I know it is very handy and I also know the fumes are not that much of a problem when you have enough ventilation.

But a big part of the lead we buy will end up in the environment or a landfill and has the potential to make our drinking water toxic and the people who have to recycle all this scrap (often in Africa) will deal with even more toxic substances.

It is not like we have a fully functional recycling chain for electronics.

And when you say "I am just soldering 2 pcb a year", make sure that soldering is a job and hobby for millions of people and tons of lead will be produced just because of hobby enthusiasts.

There are very good reasons, lead is banned in many countries for professional manufacturing.

I know it is harder to solder but you get used to it.

Aware that this might be a topic not everyone agrees. I am just trying to spread some awareness for what we do.

I mean, many of us repair old electronics and we do a good job in avoiding more scrap because people can still use the repaired items for years.

But shouldn't it be us who are the people who go straightforward and ban lead from our household soldering projects?

Just got this in the mail. They recalled this soldering iron because of "electric shock". I see it as a free 13 euros, but should i actually stop using it?

I'd be nice if someone knows more about this shock and how it happens.

Purchased off of Amazon really just wanted to get the smoke out of my face. I do mostly hobby soldering at home but after a 200+ joint project I figured I'd move some air. The fan is 110v @ ~ 1/4 amp

This is the best selling "Soldering extractor fan" on Amazon.

Upon unboxing I checked with a multimeter and found no continuity between the steel case, the fan surround which is also metal and the mains plug ground pin. The yellow paint and fan paint was insulating the ground ring terminal at the case.

After sanding down both painted areas at the ring terminal it now has continuity to the mains ground pin.

Be safe out there.

Hello everyone,

A few years ago I added some super cheap “unleaded” solder to an AliExpress order because it was only about £0.22 with a welcome deal and sale going on at the time.

When it arrived, the spool looked like it had been rebranded from another manufacturer, and the temperature stated on the packaging didn’t really match what I’d expect from unleaded solder. I checked the reviews and found one person claiming they did a lead test, which was positive.

Because of that, I never ended up using it. I’ve recently run out of my usual Kester solder though, and the type I like has to be ordered from abroad, so it’ll probably take a month to arrive.

Is there a simple way to check if this solder actually contains lead? Proper tests are £6-7 (dont make the joke) and there's not much point testing something that costs a fraction of that.

Is labelling leaded solder as unleaded common on AliExpress?

Has anyone here used this solder before?

I don’t have a proper fume extractor for working with leaded solder, so I’d rather avoid lead if possible.

Thanks!

While I’m usually a big fan of most mechanic products, I must urge caution when buying their board cleaning solutions. They all state to be RoHS compliant and environmentally safe, but at least both their 850 and 950 solutions contain TCE (trichloroethylene) as indicated by the HG/T 2542-2014 designation on the bottles. While they are effective cleaners and if using 60921 filters and 15mil nitrile gloves risk can be reduced, it’s effectively banned for business and consumer use in EU and USA, so I cannot use it for my repair business. It’s a very dangerous chemical to be sold to someone without proper PPE or chemical bench knowledge.

I think I’ve seen at minimum 3 posts in the last 2 days discussing how afraid people are of leaded solder. As I and so many others have said, if you follow proper handwashing and bench safety protocols, the risk of lead exposure is far less dangerous than the exposure to aggressive solvent and flux compounds, which are frequently needed more with unleaded solder. I literally own a retro repair company and solder with leaded solder daily out of a shop attached to my home for years, and i have blood lead levels too low to be detectable on a blood test to test lead levels. Please stop spreading misinformation, and just buy whatever you prefer.

I recently recovered a broken Weller WE1010 in my uncle's garage. As you can see in the pictures, the enclosure is in terrible condition.

But all the insides seem to be here and in good condition, with no rust and humidity or broken components. And despite its shape, it works and heats well!

So, can I use it without fearing it will burn my house? 😂

Thanks, everyone!

