Regulations and more regulations, it must be difficult for manufacturers to
keep up with it all. The WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
and the RoHS Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directives that were
published by the European Commission in 2003, are due for implementation by
July this year. Amongst a legion of other directives, lead free solder can
only be good thing but the appearance and flow of the solder joint has
changed (even its a better joint). I do miss that mirror finish and easy
flow of leaded solder compared to the newer duller lead-free variety. Guess
it'll be a bit harder to spot dry joints or time, any opinions.

"Mike Gilmour" wrote in message
...
Regulations and more regulations, it must be difficult for manufacturers
to keep up with it all. The WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment and the RoHS Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directives that
were published by the European Commission in 2003, are due for
implementation by July this year. Amongst a legion of other directives,
lead free solder can only be good thing but the appearance and flow of the
solder joint has changed (even its a better joint). I do miss that
mirror finish and easy flow of leaded solder compared to the newer duller
lead-free variety. Guess it'll be a bit harder to spot dry joints or
time, any opinions.
Whilst soldered joints may not look as nice, lead-free solder has to be a
good thing. I hate to think how many flux fumes I inhaled and lead I
ingested from holding the solder in my teeth when trying to repair an XLR in
an awkward position. No comments about my sanity, I've made them all myself
already.

There's much less hand-soldering now than there used to be, so hopefully,
there are also much fewer dry joints. Anyone from a manufacturing
environment care to comment?

S.

On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:40:34 +0000, Serge Auckland wrote:

snip

There's much less hand-soldering now than there used to be, so hopefully,
there are also much fewer dry joints. Anyone from a manufacturing
environment care to comment?

Try manual soldering 0201s:
http://www.niccomp.com/0201.html-ssi
or BGAs (Ball Grid Arrays):
http://www.rohm.com/products/shortfo...ck_index5.html
It is possible but through-put and quality would be far too
low for anyone to make money on it.

Or imagine hand soldering anything in those 800+ million cell
phones sold last year...

Hand soldering belongs to (very) low production runs and
very odd components.

/Martin

"Serge Auckland" wrote in message
...

"Mike Gilmour" wrote in message
...
Regulations and more regulations, it must be difficult for manufacturers
to keep up with it all. The WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment and the RoHS Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directives
that were published by the European Commission in 2003, are due for
implementation by July this year. Amongst a legion of other directives,
lead free solder can only be good thing but the appearance and flow of
the solder joint has changed (even its a better joint). I do miss that
mirror finish and easy flow of leaded solder compared to the newer duller
lead-free variety. Guess it'll be a bit harder to spot dry joints or
time, any opinions.
Whilst soldered joints may not look as nice, lead-free solder has to be a
good thing. I hate to think how many flux fumes I inhaled and lead I
ingested from holding the solder in my teeth when trying to repair an XLR
in an awkward position. No comments about my sanity, I've made them all
myself already.

Isn't it more the case that other people notice whilst you yourself stay
oblivious ;o)

The flux fumes will still be inhaled but without traces of lead (was there
much lead in the fumes?)


There's much less hand-soldering now than there used to be, so hopefully,
there are also much fewer dry joints. Anyone from a manufacturing
environment care to comment?

S.

"Mike Gilmour" wrote in message
...

"Serge Auckland" wrote in message
...

"Mike Gilmour" wrote in message
...
Regulations and more regulations, it must be difficult for manufacturers
to keep up with it all. The WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment and the RoHS Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directives
that were published by the European Commission in 2003, are due for
implementation by July this year. Amongst a legion of other directives,
lead free solder can only be good thing but the appearance and flow of
the solder joint has changed (even its a better joint). I do miss
that mirror finish and easy flow of leaded solder compared to the newer
duller lead-free variety. Guess it'll be a bit harder to spot dry
joints or time, any opinions.
Whilst soldered joints may not look as nice, lead-free solder has to be a
good thing. I hate to think how many flux fumes I inhaled and lead I
ingested from holding the solder in my teeth when trying to repair an XLR
in an awkward position. No comments about my sanity, I've made them all
myself already.

Isn't it more the case that other people notice whilst you yourself stay
oblivious ;o)

The flux fumes will still be inhaled but without traces of lead (was there
much lead in the fumes?)


There's much less hand-soldering now than there used to be, so hopefully,
there are also much fewer dry joints. Anyone from a manufacturing
environment care to comment?

S.


The new lead-free solder has hugely inferior wetting properties to leaded
solder. As a result, rather more aggressive flux is used. This is somewhat
more acidic than that used previously, so the fumes are considered to be
even more hazardous. Further, the tip temperature of a hand iron needs to be
in the region of 50 deg C hotter than previously. This elevated temperature
causes the flux to boil off more readily than before. Also, the inferior
wetting properties result in the application time of the iron tip to the
joint, to be increased from approx 1.5 seconds to about 4 seconds, to make a
satisfacory joint. Thus, a more aggressive flux, is boiling off more
readily, and for a longer period of time. This is considered to be more
hazardous to health than the previous situation. Colophony ( rosin ) fuming,
is considered to be a serious cause of industrial asthma. It is unlikely
that any lead was ever inhaled as a result of soldering.

As far as how good this stuff is. Since manufacturers have been introducing
it, I have seen a huge increase in production bad joints, in non-traditional
places e.g. on high pin density chip packages. This is partly because of the
inferior wetting, partly because of the totally different melt-flow-reset
profile, which does not encourage capilliary action anything like as well as
the old leaded solder, and partly as a result of the manufacturers trying to
keep the required temperature increase of their flow solder lines, as low as
they can, so as not to cause damage to sensitive LSIs, and even cause
substrate delamination. The problems get even worse with high thermal
inertia components such as power transistors, connectors, heatsinks etc. I
see many items coming through my workshop for repair, suffering from bad
joints in all of these places.

