solder prices about to jack?

[ChadTower]

Interesting post on the RoHS laws and leaded solder prices.

Anyone here have any opinions on this?  I know I'm tempted to pick up 5-6 rolls from Radio Shack on the way home.  It is one of the only useful things they still carry and their prices don't track market price.

[SithMaster]

Might as well stock up.  Next time im near one i might get a roll or two just for future projects i plan on working on.

[whammoed]

Get the good stuff cheap while you can.  I bought a few from this ebay seller and there are two left as of right now:

ebay link

[HaRuMaN]

Get the good stuff cheap while you can.  I bought a few from this ebay seller and there are two left as of right now:

ebay link

You fail at link-making...

[whammoed]

hmmm, not working for you, I took off the extra garbage now

[ChadTower]

If you have a Radio Shack near you, their website lists 1lb rolls at $12.99 - a little cheaper than that ebay seller with shipping.  That's for 0.062, though.

8oz 0.032” is $8.99 with no 1lb rolls listed - $0.50 more than that guy shipped for the same amount.

[SavannahLion]

I suspected as such. Of all the things Bush would do to the U.S. I genuinely thought he would work against the RoHS B.S.

That is until I heard the latest news. Congress is pushing for tougher restrictions on lead in children toys, especially those made in China. The intent is to prevent the use of lead based paint, lead alloys, and other materials being used on toys that children could consume. However, from what I gather, there doesn't seem to be any provision for the electronic circuits that many many toys have. In other words, it looks like the bill being shoved through is really a thinly disguised version of the European RoHS.

In any case, I read a report somewhere that something over 90% of all lead discarded in the U.S. is captured and recycled. All RoHS is going to do to us is make things a nightmare in the short and long of it.

[HaRuMaN]

Isn't the 'replacement' solder tin-based?  This also adds a potential for shorts from the growth of tin-whiskers.   

[whammoed]

Isn't the 'replacement' solder tin-based?  This also adds a potential for shorts from the growth of tin-whiskers.   

The lead solder is also tin, but the thought is the alloy of the two prevents the whiskers.  The no lead stuff by Kester is tin/silver/copper...I suppose this alloy does not help prevent the whiskers?.

[Jess--]

The lead free solder is already causing problems in the uk, many more dry joints than leaded solder due to the lead free solder being more brittle, also the change seems to be causing problems with shorter lifespans on soldering iron tips.

I am glad I grabbed a few reels before they made it illegal to sell it here, enough to last me about 10 years. hopefuly by the time i run out there will be a suitable alternative

[SithMaster]

And so underground lead based solder market was born.

[Ed_McCarron]

Isn't the 'replacement' solder tin-based?  This also adds a potential for shorts from the growth of tin-whiskers.   

On the scale most of us will be soldering on, whiskers are not a problem.

Microcircuitry?  Problem.

The gov't got special permission to continue using lead, as have aerospace cos. that make satellite parts...

[SavannahLion]

The gov't got special permission to continue using lead, as have aerospace cos. that make satellite parts...

Sure thing hoss, might want to let NASA know about it though. 

[Ed_McCarron]

The gov't got special permission to continue using lead, as have aerospace cos. that make satellite parts...

Sure thing hoss, might want to let NASA know about it though. 

Heh.

Regurgitated link for perusal:  http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-171140850.html

(Hey, I read it on the net... Must be true...)

[knave]

I find this pretty interesting...but won't really notice for a long while.

I picked up a shoebox full of assorted solder at an estate sale.  It's probably enough to outlast me.  (Wonder if my kids will sell it when I am gone?)

[ChadTower]

Kester Wire Solder, .031", Sn63 Pb37, #66/331, 1 lb. - $13.80/lb

May want to buy now.

[Jess--]

And so underground lead based solder market was born.

the underground market is already alive and well

some of the equipment I work with has to work at temperatures between -10 and well over +100 deg C while suffering quite heavy vibration, I found out the hard way about the dry joints with lead free solder on cold winter mornings. we started to find that on cold mornings our winches were breaking the soldered connections on the windings when we started operating them while our older winches which were soldered with lead based carried on working regardless, it took a while to work out the cause, It would appear that lead-free is a little more brittle at low temps

[2600]

Kester Wire Solder, .031", Sn63 Pb37, #66/331, 1 lb. - $13.80/lb

May want to buy now.

