Martin Ewing - AA6E wrote:
>"Reduction of Hazardous Substances" (RoHS) is a European initiative
>which requires manufacturers to use non-lead-bearing solder for
>commercial electronics devices, among other practices. You have to
>follow these rules if you want to sell in EU -- in practice, the world
>electronics business is following suit.
>
>See
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Substances_Directi
>ve
>
>The rules don't apply to hobbyists, but most of the stuff we will buy
>will be RoHS compliant. In practice, this means that soldering is
>trickier because you have to use higher temperature solders.
>
Tin/lead solder will continue to be available. Assuming the US
regulations follow those already existing in Europe, tin/lead solder
will be legal to sell, legal to buy, and legal for us to use.
The European regulations only apply to items that are "put on the
market", a closely-defined legal term that does not include home-built
equipment. Products put on the market before the start date (in Europe,
that was July 2006) are also exempt, of course.
The higher melting point of lead-free solders is not the only reason to
continue using tin/lead solder whenever we can. Hand soldering involves
a lot of variability, and lead-free solders are much less tolerant of
process variations before the joints become unreliable. It is also very
difficult to tell the quality of a lead-free joint from the look of it -
to anyone raised on tin/lead, all lead-free joints look rough... and
some of them probably are.
Tin/lead solder is compatible with the RoHS-compliant plating finishes
that amateurs are likely to encounter on components and boards, the most
common of which is pure tin. I don't believe the RoHS regulations should
be blamed for this particular problem with the DIN connectors - along
with the low-melting plastic, this is simple incompetence.
The one thing we cannot legally do is use tin/lead solder to repair a
modern product that was 'born lead-free'. On the other hand, I feel sure
there's a lot of that being done on the quiet, because SMD repairs are
already tricky enough without the added difficulties of lead-free
solder. And if a small quantity of tin/lead solder can make a good
repair, and can save the equipment from being scrapped, then any
environmentalist - and any bureaucrat - should agree that is the right
thing to do.
--
73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|