The green stuff on a PCB

[duncan303]

Get a tip instead unless the soldering process is not going to work really good. IMHO.

This could be a big subject about tips etc, personally I never touch my tips with anything other than solder, I used to wipe them on a pad using pure water from the reverse osmosis kit, but I do not even do that now I only use Weller wool balls.

Tips are pretty expensive. anything I can do to extend thier life is worthwhile.

working on say an 0402 series without a decent iron is a total non starter.

However making sure that the tip is in "proper thermal contact" with the heating element is a daily good housekeeping task, even an oxidation layer can make a differrence, I do use several tips during a session so try I to make sure even little bits of grit get in.


Just the thought of somebody coming anywhere near my tips with a rasp file is well and truly an

Duncan

[The Master]

I use wet tissue to clean my tips. Im not sure if thats right or not but its what we were taught at school so probably not.

0402 series? Are they the SMDs again? Ive never actually soldered any of those but i did manage to wrap wires around all 3 pins of and SMD transistor once

[duncan303]

If you cant put it down the drain then where does it go?

Topical subject

Bit of a cop out for me to be totally honest. I collect all suspect waste and it goes into a single container, I keep an eye on it if I am adding something new, which is kept cool and out of sunlight, and when I remember I take it to the assemblers, the company who do the board population.
I assume it goes in with their industrial waste (but I have not checked too hard).

I do sometimes wonder if they just take it to humour me and just turn round later and chuck it down the sink!

I have sometimes added it to old engine oil and taken it to the recycling centre but the addition is not miscible, but at least I know it will be properly processed. I suppose I would rather get caught adding it to oil rather than chuck it down the drain. If I could threw it far
enough it would end up in the North Sea. Wonder what PPM dilution that would be, probably have to start using moles.

Trouble is once the idea of having to deal with the waste is planted in ones head, it becomes a serious problem. (which is why I shared it, you know what they say...)

Anyway if anybody from the authorities (if there is anybody, which I very much doubt) reading this reply then......................


you ain't seen me right!


.

[duncan303]

Luciano

After I apply the spray SK10 on the PCB, I bake the PCB for about 10 minutes in a preheated
pizza oven at about 100°C. After this treatment, the SK10 film on the PCB is dry.

I remember now, I thoughtlessly used the domestic cooker once, never again!!!!!

I went out and bought a small pizza style oven instead; that I was intending to convert into a reflow but the heat was neither uniform or hot enough to be usefull. also the tray was too small to be of use on that project, so it ended up back in the kitchen as a cheese/sardines on toast oven, oh well... so you win some you.......

That also reminds me that I also went back to sparkfun today, not only because of the earlier post but also because about the same time as the oven debacle, I was attempting reflow in a large frying pan inspired by sparkfun. Hasn't he come a long way, looks like he may be making a few bob, good on him.

[duncan303]

Hi Dave,

Sorry I wasn't thinking with my practical hat on, I was just being anally retentive about my precious little tips

if I cross contaminate the tips even with lead<>leadfree they simply will not "wet" properly I am probably doing something really wrong, maybe time to look at a hot air rework station they seem to be very popular. Although I just know that if I breathe on a 0402 I will never see it again Its getting to the point where I can't see them anymore I just hope I know where they are!!

Duncan

[duncan303]

Hi Skimask

oil burner for a furnace, burns oil at something like a billion degrees, they take used motor oil too.

OMG I assumed my oil was being reprocessed recycled. How typically stupid. I can be so niave sometimes!

anyway I am glad that I am not alone in some of my more bizarre habits of waste sorting.


You lot over there are generaly a couple of years ahead of us, we (europeans) are just starting to deal with recycling but only through threats of massive fines and thats our governement being fined by some foreigner called Brussells!.

So our local authorities are running around like headless chickens, literally.

