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Question: if you have some solder around and don't know if it's leaded... and you don't have enough practice to be able to tell the difference from the way it f
by mehrdadn 7y ago
Question: if you have some solder around and don't know if it's leaded... and you don't have enough practice to be able to tell the difference from the way it flows... is there an easy way to tell?
- 6nf 7y agoIf you hate soldering with it, it's lead free
- OJFord 7y agoBy mass is probably the easiest way - if you also have some that is known lead-free and it's 'significantly' lighter (per equal volume), the other's probably leaded. If it's close, you could probably work it out by pouring over Wikipedia and making assumptions like 'if it's leaded, it will be at minimum 30% lead'... but at that point the 'easy way to tell' is probably to replace it with known solder (assuming the goal was not to use leaded solder inadvertently).
- lukego 7y agoGuessing in practice you would melt some and see if it's shiny (leaded) or chalky (lead free.) Surely not foolproof for all alloys though. Otherwise you could see how hot your iron needs to be to make it melt.