english solder

newbee i dont know if my system has posted this before--hope it is not a duplicate

looking for english solder--had 5 tubes of flux in it--name was either edwin or erwin or something that started with E

any help appreciated tia peter

Multicore Solder is know owned by Loctite - A Henkel company

Select you part of world, for distributors and suppliers. Newark / MCM / Farnell / InOne companies are distributor of Multicore solders.

Right in the Farnell (UK) on-line catalog MultiCore 63/37 alloy (eutectic mix) - 1 lb roll

BTW, there will always be Tin / Lead solder available. Yes, Lead free is being used in new fabrication -- BUT conventional tin-lead materials (components) are NOT compatible with the new lead-free device finishes. As part of the global transition to lead-free, component manufacturers are switching to lead-free finishes -- BUT this takes time and inventories are very large for some components.

Pure Tin and Tin/Lead alloy solders are used in other industries that do not have these restrictions .. such as the stained glass industry, auto body, restoration work, etc.

gb

thanks

One place where lead-free has made a welcome appearance is in plumbing. I'm an occasional handy-man, so when I bought a house a few years back which had really BAD piping in the basement, I resolved to replace all the crappy, mismatched and kludged up mess with new copper.

I was surprised to find out that all the supplies available were lead-free (I suppose I shouldn't have been, but the last time I had sweated any copper pipes was in the 70's). The old acid based flux seemed different as well.

I determined to undertake this task with some trepidation; but to my gratification, all went very well. The new stuff works just fine, and I didn't have to worry about miniscule amounts of lead leaching into my drinking water.

Considering what supposedly happened to the Romans, I guess it's not all bad....

jak

Isn't copper more poisonous? If you drop a lump of copper in your aquarium the fish die. A lump of lead has no effect. To kill a tree you hammer copper nails into it.

The nice hard water forms insoluble lead salts coating the inside of the pipe. I'm sure the copper salts are soluble, and end up in your tea!

Interesting. As I said, I'm only a part-time handyman...and most certainly not a chemist or biologist.

I'll let someone with more background answer this one.

FWIW, copper is mandated for supply lines (from the meter to the house) in my municipality.

jak

In the UK it's plastic. Which replaced lead. ;-) But copper is still common inside houses - although push fit plastic is a popular DIY option.

We use some plastic (United States) as well; but from an casual ecologist's viewpoint, I'd sooner trust the copper as far as long-term exposure is concerned.

There's a lot of press out there concerning compounds in various kinds of plastics mimicking naturally occuring hormones, thus causing all sorts of genetic abnormalities in nature.

jak

Organic compounds go straight through plastic pipes, so if you spill petrol, or diesel on your drive, and the pipe is underneath, expect your chances of not getting cancer to decrease.

Our habit of building new houses on old factory sites, (where did they tip those heavy metal wastes/pickling acids etc?) worries me a bit too.

Luckily, the Alzheimers from all the aluminium drinks cans, and those battered jugs we kept the water in at school dinners means I soon forget about

I'm also a believer in copper. And actually enjoy plumbing.

Given the amount of plastic packaging used for food and drink this is a bit of a worry...

Including barrier types?

For a while we were allowed to use PVC for water plumbing, but after many failures it was banned for use with pressurized water.

IIRC, the stuff used in the UK from street to house is polyethylene.

I believe the stuff we have buried outside to the houses is still some sort of plastic, it's probably the same stuff as over there. Inside the house it's all copper in most houses though, that's my favorite type of plumbing to work with.

Roto=rooter replaced the line (galvanized iron) between two buildings on my property with PVC. It worked fine for the five years we owned it. However when the main from the street ruptured, I researched local codes and replaced with hard-drawn copper...the only legally acceptable choice here in Nashville. I believe the local codes are simply a rubber-stamp of the National codes.

I did all the excavation and had licensed plumbers come out and make the connections...also legally required.

jak