Isn't that the ROHS version?

[ChadTower]

Kester Wire Solder, .031", Sn63 Pb37, #66/331, 1 lb. - $13.80/lb

Isn't that the ROHS version?

The alloy makeup is there in the description - Sn is the elemental symbol for tin, Pb for lead.

[2600]

Kester Wire Solder, .031", Sn63 Pb37, #66/331, 1 lb. - $13.80/lb

Isn't that the ROHS version?

The alloy makeup is there in the description - Sn is the elemental symbol for tin, Pb for lead.

Product description says ROHS compliant.  Looking up the part number on the kester website indicates it it is Lead free.

[ahofle]

How much of a difference is this new solder for the average solderer?  I'm not exactly soldering to microchip legs over here.  Will a novice like me even notice a difference with the tin stuff?

[ChadTower]

Product description says ROHS compliant.  Looking up the part number on the kester website indicates it it is Lead free.

Link, please.  Looking up the part number on the Kester website leads me to nothing relevant.  This is the only match I see - and that clearly isn't for solder.

[Ken Layton]

How much of a difference is this new solder for the average solderer?  I'm not exactly soldering to microchip legs over here.  Will a novice like me even notice a difference with the tin stuff?

Plenty different. You'll be working with what essentially is a hunk of wire instead of solder. This new stuff requires considerably more heat which will lift foil traces on many circuit boards. Flowability is much different. "Whiskers" will be prevelant which will cause short circuits.

In other words you'll now be doing wire feed welding!

[SavannahLion]

And so underground lead based solder market was born.

the underground market is already alive and well

some of the equipment I work with has to work at temperatures between -10 and well over +100 deg C while suffering quite heavy vibration, I found out the hard way about the dry joints with lead free solder on cold winter mornings. we started to find that on cold mornings our winches were breaking the soldered connections on the windings when we started operating them while our older winches which were soldered with lead based carried on working regardless, it took a while to work out the cause, It would appear that lead-free is a little more brittle at low temps

That makes sense. It's been posited that Napoleon's 1812 campaign into Russia failed due to the tin buttons on the soldiers clothing disintegrating during the intense winter cold.

[Ed_McCarron]

Good reading...

http://www.edn.com/article/CA6477864.html?nid=2551

[shardian]

If the new stuff is anything like the crap I fought over the weekend before last, then we are all screwed. My buddy had a newer circuit board on which he needed to add a pin header. The spot for the header was factory soldered, but with nothing there - just solder in the holes. Anyways, I told him I would do it for him - after all, wicking out the stuff and putting in the header wouldn't take but a few minutes. Holy hell! That stuff would NOT heat, and would NOT wick hardly at all. I had to ram a needle down thru each hole to get most of the gunk out, and it took forever. I think I spent an hour and a half getting those holes cleaned out enough to insert the header. Even once I got it in and soldered back up, things just didn't look or feel "right".

[Ken Layton]

Solder wick won't work with the new stuff. The reason it seemed like it didn't heat right is because the new stuff requires much more heat (temperature is higher). Higher heat and circuit boards don't mix.

[shardian]

I always melt a little new solder onto old solder when I'm trying to remove it... makes the process much, much easier.

That didn't work either.

[ChadTower]

I've run into that a few times.  On some of the really old stuff pretty much the only thing that works on clearing out holes is vacuum.  Adding solder, wick, anything like that just doesn't get it done easily.  All the while the little heat clock in your head is ticking away while you think "if I don't get this done soon I'm going to burn the throughhole off..."

The only thing I've seen that has been at all effective on those particular spots are liquid flux follwed by cleaning with alcohol.  It doesn't do the whole job but it does seem to help consistently.

[Edgedamage]

How much solder does one really need? This roll has been in use since 1991. And has been used to fix at least 20 pinballs. Also I did at least 7 Williams cabs re-wiring and my mame cab. And hundreds of little projects.

[Ken Layton]

i easily go through one of those rolls a month.