[TowerTalk] Health Studies, electronic workers

[Jim Miller]

Is this lead thing for real (in actual practice)?  How many pounds of lead
would somebody have to eat to be harmful anyway?  How much can a kid
actually get by sucking on a toy?  Is it accumulative in the body or does it
leave after some time?

I have been in the electronics industry for 40 years and I guess the lead is
what made me like this but it could have been the car seat, then called a
"go seat" that cost a couple of bucks instead of a hundred, or any of the
other things that we miraculously lived without that are required by law
now.

73, Jim

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kipton Moravec" <kip at kdream.com>
To: "Pat Barthelow" <aa6eg at hotmail.com>
Cc: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Health Studies, electronic workers


> The lead does not evaporate when you solder, the soldering iron is not
> hot enough to evaporate lead.  Lead does not enter through the skin, It
> can enter through cuts or most likely through ingesting it.
>
> The issue with toys is that kids put the toys in their mouths.
>
> You risk contamination if you do not wash your hands after soldering and
> before eating. Or you burn your finger while soldering and put it (your
> finger) in your mouth.
>
> It does not take many precautions to prevent lead poisoning.
>
> Kip
>
> On Sat, 2007-11-17 at 14:30 -0800, Pat Barthelow wrote:
> > Does anyone know of actual Medical  studies done on people in the
electronics industry who handle lead bearing solder  over a period of years?
For some years, back in the olden days,  I worked in  both Q/A and
production of a sensor  manufacturer.  Proibably hand soldered 300,000 or
more through hole componnent-pcb connections.  The Old fashioned way.  Under
a lamp, with a Panavise, Weller WTCPN, and a handful of thin guage Ersin
Multi or Kester 60-40 solder, constanty broken off a nearby 1 lb spool.
(Spools used to be around $10.... not any more! )   The solder was held and
fed through my index finger and thumb, mostly, and, at the end of the day,
you culd see darkened skin on thumb and forefinger, seemingly minute lead
deposits right where the solder was held.   It even tingled a bit, or felt
different where the lead solder was fed through the fingers.  I washed hands
at the end of the day, or more often.    Also, back then, we did not even
use fans to divert the rosin
>  sm
> >  oke from our noses while at work.  I wonder if any measureable lead
could be found in ones bloodstream who did that kind of work.  Also is there
any lead compounds likely to be wafting up with the rosin smoke?   Any
medical research actually been done on techs from the oldend days?
> >
> >
> > All the Best, 73,
> > Pat Barthelow     aa6eg at hotmail.com
> > http://www.jamesburgdish.org
> > Subscribe: http://bambi.net/jamesburg.html
> > Jamesburg Earth Station  Moon Bounce Team
> >
> > > Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:48:25 -0500
> > > From: aa6e at ewing.homedns.org
> > > To: towertalk at contesting.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] DIN Connectors You Can't Solder To
> > >
> > > "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_Directive
> > >
> > > 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.
> > >
> > > On the other hand, we might all preserve our mental faculties a little
> > > longer! (One of the symptoms of Pb poisoning is reduced IQ.)
> > >
> > > 73 Martin AA6E
> > >
> > > David Robbins K1TTT wrote:
> > > > First, what is RoHS???
> > > >
> > > > Most likely they are plated with chrome.  I would take some fine
sandpaper
> > > > and scratch the plating of the top of the pins, that at least gives
a little
> > > > area to tack onto.  If the pins have a hollow on the back like most
of them
> > > > find a drill or jeweler's file that fits in there and scrape out the
plating
> > > > also.  This also works for chrome plated pl-259's since most all of
these
> > > > types of things are just plated brass.
> > > >
> > > > David Robbins K1TTT
> > > > e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
> > > > web: http://www.k1ttt.net
> > > > AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
> > > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> -- 
> Kipton Moravec KE5NGX
> "Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
> --Mark Twain
>
>
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