I'm not convinced of the eco validity of this directive with respect to lead
in solder. Less than 1% of the world's mined lead, went into solder. Over
80% goes to car battery manufacture. This is easily dealt with at
end-of-life, by having proper recycling in place. This will not change, as
it has been declared a technology with no viable alternative, so exempted.
In July, the WEEE directive comes into force throughout the EU. All
electronic equipment will then have to undergo a serious level of recycling
at end-of-life, and if the car battery recyclers can deal with the huge
amount of lead that they have to, then I'm sure that the same could be done
for the comparitively tiny amounts, in solder.

If lead-free solder is such a good alternative to the leaded variety, you
might ask yourselves why the American military have flatly refused to use
it, and the avionics and medical equipment industries, have been granted
exemptions from using it ...

Just as an aside, it will still be perfectly legal to use leaded solder
after the directive comes in, for the repair of equipment placed on the
market before the July 1st deadline. This situation will continue for the
forseeable future. It is also generally recommended, that only solder of the
same type as was originally used to make a joint, is used to rework it, as
mixing of different alloys can result in a joint which is potentially
compromised for long term reliability. Some solder manufacturers dispute
this, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Although it will become less
common, leaded solder should remain available for a considerable time.

Arfa

This might account for recent lack of apparent success I've been having
with soldering. I now realise the solder I was using was lead free.
Does this account for the dull finish?

wrote in message
ups.com...
This might account for recent lack of apparent success I've been having
with soldering. I now realise the solder I was using was lead free.
Does this account for the dull finish?

It is impossible to get a joint that looks ' good ' in the traditionally
accepted way of being either domed or meniscus-shaped, and shiny,
particularly if you are using a standard soldering temperature on your iron.
The lead-free alloys melt at typically 227 deg C, which requires a tip
temperature of around 370 deg C to work with. A lower melting-point alloy at
approx 217 deg C is available, but is rather more expensive, as it contains
approx 3% silver, as well as the tin and copper. However, an upside of this
is that its wetting characteristic is better, so it will tend to make a more
reliable joint, quicker than the accepted 4 seconds of ' straight '
lead-free.

Because of the different melt-flow-reset characteristics of lead-free, it
tends to work very
' pasty ', which is why you get the conical dull-surfaced joint. It does
indeed make finding bad joints a much trickier exercise than it used to be
....

Arfa

Just wait till after the deadline, a new argument will start in the hi-fi
circles..........

Which amp sounds best, the leaded or the lead free !

And on the lead free subject, what will eventually replace car batteries ? a
starting handle ?


Pete ( leaded )

Thus spake Pete Cross:
Just wait till after the deadline, a new argument will start in the
hi-fi circles..........

Which amp sounds best, the leaded or the lead free !

And on the lead free subject, what will eventually replace car
batteries ? a starting handle ?

NiCad batteries!

Servicing will become more interesting! Older single-sided boards without
plated through holes will suffer from lifting tracks but leaded solder will
no doubt be available for sometime yet. Leadless certainly ain't fun to use
& one soon learns why lead was put in solder in the 1st place! Wire wrapping
anyone?

"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Thus spake Pete Cross:
Just wait till after the deadline, a new argument will start in the
hi-fi circles..........

Which amp sounds best, the leaded or the lead free !

And on the lead free subject, what will eventually replace car
batteries ? a starting handle ?

NiCad batteries!

Servicing will become more interesting! Older single-sided boards without
plated through holes will suffer from lifting tracks but leaded solder
will no doubt be available for sometime yet. Leadless certainly ain't fun
to use & one soon learns why lead was put in solder in the 1st place! Wire
wrapping anyone?

The NiCad suggestion for a car battery is interesting. Apart from the fact
that NiCads are being phased out as part of the RoHS thing anyway, I have
seen it suggested that nickel metal-hydride batteries could be used, as
these are so good now, that manufacturers can easily produce a 40AH 12v
battery to fit in a car, and make it the same size as the current lead-acid
type. The trick is that you can't make one that will do ten times the
nominal max discharge rate, for brief periods. Remember, that your starter
motor, particularly if on a diesel engine on a cold day, is looking for
around 400A from that battery ...

For this reason alone, the lead acid battery, as the primary source of
stored electrical energy in a car, has been deemed an irreplaceable
technology, and as such, exempted from the RoHS directive. Because lead-free
solder makes crap joints, and is attempting to replace a tried, tested,
mature, and above all reliable technology, it is my contention that this is
irreplaceable as well. Sadly, I carry no weight with the EU ...

I wonder if anyone has actually worked out the additional energy budget,
world wide, to run all those thousands of production solder lines 50 degrees
hotter, and all of the millions of hand soldering irons. The overall
pollution from that is likely to be, I think, rather more seriously damaging
to the planet, than the small risk of environmental or personal poisoning
from a leakage of the tiny lead quantity in solder, into the ecosystem,
particularly if proper recycling mandates and procedures are in place.

Once again, I think that a whole set of industries are being made to suffer,
as a result of a misguided and ill thought out policy, produced by a
faceless euro committee, peddling a clean up the planet philosophy, and
earning too much money.

So when the front blows out of one of your £1000 speakers, when that nice
new amp that you've just bought goes KERBAAANGG !!! as a result of a dry
joint in the output stage, you'll know who to blame ... !!

Arfa