I referbed a old A3 printing heat press that had fluffy asbestos in it, so I phoned up the local council to ask them where I dispose of it, a few hours later and many transfers, I was eventually informed that there was "NO" facility available to members of the public in the county to dispose of it. They were terrified, no joke. I've still got it.

I air out the aromatic organic solvents as much for my own sanity as for the environment

[skimask]

I assumed my oil was being reprocessed recycled. How typically stupid. I can be so niave sometimes!

I'm not even 100% sure that burning it at high temp's is good enough. Think of all the metallic contamination that's probably in there (especially if it came from a worn out motor). The guys at the HAZMAT shop said the costs involved with actually recycling oil are way too high, and you basically end up with the same problems anyways.

You lot over there are generaly a couple of years ahead of us, we (europeans) are just starting to deal with recycling but only through threats of massive fines and thats our governement being fined by some foreigner called Brussells!.

I don't know about that. The gov't still hasn't switched over to lb-free soldering practices yet. In fact, it was only touched on in that micro-mini-circuit card repair class I went to last year. And if you look at all of the boards coming out of SE Asia these days, practically every one of them has lb-free markings on them.

I air out the aromatic organic solvents as much for my own sanity as for the environment

And again, as far as the HAZMAT guys are concerned, most commercially available products these days can be aired out without much worry. The main concern was the ozone depleting stuff (freon, etc). Good luck finding any of that these days.

As far as the cross-contamination goes...In the shop, I've got 2 sets of stations, one set for lb-full and one set for lb-free. If I get any lb contamination on the lb-free tools, those parts go over to the lb-full station. So basically, when I need to buy stuff, I buy it for the lb-free work, and move it over when I screw up
And, the instructors at that school said if you get lead into a lb-free environment, things get all screwy. You end up having to pump a load of heat into the product to get it to do anything for you...and by that time, you probably end up melting the PCB

[The Master]

Im back home now. I cant find the laquer stuff. I know its here somewhere but with the state of this place at the moment i doubt ill find it soon. I do have my solder to hand though. Its "Lead free solder. Composition: SN 99.3% CU 0.7% 1mm diameter"

[skimask]

I collect all suspect waste and it goes into a single container, I keep an eye on it if I am adding something new, which is kept cool and out of sunlight, and when I remember I take it to the assemblers, the company who do the board population.

I've got a metal container that gets all of the little solder bits, wires, basically anything that gets touched by the lead in the solder. When that container gets full-ish, I take it down to the local radiator repair shop and put it in with their 'industrial waste'. They've got all sorts of signs up in the shop saying they're 'HAZMAT' compliant and all that, so I figured it's got a be a decent spot. And since my stuff is such a small quantity, they don't mind at all.
Where it goes after that? I have no idea. But I figure with all those signs, and the way things are going these days, they have to be doing something halfway right or they'd be out of business right? I work in a shop at the base that does circuit card repair work, I could take the waste material there, which would also be a misuse of gov't resources (did anyone else see that article about gov't employees charging up gov't credit cards lately?)...besides, it's only 6 miles to the radiator shop, 27 miles to the shop on base.
Same thing goes with the little brushes and cotton swabs I use to clean off the boards. I put them in a closed container. When it gets about half full, I leave it outside in the open air for a days or so to dry everything out, then put that material in with the solder waste. The guys at the HAZMAT shop on base say it's a decent method of handling stuff.
Hey...at least I'm trying...
Oh, and that radiator shop also has an oil burner for a furnace, burns oil at something like a billion degrees, they take used motor oil too. They've also got an antifreeze recycler...3 for 1 deal for me...

[mackrackit]

Just the thought of somebody coming anywhere near my tips with a rasp file is well and truly an

Duncan

I can understand that, but look at it this way. Someone had to grind, file, rasp, or use a small lathe to make the tip in the first place. I have an old iron that has the hard to find tips too. A friend of mine makes them for me. I am not sure of the alloy, it is a hard copper of some kind. When he is finished shaping and threading I clean the tip and drop it in a lead pot to tin. Works good. But that is just me.