parts!

What kind of leaded parts are availble that the ROHS parts are not as available ?

boB

I heard of outfits that strip the plating and replate - wonder how that works if the leadframe plating extends under the epoxy!?

piglet

Leadframes are selectively plated, so it should not be a problem.

John

It used to be common practice in the high-temperature world to use a couple of solder pots to replace the tin/lead with tin+ to get the higher melting point.

Nowadays with component shortages, a worry is finding parts passed off as lead-free when they're not.

Who cares?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Lots. LM1117 and LM2941 for example.

We use thos types of parts and still an unleaded non-RoHS manufacturing process but I thought most of our parts were RoHS leads.

At least I know that RoHS lead parts work fine in a non-RoHS product line. I was under the impresion that since RoHS parts works fine with lead solder that everything was RoHS these days. Guess not !

boB

I'm seeing tin/lead parts available where ROHS is not. Probably old stock.

What this is doing is forcing me to use newer parts, which is mostly a good thing in the long run.

I usually advise clients not to do that. Newer parts are often even more specialized and thus at higher risk of a future unobtanium status.

Over the last three years I have redesigned several circuits "back to the future". Basically reverted them to all-transistor, no ICs other than very mundane opamps. Most now look like the innards of a 1970's era stereo but for the respective clients the supply chain problems have largely vanished. Sometimes they keep producing the integrated version as long as feasible and move to the discrete one when the supply chain fritzes again. Like an insurance policy.

For parts such as low-ESR electrolytics and for inductors it pays to provide at least two footprint variants. If the CAD can't be overridden for an overlay a special "supply shortage" library part has to be made.

I hope all this ends soon because I'd like to stay in retirement as much as possible.

LM1117? Try

If nobody uses them, they'll go to a landfill anyway.

It's a lot better now than just 6 months ago. It's advancing in the right direction :-)

I don't mind the problems we have right now, more work for me ;-)

Interesting problem, John. I understand you need the RoHS qualification label on your product, or else, what? what is the penalty if you used non-RoHS parts? You can't sell it? or your customers won't like it? If the objective is only to keep lead (Pb) out of waste stream, then would your company participate in a "take back" program for your old equipment?

If your products are not RoHS, you simply can't sell them in the EU and some other places. There are a few exceptions, such as military gear, but otherwise it keeps you out of a rather large market.

No label, it's just that some customers expect ROHS so we decided some time ago to go entirely lead-free.

Pity, the 63/37 solder joints were shiny and beautiful.

Probably none.

Someone recently asked about WEEE. I think a lot of certifications are required but we haven't done that. We told him we'd accept our old stuff for free and dispose properly.