Poll

Do you still use leaded solder?

Yes, and wont leave it.
105 (78.4%)
Yes, but planning to switch.
9 (6.7%)
No, but hate lead free.
4 (3%)
Using lead free without any issues.
16 (11.9%)

Total Members Voted: 131

Author Topic: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...  (Read 14746 times)

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Offline james_s

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #75 on: November 21, 2021, 07:22:58 am »
My point still stands... why switch? No one has provided a good reason yet.

I can understand not using it as a manufacturer in order to meet local/environmental requirements, but none of those apply to me.

I wasn't suggesting you do. I'm still using good old 60/40. I have some 63/37 too but I actually was not all that impressed by it.
 
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Offline nigelwright7557

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #76 on: November 21, 2021, 08:35:26 am »
You can probably still buy it direct from China no matter where you are. Nobody seems to track that stuff.

Buying solder can be a minefield.
From high melting point through to solder without flux its a pain.
I bought some in from China and it would barely melt.
I got some off ebay and it had no flux in it !
Absolutely useless.
So got some from a reputable dealer RS Components and that has been great.

I wont use lead free as it whiskers over long periods. Some satellites went faulty due to this.

 

Offline PKTKS

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #77 on: November 21, 2021, 09:17:28 am »
LED FREE is a liability

It is not meant for quality
It has other goals

Paul
 

Online Kjelt

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #78 on: November 21, 2021, 09:35:21 am »
In the starting days of ROHS I remember we all got new Weller 80W soldering stations since the old 50W were not up to the job. I don't remember what the green multicore leadfree composition was, what I do remember that I had to relearn soldering since it neded higher temperature, more time to melt, it did not give this nice shine when it cooled down (a proof you soldered correctly and did not have a cold joint). It looked cooled down  like a bad solderjoint matt and brittle. Then after two years when I needed to reprogram an old prototype board it did not work, i opened it up and almost all the solderjoints were literally corroded.
Mind you this was one of the first alloys and it sucked big time. 1+ year later on we got new lead free solder and now over 15 years later most alloys are pretty good to solder.
Still I prefer lead solder for my own stuff, just that shine  8)
Even for reflow, it is just lower temperature, less stress on the components during reflow, less risk.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2021, 09:37:40 am by Kjelt »
 

Offline TheBay

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #79 on: November 21, 2021, 10:46:45 pm »
I've had no problem getting Pb solder from RS or Farnell, but I used to get MG Chemicals 63/37 from Amazon UK which was really good value for money but lately there seems to be very little Pb solder available on Amazon.
 

Offline coppercone2

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #80 on: November 23, 2021, 10:45:54 pm »
I wonder how much of a environmental cost is all the equipment that broke because of solder whiskers and bad lead free crap happening
 

Offline thm_w

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #81 on: November 23, 2021, 11:32:26 pm »
I wonder how much of a environmental cost is all the equipment that broke because of solder whiskers and bad lead free crap happening

I don't think its ever been tallied up, and it would be a very difficult task to put a number to it. Xbox recall was over $1billion, although you can debate if that is directly due to lead-free..

If e-waste were properly disposed of, and recycled, using lead would not be an issue and would clearly be the better environmental option (https://sci-hub.mksa.top/10.1533/9780857096333.4.442). The problem is it just gets dumped.

"Less than 40% of all e-waste in the EU is reycled, the rest is unsorted. Recycling practices vary among EU countries. In 2017, Croatia recycled 81% of all electronic and electrical waste, while in Malta, the figure was 21%."
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20201208STO93325/e-waste-in-the-eu-facts-and-figures-infographic
Profile -> Modify profile -> Look and Layout ->  Don't show users' signatures
 

Offline Ed.Kloonk

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #82 on: November 24, 2021, 01:20:32 am »
I wonder how much of a environmental cost is all the equipment that broke because of solder whiskers and bad lead free crap happening

How dare you!
iratus parum formica
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #83 on: November 24, 2021, 01:23:52 am »
Recycling practices vary among EU countries. In 2017, Croatia recycled 81% of all electronic and electrical waste,

Any idea why Croatia are so far ahead in the game?

Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline rsjsouza

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #84 on: November 24, 2021, 01:45:35 am »
I don't know about Croatia, but it's been a couple of decades that Brasil recycles a very significant percentage of aluminium cans (I recall 85~87%) - this is simply due to the poor economic conditions, which were conducive to people actually making a living plowing through trashcans and collecting cans from the floor.
Vbe - vídeo blog eletrônico http://videos.vbeletronico.com

Oh, the "whys" of the datasheets... The information is there not to be an axiomatic truth, but instead each speck of data must be slowly inhaled while carefully performing a deep search inside oneself to find the true metaphysical sense...
 
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Offline Red Squirrel

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #85 on: November 24, 2021, 03:25:57 am »
I still do but I can see merit in wanting to avoid lead as it's not exactly healthy for us, or for the environment.  I have not tried lead free yet so I can't comment on if I hate it or not but from what I gather it's not as good.
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #86 on: November 24, 2021, 06:26:39 am »
I wonder how much of a environmental cost is all the equipment that broke because of solder whiskers and bad lead free crap happening
Probably none, because tin whiskers aren’t a problem with lead-free solder, but with pure tin plating: https://www.indium.com/blog/pb-free-solders-are-not-the-cause-of-tin-whiskers.php
 

Offline magic

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #87 on: November 24, 2021, 06:46:12 am »
Recycling practices vary among EU countries. In 2017, Croatia recycled 81% of all electronic and electrical waste,

Any idea why Croatia are so far ahead in the game?
No idea what Croatia, Estonia and Bulgaria are supposed to have in common.
IMHO a better question is how it was counted, because I'm fairly sure that it wasn't somebody actually inspecting all garbage bins in those countries.
 
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Offline MiyukiTopic starter

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Re: Do you still use leaded solder? I was today refused to buy it ...
« Reply #88 on: November 26, 2021, 04:31:06 pm »
I wonder how much of a environmental cost is all the equipment that broke because of solder whiskers and bad lead free crap happening

I don't think its ever been tallied up, and it would be a very difficult task to put a number to it. Xbox recall was over $1billion, although you can debate if that is directly due to lead-free..

If e-waste were properly disposed of, and recycled, using lead would not be an issue and would clearly be the better environmental option (https://sci-hub.mksa.top/10.1533/9780857096333.4.442). The problem is it just gets dumped.

"Less than 40% of all e-waste in the EU is reycled, the rest is unsorted. Recycling practices vary among EU countries. In 2017, Croatia recycled 81% of all electronic and electrical waste, while in Malta, the figure was 21%."
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20201208STO93325/e-waste-in-the-eu-facts-and-figures-infographic
The problem here is how much is recycled (a proper way) and what portion is "recycled" by sending it to third-world countries.
They will recycle it there, and most of the used components at eBay/ali are from this but it causes way worse pollution and poisoning than just dumping it will

//edit: "poorer" countries have better numbers because they are using way less single-use stuff, selling scrap metal is decent money compared to income and repairs are economic because work cost is low compared to goods price (like one hour of service work in "rich country" can easily be even days of service work in the "poor country").
« Last Edit: November 26, 2021, 04:38:27 pm by Miyuki »
 


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