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Lots of talk about soldering irons but none on lead. If you do use lead solder please treat the area as contaminated, don't touch your face, and wash your hand

Lots of talk about soldering irons but none on lead. If you do use lead solder please treat the area as contaminated, don't touch your face, and wash your hands afterwards. Lead poisoning is a quiet and long term thing. A little bit of care upfront will prevent a sad end for your loved ones in decades.

analog31 3y ago
The earliest lead-free solders were definitely not beginner-friendly. Things have improved. I prefer an alloy called Kester K100, which is lower melting and more solder-like. Others might chime in on alloys that work for beginners. Also worth considering are solder pastes that you can apply to the joint and then heat up with an iron. And flux pen.
- jazzyjackson 3y ago
  solder paste is awesome. At a FabLab I worked at we got pretty proficient at grinding 2-layer circuit boards with a CNC machine (1/64" bit), cutting solder masks with a craft vinyl sticker cutter, applying solder paste over the mask and then baking in a toaster oven. Great process for making 10 of something.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  I still haven't found a lead-free solder that I am willing to use on a hobbyist level. I'm sticking with the leaded variety. People get paranoid about the lead, but it is a very manageable risk.
m-ee 3y ago
Never verified but I was always told the fumes from lead free are more noxious than the leaded counterparts, maybe because of the higher temp requirements. Should be using a fume extractor regardless but I’ve always been more conscious of it when working with lead free.
- gnopgnip 3y ago
  Fumes from leaded solder, rosin, flux, are on the order of 100x more harmful than lead free
  - jazzyjackson 3y ago
    Can you provide citation? Leadfree also requires rosin and flux, no?
  - snvzz 3y ago
    Is the lead even in the fumes? The temp it evaporates at is much higher. I understand "lead-free" fumes are actually worse, but you should avoid all fumes regardless.
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      There isn't lead in the fumes. The risk of lead exposure is all about touching the solder.
      - snvzz 3y ago
        Yup. That's what I understand too.
      - gnopgnip 3y ago
        Similar to lead paint, lead exposure is from lead dust primarily. Soldering produces lead dust, and it is relatively difficult to prevent further contamination Lead free rosin is less dangerous than leaded rosin, check the SDS data sheets
    - gnopgnip 3y ago
      >I understand "lead-free" fumes are actually worse, but you should avoid all fumes regardless. Read the SDS for any rosin available leaded and lead free. Lead free will have P260, leaded will have P261, a significantly higher risk. And P302 vs P301, and other additional risks.
- 3y ago
the-dude 3y ago
We have The Woz on video with solder in his mouth and he is pretty old. This is just fear mongering BS.
meatmanek 3y ago
Lead solder didn't bother me at first (I had read all the arguments about vapor pressure, solubility of lead, people's lived experiences, etc. Plus, my initial experiences with lead-free were terrible). What convinced me was when I realized how much fine solder dust I was making every time I cleaned my soldering iron tip. More than once I've had the dust from the brass sponge spill out onto my desk and leave a big grey mark. I've been using some low-temp lead-free solder from ChipQuik in both paste and wire form, and it works perfectly fine for prototyping. It doesn't seem as strong as other solder types, but the low melting point (even lower than leaded solder) means I don't have to stress the chips as much with temperature swings (great for rework), and I can keep my iron cooler, which reduces tip oxidation.

analog31 3y ago

The earliest lead-free solders were definitely not beginner-friendly. Things have improved. I prefer an alloy called Kester K100, which is lower melting and more solder-like. Others might chime in on alloys that work for beginners. Also worth considering are solder pastes that you can apply to the joint and then heat up with an iron. And flux pen.

jazzyjackson 3y ago
solder paste is awesome. At a FabLab I worked at we got pretty proficient at grinding 2-layer circuit boards with a CNC machine (1/64" bit), cutting solder masks with a craft vinyl sticker cutter, applying solder paste over the mask and then baking in a toaster oven. Great process for making 10 of something.
JohnFen 3y ago
I still haven't found a lead-free solder that I am willing to use on a hobbyist level. I'm sticking with the leaded variety. People get paranoid about the lead, but it is a very manageable risk.

m-ee 3y ago

Never verified but I was always told the fumes from lead free are more noxious than the leaded counterparts, maybe because of the higher temp requirements. Should be using a fume extractor regardless but I’ve always been more conscious of it when working with lead free.

gnopgnip 3y ago
Fumes from leaded solder, rosin, flux, are on the order of 100x more harmful than lead free
- jazzyjackson 3y ago
  Can you provide citation? Leadfree also requires rosin and flux, no?
- snvzz 3y ago
  Is the lead even in the fumes? The temp it evaporates at is much higher. I understand "lead-free" fumes are actually worse, but you should avoid all fumes regardless.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    There isn't lead in the fumes. The risk of lead exposure is all about touching the solder.
    - snvzz 3y ago
      Yup. That's what I understand too.
    - gnopgnip 3y ago
      Similar to lead paint, lead exposure is from lead dust primarily. Soldering produces lead dust, and it is relatively difficult to prevent further contamination Lead free rosin is less dangerous than leaded rosin, check the SDS data sheets
  - gnopgnip 3y ago
    >I understand "lead-free" fumes are actually worse, but you should avoid all fumes regardless. Read the SDS for any rosin available leaded and lead free. Lead free will have P260, leaded will have P261, a significantly higher risk. And P302 vs P301, and other additional risks.
3y ago

the-dude 3y ago

We have The Woz on video with solder in his mouth and he is pretty old. This is just fear mongering BS.

meatmanek 3y ago

Lead solder didn't bother me at first (I had read all the arguments about vapor pressure, solubility of lead, people's lived experiences, etc. Plus, my initial experiences with lead-free were terrible). What convinced me was when I realized how much fine solder dust I was making every time I cleaned my soldering iron tip. More than once I've had the dust from the brass sponge spill out onto my desk and leave a big grey mark. I've been using some low-temp lead-free solder from ChipQuik in both paste and wire form, and it works perfectly fine for prototyping. It doesn't seem as strong as other solder types, but the low melting point (even lower than leaded solder) means I don't have to stress the chips as much with temperature swings (great for rework), and I can keep my iron cooler, which reduces tip oxidation.