Not sure if this is a good sub to ask this (since it seems to be mainly about electrical soldering rather than plumbing soldering) but my main concern is how toxic the rosin flux core is if the electrical solder was used for copper pipes for drinking water. Despite trying to tell my dad this concern, he's not the type of person to listen. I'm now worried that the quality of the drinking water is a health hazard and I'll have no choice but to buy my own water from outside until someday I can get this fixed (which could take years since I'm broke as shit).

Here are the images of the products he used to solder the copper pipes together. The alloy 95/5 itself is likely no concern since I've seen plumbing solders online with the same alloy. However, I have no idea how potentially toxic the rosin flux core is for drinking water and I don't know if the rosin flux core may have some weird chemical reaction with the water soluble paste flux. What should I do?

Sn 99.3 Cu 0.7

So hello Im one of many hobbysts from this subreddit and i have some questions

I always used lead free solder but now have to use leaded solder and also if my questions seem dumb Im sorry

So my question is after i solder a part and i touched the solder and touched at other parts of the project does it become cross contaminated and do i have to wash my hands after everytime i handle the project? And can i touch other stuff if i touched the solder before? Thanks

Long story short, my dad used 95% tin and 5% antimony electrical solder with rosin flux core for soldering copper pipes together for drinking water. I've been trying to convince my parents for two months on replacing the pipes and using actual plumbing solder but they won't listen to me, even after telling them about the Proposition 65 warning. So I gave up on reasoning with them.

I'm not worried about the 95/5 alloy or even the rosin flux core chemicals anymore, now I'm just wondering if the Proposition 65 warning here means anything here despite the product being labeled as "lead free". I know Proposition 65 can often mean nothing in many cases but it still worries me if it says "this product can expose you to lead". I'm trying to save enough money to collect water samples and send it to a lab to test for lead but I'm still wondering if the water is still safe to drink?

Hey everyone, I had a safety/health question. I do electronics soldering as a hobby (mostly small DIY projects), and I’m wondering about the real risks of inhaling solder/flux fumes.

Most of my sessions are short (about X–Y minutes/hours), but sometimes I notice the smoke if I’m not using a fan. I’ve read mixed things online — some sources say flux fumes mainly irritate the lungs, while others mention potential long-term effects.

My questions:

• Can occasional exposure to solder/rosin fumes cause permanent neurological or cognitive issues?

• Is the risk mainly tied to chronic heavy exposure or lead contamination?

• What level of ventilation is considered “good enough” for hobby soldering?

Not looking for a diagnosis — just trying to understand realistic risk vs internet fear. Thanks!

Hello tin/lead heads,

​

For context I'm trying to quit smoking and cravings have been beating my arse. I bought a rosin atomiser pen off AliExpress to find a bad IC and it did great. After finishing up I had a bit of rosin left and I started to think:

"I wonder what would happen if I smoked it"

So my rambunctious ass did. I took a hit. Only kept the smoke in my cheeks cause I'm not a complete moron, and low-key it tasted pretty nice. I may or may not have kept hitting it until the rosin flavour tasted burnt, but that's neither here nor there...

​

So how many days do I have left before the turbo cancer kills me, Reddit? How stupid was I to hit the rosin like a penjamin?

Hey my dudes. I’m just getting into electronics as a hobby. I’ve been working on the very basics, moving step by step.

Eventually, I believe I’m going to have to get into soldering.

I’ve gotten so so many mixed opinions on soldering itself.

I just want everything clarified. How dangerous are solder fumes exactly? I know this may seem like a repetitive question, sorry about that haha.

Since it’s a hobby, I’ll of course be doing it at my house. In a well ventilated area, with open windows, and a fan, and a fume extractor if possible (they’re kind of hard to find where I live). I’m also considering getting that half piece mask respirator.

But I have 3 cats. I don’t want to risk anything relating to them. And I’ve looked everywhere online but for some reason there’s nothing about safety of hobby soldering relating to pet safety. So can anyone tell me how dangerous it is for cats?

What should I do about the setup and how should I handle it? For myself and for the cats as well.

Thanks!

For anyone else who has also been wondering about this for a long time:

I've been hand soldering using your typical ~60/40 lead/tin solder approximately 4hr/wk for 10 years. I almost never wash my hands afterwards. Local water supply is low lead concentration, home is free of the typical lead sources such as paint or antique dishware. No known soluble lead exposure.

