why 60-40 solder?

On 60/40 vs 63/37 solder see:

Kester says that because of the gradual solidification, 60/40 gives thicker coatings when you want to tin things with it. This may or may not be advantageous depending on what you're doing.

Ersin Multicore Savbit, 5 core solder. lovely stuff, it has a small percentage of copper added to the alloy to preserve bit life, and still available in the UK.

Ron

I refer the honourable gentlemen to the following data

Multicore is now owned by Henkel, and the solder products seem to have been dropped, although solder pastes etc are still produced.

We buy our cored solder in from France.

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Rushden, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

If you wiggle the connection. you have a lot better chance of making a connection with 60-40. First thing I think of.

greg

Well, maybe I'm wrong. One way to find out.

greg

huh ????

that solder has 37 % lead in it.!!!! and thats crap , i work in a company that uses exclusively 60-40 solder and we ship weekly 3500 pcbs a week to the eu . where u get your info ?

When the EU find out, how you get out of jail ?

Arfa

Read this:-

Actually the importer is on the hook, not the manufacturer...

But, there are exceptions to the rule, I'm sure he fits one of them.

It is illegal to produce boards with lead, just check the internet on RoHS. It is allowed in military applications and some medical devices as reliability is lower.

Regards, Pieter

Let's be clear that the United States has less stringent regulations. AIUI, commercial (as opposed to consumer) boards for sale in the U.S. may still use leaded solder.

As far as Mark's belated entry into this old thread, I assume he's trolling.

In message , Pieter writes

I think it's perfectly legal to rework boards using lead/tin solder if the boards were originally produced with it and because of that you can still buy led/tin rosin fluxed solder.

Hmm.. I didn't realize that there were any regulations on leaded solder here in the USA. I just thought we got consumer grade crap that was manufactured for sale in the EU that happens to be ROHS compliant.

Mike

Ditto. I'd love to know about any laws banning leaded solder in the USA so I can get a jump on starting my new multimillion-dollar recycled home- electronics business.

ah-so. Apparently my confusion on this issue hasn't worn off yet.

I do know that California has some RoHS restrictions. I also know that several of our customers who market globally require us to comply with EU RoHS assembly standards so that they can market worldwide without trying to keep track of which unit has lead and which one doesn't.

So it's likely that even stuff manufactured in the U.S., for sale in the U.S., has the feared lead-free solder in it.

I saw an article the other day that said that Arnie had personally blocked some lead-restrictive potential legislation in his capacity as governor of ca. Ah I've just found it. Don't know if it will make it through the newsgroup server system, but here it is copied below ...

California vetoes ROHS-expansion bill Edited by Suzanne Deffree -- EDN, 1/10/2008 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed an assembly bill that would have more closely aligned California?s ROHS (restriction-of-hazardous-substances) law and regulations with the EU (European Union) ROHS directive. The bill, AB 48, would have expanded California ROHS to include all electrical and electronic equipment, as opposed to its current requirements for ?covered electronic devices,? which include nine video-display devices that the state?s Department of Toxic Substances Control regulations list. The bill also aimed to require that all electrical and electronic equipment that manufacturers sell in California as of Jan 1, 2010, comply with EU ROHS stipulations for lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent cadmium.

Schwarzenegger sent the bill back to the California legislature in the fall, stating in a memo that the bill?s approach ?is largely unworkable and instead of the benefits it seeks to accomplish, could ultimately result in unintended and potentially more harmful consequences.?

The governor noted the exemption language for spare parts and refurbished products, claiming that, as written, the bill would make many electronic products prematurely obsolete and force their retirement years earlier than necessary. The California legislature is expected to try to pass this or a similar bill again in 2008.

Arfa

Showing that Arnold is not just another pretty face. Implementing RoHS as mandated by the EU for solders may actually cause the release of greater amounts of toxins into the environment than use of traditional lead-tin alloys. There have been studies that address this issue, and the "benefit" of EU-style RoHS is far from clear and certainly not unalloyed (pun intentional).

So EU-style RoHS regulation for solder:

Politicians, Bah Humbug. (And, yes, I vote; not just complain.)

Arfa Daily wrote:

intentional).

lead-tin

sounds

a mistake.

soft

Agree completely with the above. IMM, the problem is not lead content of equipment in use, but what happens to it after useful life. I assume the original intent of the legislation was the same, although I've not followed either the issue or the thread till now.

In that vein, the greater issue is that there are so many things being disposed of, and disposed of irresponsibly.

Were it the case, that consumer electronics were not so 'disposable', the problem would be much less dire (if indeed it is so, even now). How many of us here--who have sniffing solder fumes daily for 40 or more years--have any significant amount of it in our systems? I would guess, little more than the population as a whole.

If things were made to last and be repairable and/or upgradeable...and finally *responsibly* disposable/recyclable; we wouldn't be in this pickle.

jak