What sucks about flux

Here in California, there's a 5-cent fee whenever you buy a soda/water can or bottle, and it's refunded at collection centers. The result is that there are *no* soda containers lying about... they're too valuable. On Tuesday mornings, before the g-men come by, people pick through our recycling bin in front of the house, and they remove all the coke cans so they can get the payback.

If you did the same with electronic gadgets, they would be segregated and could be disposed of with the batteries.

The crazy thing about ROHS is the requirement that any material inside the assembly, no matter how small, must under 0.1% lead by weight. So lead in the plating of one 0402 resistor can illegalize an entire product. But lead in the ceramic itself, like a PLZT, is OK!

Any news on the enforcement situation? Sounds tricky.

John

I bought a roll of lead-free solder from Radiospares (Ecosol TSC 96SC Sn95.5Ag3.8Cu0.7, 217°C) more than a year ago (maybe even two) and never got to using it because it really smells bad when hot, a nasty better-put-on-a-mask kind of smell. And it only works well on lead-free pcbs.

-- John

Hello Graham,

Yep, after legislation like that all kinds of tricks will be played and lobbying will intensify. I wonder how it will be when Europe is confronted with the first batches of electronic products that fall apart when someone sneezes. And when the first gray market web sites pop up where people can buy "the good old stuff".

You need these or plastic varieties (which often don't last) to make a clean penetration through the roof line. Chimney mounting is frowned upon and also quickly degrades the antenna, especially if you have an oil or coal furnace.

And I could bet that this isn't regulated, huh?

Regards, Joerg

Hello Jim,

Yes but it's one of those brain products of overzealous regulators who could not wait. Now the damage is done since it has leached into the ground water.

Regards, Joerg

There isn't anybody to enforce it.

It's a self-declaration job.

Graham

And where it has not worked in the past, and car batteries have been dumped, there has been no evidence of lead leaching out.

There are two well-documented studies (One a municipal tip in California, the other near an old lead mine in Colorado) where the EPA leapt in, cowboy fashion, and started testing as they "knew" that the lead would have leached out in massive quantities. They were wrong.

Bear in mind that in some cities, drinking water is still delivered via lead pipes. Periodic blood tests of a small sample of residents shows no lead being taken up.

So where's the proof that lead leaches out of these things?

Actually,all the "Previous attempts to educate people" that I have seen have been pathetic, and obviously doomed to fail. That is one problem, and could be solved by putting into place a decent campaign, aided by a small refundable deposit on such goods

reasonable.

I think RoHS is more about protecting the EU bureaucracy and assuring jobs. One example, the last few TAC meetings have discussed the amount of lead permitted in glass chandeliers. Well, now, how many of these have you seen in landfills? My nephew spent much time and a huge amount of money acquiring an old one for a historic home. Stupid boy, he should just have gone to Brussels and picked one out of their landfills!

In the 1930's they found that added lead controlled tin whiskers. It appears that we may have to re-learn that.

What possible reason can the military, national telecomms infrastructure, national security and a few other niche markets have for exemptions. Maybe it's unreliability?

If this turns into a disaster in a few years, because of unintended consequences, what are the names of the EU mandarins that will be held accountable?

Barry Lennox

I noticed that they are now selling little pen- like things with reagent pads, that change colour when lead is detected. But the main reason we won't be putting leaded components in products is that we won't be able to buy them.

Farnell have just obsoleted yet another batch of components I use, with no notice of whether they'll be using the same manfacturer's lead free replacements.

But people keep telling me that they've been leadfree in Japan for 10 years now. How do they cope?

Paul Burke

In my recent discussions with folks at Indium Corp about various lead-free alloys, I thought they told me that it is Bi containing alloys that have trouble with Pb. There is a BiPb eutectic that melts at 99C or something like that. So the joint goes bad if allowed to abide near that temp.

SAC type lead-free alloys are compatible with lead.

Good day!

They're apparently using solders including bismuth that tolerate lead on the component leads ( unlike lead free solders that don't use bismuth ) - or so I'm told by someone who's had to apply for an exemption for their component since it uses cadmium in it.

Graham

It should be obvious big oil has their fingers in that pie.

Cheers! Rich

What you say rings a bell now. I've certainly read about that effect, didn't know it was the bismuth alloys offhand.

I'll ask the guy who mentioned the Japanese again.

Graham

I don't perceive oil ( or motor ) industry influence to be as large a factor in Europe as the USA.

Graham

Why do you think so much freight is carried about Europe by road? They might not be as all- powerful as in the US, but they still pack more punch than the Federation of Failed Businesses.

Paul Burke

Does this mean you don't perceive OI influence is as large a factor in Europe as it is in the USA? Or it's not as large a factor in Europe as the USA is? ;-P

Thanks! Rich

In the UK, road freight is popular since the rail network was decimated by Beeching in the 60s and - quite frankly - rail freight was never much promoted.

Since privatisation of the rail operating companies, I gather that UK rail freight ( mainly EWS railways ) has actually been on the increase.

Graham

Do not mistake "Europe" and "France", like the French do!!

Replacing them with Sodium-Sulfur of course - for a much more impressive performance in Pegeuot 507 and Citroen C3 (Ronson and Zippo ... bwahahahah ;-).

If I realized I'd just eaten a lump of antimony, I think I'd s*it myself, too :-)

What? Was that like my Dauphine? I'd get in with my left leg hanging out and "back it out" of my space at Moto. Then I'd straighten it up in the aisle and then "run with it" for 20-30 feet, jump in and pop the clutch ;-)

Then I put a Ford 60A alternator in it, with remote sense (battery was in the "boot").

...Jim Thompson

impressive

bwahahahah

When I was in high school, our French teacher (naturally) had a little Dauphine. The senior boys would occasionally pick it up and turn it 90° in its parking space.