Grego: I am a retired electronic engineer and manufacturer. Have worked with lead solder using irons, dip pots and wave machines. I started as a hobbyist in the 1960’s and used maybe 100’s of pounds of roll solder and three loads in my wave machine (Electrovert) of 200lbs per chaa add age. Before retiring my shop Forman and technician wanted to get tested for lead in his body. We both got tested! We both had very low levels… no different than non electronic employees. As a teenager working on my projects I did not use any form of fume extraction! It got smoky in my bedroom. My engineer father build many Heathkits the same way! So the moral is… don’t put the stuff in your mouth to hold it while your hands are busy, and wash your hands before you eat!

I was worried about handling my lead fishing weights when I was fishing. I tried to think of alternative materials I could use instead of lead. Then I decided that the easiest solution was to stop eating the fishing weights.

Thanks for the video, well explained and should cover anything one would want to know, especially the points about leaded solder

I use nitrile gloves, because it provides both the reduced direct lead contact but also protects my soldering from my hand oils. I'm finding I can run lower flux content wires (1.1% or 2.2% max) and still get excellent results with less flux residue to deal with.

Thanks for the safety tips!

Informative, thanks.

Great video!

Glad to see you are also wearing a safety helmet.

Leaded solder as an electrical connection and conductor tends to remain stable over a much wider range of temperature extremes, as well as vibration and mechanical stress, then lead free solder does. Leadfree solder is also far more likely to cause short circuits from the outgrowth of crystalline dendrites, also known as tin whiskers (Google the tin degradation phenomena known as "tin pest"). Alloying tin with lead ameliorates this problem. The breakdown of connections made with lead free soldier results in millions and millions of electronic devices failing prematurely every year and ending up in a landfill. If the ultimate goal is to reduce E waste going into a landfill then leaded solder is actually better for the environment. There are also many other toxic medals and compounds in electronics besides lead, and really they should all be recycled, and built to be more easily recyclable, regardless of what type of solder is used in their construction. This might make me sound cynical, but my estimation of ROHS (reduction of hazardous substance) trade agreements and legislation is that they were instituted not so much to prevent lead from getting into the environment, but to prevent manufacturers from being held financially and legally responsible to make sure that their products get recycled in a safe and ecologically sound manner. ROHS might be providing legal cover for companies to build millions of shortlived and disposable products that end up in the landfill. PS, I don't find rosin fumes from lead solder to be particularly bothersome ( your experience may differ), but fumes from the special leadfree solder fluxes are noxious and nasty and you definitely won't like them! Rosin flux is also mostly inert, non-corrosive and non-conductive, but leadfree fluxes *must* be completely removed from your circuit boards and connections, because it does conduct and is definitely corrosive.

You forgot to mention that lead free solder is banned in use for aviation due to the fact that non lead solder is much weaker and prone to popping off the joints and cracking etc when lots of vibrations and heat cycles are present.

I lay a newspaper on the table on which I work. After soldering I can just throw the entire sheet in the dustbin so that I have minimal lead exposure

What vintage keyboard are you working on at 2:10 ?

What about handling lead solder? As an electronics hobbyist I've easily gone thru 10 full spools of solder in the last 2 decades and all of it handling 60/40 with my fingers. Does lead build up and stay resident in the body?

Which brands / kinds of lead free solder do you recommend? All the ones I've used so far were disappointing to work with for me.

Thought homie was wearing a beanie

Your stove doesn't have molten lead in it, hopefully. Plus it definitely doesn't have asthma-causing pine rosin in. You don't need to buy either lead, or pine rosin, to do soldering. Good soldering irons can easily go to 230°, and even a lot hotter.

I'm working with musical equipment, mostly through hole, analog, hand soldered, nothing super tiny, and from my experience lead free doesn't really work in that environment, i can not imagine repairing/putting together a proper tube amp (for example) with lead free solder.

I chewed some solder some time ago and now I am scared Am I safe or what?

I'd like to go not just lead free, but with a water soluble flux instead of rosin flux, but I'm tinning stranded wire and I'm concerned about assertions regarding flux wicking underneath insulation and causing corrosion. This is plausible, although I can't find any evidence based on tests one way or the other. Interestingly, Kester, for example, does not warn about using its water soluble 2331-ZX with stranded wire.

"Soldering tips", I get the joke.

Without lead in the solder there is the problem of tin whiskers. Also aren't lead free alloys more brittle? Sure they are better for the environment but all metals are toxic to some extent. Some are a lot more toxic than others. All metals are harmful when in certain concentrations.

You are so wrong saying that the fumes do not contain lead. Well the fumes (the rosin fumes) do not. But lead still evaporates from the melted solder. Constant exposure (not like a hobbyist, but daily repair) could cause lead poisoning.

From what I've seen leaded solder costs a lot more than unleaded but people in the hobbys I practice all spring for the leaded ones ayway.

I started soldering with 60/40 solder at around age 12. For the first few years working with the telephone company almost all connections were solder joints, many years of soldering connections. In addition to personal copper pipe soldering. I have made thousands of solder joints using leaded solder. Tried lead free solder a couple of times and just don't want to deal with it, now maybe it was poor grade or maybe it's my technique, regardless it's not for me. It doesn't flow well, all joints look like cold solder joints which were considered a bad thing with leaded solder. I will soon be 69 and my health is excellent, mentally and physically fine. If you are doing occasional hobby soldering what's the big deal, you can't beat 60/40 rosin core solder for ease of use. As a side note there were 2 main soldering irons - American Beauty 150 watt with long cords, they were plugged in and powered on all day and night - 24/7 for at least 15 years with no issues except a new tip maybe once a year. They were there in use when I started work and still there when I retired 32 years later.

lead free solder is bad for your sanity :)

No it isn't bad for you. I have a lifetime of making and shooting lead bullets in addition to using lead based solder for work. Got tested for lead and there was nothing to even mention in the results.

I can't understand how you acknowledge lead is toxic, present alternatives and finish by saying: it's your decision.

Source: trust me bro

Actually, having been in electronics now for 40 years, I used to get lead level blood tests and the doctor consulted his PDR and told me that "80% of inhaled lead fumes are absorbed" (not good)

I've decided to go lead free because it's unlikely that the devices I make will go to a lead recycling operation and because the current arguments for leaded sound a lot like grasping at straws. You might as well argue for leaded gasoline and paint :)

RoHS covers multiple harmful substances.

SoLder not SoDer !.

There are no problems with modern lead-free solder, it just isn't as shiny. Weird hipster hobbyists and boomers insisting that putting lead in all our electronics is safe and fine is actively harmful to human health. You apparently haven't noticed that soldered electronics are EVERYWHERE. `

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