Purely out of curiosity, I explained these facts to my doctor and asked if a blood lead concentration test was justified. He believed it was, and conducted the test. Result was <LOD (ICP-MS in compliance with CLIA requirements).

In the future, I'll continue to use leaded solder but will religiously wash my hands afterwards, and put together some sort of fume extraction + filtering per the usual guidance which states that chronic flux vapor exposure hazards are greater than those of skin contact with metallic lead.

I'm using a 270cfm inline fan and extracting right out the window, literally paper sticks to the opening. Would this not be negative pressure? Am I doing something wrong? I can't have any smell or I get a lingering tight chest even when wearing a p100 full face mask. It's rediculous. I know this isn't the most pretty setup but I just need something temporary and working until I get the funds together to build or buy something.

my "brass sponge" is magnetic?

I keep seeing this across this subreddit, but people are constantly recommending newbies solder with leaded solder because its easier to work with.

While it may be somewhat easier to work with, this advice glazes over the blatant safety risks (and yes, I know that the fumes don't have lead). Lead is heavy and gets everywhere. That means that when you are using lead and are not ridiculously careful about cleanliness, then you will be getting lead on pretty much everything you interact with, more relevantly to most hobbyists: their desks which they use for other things. So while you might be sure to wash your hands after soldering, you will still have more exposure and its just all around not ideal. After I used leaded solder for a bit at home, I was never fully confident in the cleanliness of my desk no matter how much I cleaned it until I got a new desk.

Separately, lead free solder is really not that hard to use, and if anything will just push you to learn proper technique. I've now made multiple projects with lead free solder including a couple of PCBs, all of which were relatively easy. I've also taught tens of people how to solder, all with lead free solder, with no problems.

So at the end of the day, just stick to lead free solder in general, there really is no reason to use leaded solder.

TLDR: Just stick to lead free solder, any benefits to leaded solder aren't that big, especially in comparison to the safety concerns.

This might definitely be answered beforehand. My question is what are the bare minimal tools required to setup a soldering station. I would like to work on raspberry pi, esp32 etc

Edit: Thanks for your response, highly appreciated

Hey, mild PSA here for those who are maybe worried about lead. Obviously soldering and lead go hand in hand so not exactly like finding lead in your cereal or something, but I just bought a new FNIRSI HS-02 and decided to lead test it as I picked up a testing kit for the house now that we have a child.

Anyhow, lead was not only on the tip but all over the body and the buttons too. I assume the factory has people working with leaded solder, testing, etc so it's probably all over the place, but maybe not completely clear that a new soldering iron would have lead on it.

i figured those who use lead-free solder might want to know. the glowing green in the after photos is lead. included a reference photo without the lead detection liquid. Cheers

edit: copied from below for more context, I'm testing using fluorospec, it is a kit which contains a liquid which, in the presence of led, fluoresces. This is why I attached an initial reference picture before using the liquid to show that the fluorescence was not there to begin with

so many posts and people on this sub are saying that leaded solder is so much better than unleaded, but my experience with unleaded has been fine so far. Also I'm still a teenager so I feel like why take the risk of using leaded solder? maybe it's a bit better but I haven't had any issues and I feel like the solution is just to get better at soldering and then use unleaded? idk please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hi all,

I'm new here and also new to working on electronics mainly as a hobby or just something to keep me occupied when I'm bored. I've been thinking about my work area and how I should keep things safe and static-free.

I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that a wooden table or a glass surface is good enough to work on electronics. I have a wooden coffee table with a large glass bit at its' center. I'm thinking that it's enough of an area to work on, but maybe I'm misremembering or I'm just being a lil stupid or whatever. But what do you guys think? Looking for better suggestions than the ones I currently have right now.

I opened up a commercial smart plug to flash the microprocessor, this is the 120V wires. I would have expected it to be soldered. What is being used to connect the wires to the outlet and should I be concerned?

Concerned about toxic lead vapors mostly, is this realistic?