Re: Lead Free (was Re: CD MMC caps from DigiKey...)

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Original poster: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx>


> I have used tin/silver/copper and some others lead free hand 
> soldering wire and they suck compared to using good old tin-lead for 
> hand soldering.  Factories can play with processes and go though 
> hoops to get it all to work in wave and IR soldering, but I could 
> never even give my dumb roll of lead free wire solder away....  I 
> was trying to make one of my little products lead free about two 
> years ago but had to give that up since the hand soldering was too hard."

   There a lot of potential reliability problems associated with 
using lead-free solder to meet RoHS requirements, including the 
growth of metallic "whiskers" which can short out connections.  As a 
result, those of us who make equipment for military use are being put 
in a very difficult position.  Do a web search on the subject and 
you'll get an idea of the trouble we'll probably experience.  I have 
no idea about the real toxic threat from the use of lead as we see it 
now but suspect the subject has been greatly exaggerated.  People 
worry about obscure sources of toxicity as they suck on their 
cigarettes and swig their booze!  As for solder, as soon as it 
appeared that there were be bans on tin-lead solder I stocked up on a 
lifetime supply!  As an experiment I've bought several different lots 
of lead-free solder intended for plumbing use and find it very hard 
to use, but I'm not a plumbing expert so can't tell how hard it is to 
use in expert hands.

Ed