lead-free solder for hand soldering?

[Mykle James Hansen]

Hi all,

For some reason, more and more people are asking me about
soldering lately. I’ve been thinking of giving a
soldering workshop. I gave a bit of soldering instruction to
Isaac, that kid I mentored in making his own scientific
calculator, and that went well. But he quite intelligently
asked me if I feel safe hand-soldering with lead solder.

And the answer is that I should probably think more about lead
exposure than I used to, since I now solder more than I used to.
But the lead-free solder I once tried to use was really crap,
it didn’t flow well at all & was just a sticky mess.

I know there are a bunch of different formulations for RoHS solder
that are used in mechanical/factory assemply. Does anybody
here regularly use lead-free solder for hand work?
I’d love to know if there’s a decent alternative that
I can suggest to people just getting into soldering.

-mykle-

[Greg]

Lead free certainly isn't as easy to work with for hand soldering. I got some instruction on it and still went back to lead solder.
I use nitrile gloves (from Costco) when hand soldering. Also, I have a desktop fan with a filter, as you don't want to be breathing the flux fumes either.

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[Jerry Biehler]

Unless you are doing massive amounts of soldering flux fumes won’t do anything to you, at least not natural rosin. The no-clean stuff is kind of nasty. 

Just wash your hands after soldering. You don’t need to wear gloves. Metallic lead is not really a big deal, it’s not bioavailable. It’s the compounds of lead that are the issue. 

Most of our rework at work is using lead solder. RoHS solder is crap and the fluxes are not great either. 

-Jerry

On Mar 8, 2025, at 9:56 AM, Greg <gpe...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[isaacporras solarcyclepower.com]

Using flux and thinner than usual lead-free solder works best for me. I think the thinner stuff is more expensive though. Lead-free is a little higher temperature too and it splatters more, but I think of it like frying bacon. You don't want to mix lead and lead- free, so I chose to go fully lead-free.

Isaac

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From: dorkbotpd...@googlegroups.com <dorkbotpd...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jerry Biehler <jerry....@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 8, 2025 10:22:52 AM
To: dorkbotpd...@googlegroups.com <dorkbotpd...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [DorkbotPDX blabber] lead-free solder for hand soldering?

 

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[Dan Stahlke]

I soldered every evening and weekend, hours at a time, for several months.  Then I got a lead test from the doctor.  There was no lead in my system.  The only precautions I took were washing my hands after, and an activated carbon air filter.  The air filter was junk though, and eventually I started developing a sore throat.  I built an out-the-window fume extractor from dryer duct and a duct fan and this works amazingly.  Highly recommended.

In the summer I prefer to solder outdoors to get my vitamin D, and for that I just put a tiny 12V fan on the table so the smoke goes away rather than up.  The fan is powered by a USB PD trigger, which tells my USB battery to output the proper voltage.

PS: my understanding is lead is much worse for children than for adults.  Certainly don't let your toddler grab it and start chewing.

[Jerry Biehler]

Yup. There is no lead in solder fumes. If you are getting solder hot enough to vaporize it you have bigger issues at hand. 

FWIW when I worked in the diabetes industry the owner of the company was a phd in neuroscience and he said there are actually no studies that directly link lead to a lot of the claims they make about it. I’m just taking his word for it. 

Mercury is in a similar boat. Constant exposure is not good but it is also not bioavailable. Metallic Hg has a biological half life of about 15 days, anything that is ingested will be eventually purged. Compounds of mercury are another story. Dimethyl mercury? A microgram through a glove will kill you dead. 

-Jerry

On Mar 8, 2025, at 3:20 PM, Dan Stahlke <d...@stahlke.org> wrote:



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[Tom Moxon]

been lead/no-lead soldering stuff since the '60s with no problems.
Good ventilation is suggested for any type of "hot" work,
it's mostly the resin(rosin?) that creates the smoke/fumes,
and you don't want to be breathing a lot of those fumes in any case.

For newbies I suggest getting a blank Circuit Board to practice on
before attempting any kit or real assembly work.

A good flux/tip coat is recommended , and "wicking" the solder on joints takes some practice...

;-) Mox

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