Re: Lead free hand soldering

[skimask]

Don't forget...
If you're going to do actual lead-free soldering, everything that comes into contact with the iron, the PCB, the solder, the sponge, anything and/or everything must NOT come into contact with anything that has been in contact with any lead-based solder....Well, to keep it all 'lead free certified' anyways.
The 'school' I went to awhile back just started a section on lead-free repair work and I got some literature from some of the folks teaching there. It's amazing the stuff they have to buy and/or throw out, just to keep a completely lead-free setup going on down there. Even the lead-free rework room is in another building.
I haven't tried any methods yet. Don't think I want to either. Too many goods/bads to go with every type out there.
Let us know how it all goes...

[Melanie]

Lead Free melts at a higher temperature. You will need at least 25C above that used for Leaded Solder. 425C is a good temperature. A fixed-temperature normal iron that is designed for Leaded Solder (usually 360-380C) may not give nice results. Also, beware, Lead-Free is very aggressive and devours Soldering Iron Bits - buy some spares. It's not unusual to go thru a Bit per week if you haven't got a Nitrogen feed to the tip.

Tip: Unsoldering Lead-Free (especially on a THP board) is a right pain. It's not kosher, but solder the joint with Leaded Solder first, you'll find it then becomes more free-flowing and unsolders a lot easier.

Best of all, avoid Lead-Free if you're a novice. Poor soldered joints, especially around components that can get hot (eg Power devices), quickly oxidise with a black stain around the joint which is near impossible to resolder.