3 ms·

I concur. Recommending unleaded software to hobbyists makes people irrationally hostile. I have a theory of why...

• Aurornis 2y ago
  I know you’re joking, but leaded solder is significantly easier to work with on a hobbyist level. As long as you’re washing your hands properly and avoiding contact contamination it’s not an issue. I’m always amazed when I see people using lead-free solder for “health reasons” who then inhale all of the fumes from their flux, though.
  • CarVac 2y ago
    It's significantly easier if you have grossly inadequate soldering equipment. This is 2025, you can get properly temperature-controlled soldering irons for dirt cheap now.
    • murderfs 2y ago
      Temperature control isn't usually the real problem, it's insufficient power to heat the board up to the liquidus temperature of the solder. This is an especially annoying pain in the ass when you're desoldering components from a board with non-thermal relief pads connected to gigantic copper pours, where you basically have to either use hot air or a board preheater.
      • CarVac 2y ago
        I run a hobbyist open source hardware project that is user-assembled (PhobGCC) and even though our early boards had bad thermal relief a basic Pinecil is good enough to desolder SAC305 or SN99. But most of the issues with soldering came from people using uncontrolled irons that were either too hot, instantly burning off pads, or too cold thus not letting the flux punch through the oxides. When you get to big copper fills, SN63 helps, but ChipQuik helps more. So does a Thermaltronics TMT-1000S which is coming next month at $125. (love my TMT-2000S but the 1000S looks to be a steal)