[Red Badger]

Tech Ping!...........

[backwoods-engineer]

I’d give it a try (I’m an electronic engineer), but I’d be concerned about being able to tell when you have cold solder joints. This is already a problem with existing lead-free solders.

[Lx]

If only they would invent paragraph breaks.

Does the solder still use lead and rosin?

How soon can we get a spool of it at Radio Shack? If nothing else, with the lower melting temp, the odds of cooking a semi-conductor you’re soldering goes down even if the soldering iron is set for normal solder.

[Southack]

California banned lead solder for Americans, but has no ban on new products manufactured in China using lead solder.

The whole problem is made up, anyway. Just use lead solder to avoid tin whiskers and electrical joints breaking under use. Everyone outside of California can do this legally.

[Southack]

California banned lead solder for Americans, but has no ban on new products manufactured in China using lead solder.

The whole problem is made up, anyway. Just use lead solder to avoid tin whiskers and electrical joints breaking under use. Everyone outside of California can do this legally.

[ShadowAce]

[NonValueAdded]

Ms. Latella: "What's this I hear about copper soldiers? In my day we called them Military Policemen. Why do we ..."

Mr. Chase: "Emily ... "

Ms. Latella: "... continue to redefine ..."

Mr. Chase: "Emily ... "

Ms. Latella: "what?"

Mr. Chase: "that is solder, made out of the element copper, the metal. For soldering wires together and such."

Ms. Latella: "Oh! that's different. nevermind"

[TChris]

I think the whole fight against lead in electronics is a fraud anyway. Circuit boards are routinely clear-coated after manufacture, so lead couldn't realistically go anywhere from simple ground water contact.

It's another case of the environazi's M.O.: Pick a substance, then invent an accompanying worst-case scenario where it might cause a problem, then fight for comprehensive regulation and prohibition without regard to the real world.

The only study I found on electronics and lead leaching into ground water relied on these assumptions : 1) Ground water contacting the electronics, 2) Sufficient water/soil acidity to leach lead from circuit boards, 3) Circuit boards not conformal-coated, which would prevent any leaching, 4) This ground water seeping into aquifers, and 5) Resultant lead levels high enough to be harmful.

Those are each significant assumptions. An actual problem would only result from all five being present, which I think would be very rare. Yet the entire country is regulated as though they are foregone conclusions.

[jim_trent]

What happens when you leave something soldered with this stuff in a hot car in the summertime?

[Wuli]

buy a copper mine, somewhere, anywhere