ---
They suck. Your hands will sweat very fast, not comfortable at all. I would suggest ESD gloves with rubberized fingers or rubberized inner area. TME sells cheap ESD gloves which are quite comfortable, even for prolonged use.
https://www.tme.eu/en/details/glove-esd-rs2_m/esd-clothing/
https://www.tme.eu/en/details/glove-esd-rs3_m/esd-clothing/
Just avoid these: https://www.tme.eu/en/details/glove-esd_l/esd-clothing/ they are junk
Ian.M:
Some tasks are much more difficult to do wearing any sort of gloves. Even handling PCBs a lot, residual flux on them may be an issue for you, (e.g. I am sensitive to the factory flux used on Ferguson TV boards in the 1980s), and a good barrier cream helps. Try to avoid manual washing of flux from boards, and if you must, wear heavy solvent resistant rubber gauntlets for that operation.
There is no substitute for good ventilation, and actual fume extraction so the fume concentration does not build up in your work area.
Wear a lab coat to keep rosin residue off your clothes, and when it's significantly soiled, have it dry cleaned or take it to a launderette so you don't contaminate your washing machine with rosin, or at the very least, if you wash it in your own machine, afterwards run a full length wash cycle with the machine empty at max temperature and with detergent before using it to wash any fabrics that may be in sustained skin contact.
cdev:
If I were you I would mark the outside of the gloves clearly when you put them on, and ideally, even if you only use them for a few minutes, don't reuse them- because you might put them back on inside out.
It helps if you don't use your cell phone while you are using them, turn it off.
Activated charcoal filters are for the most part useless for removing chemicals from air in the amounts they are supplied in the fume blowers sold for hobbyist use.
An air filter removes dust, not volatiles. You would likely do just as well with any fan to move the air away from your work area.
An effective activated charcoal filter would have to use a great deal of charcoal so that would mean stronger motor to pull the air through the heavy and likely expensive filter canisters.
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