#21

Kind of ironic that Pb should be against lead right???

16 Likes
#22

He mentioned that. He said that its been on his mind all of his life for obvious reasons.

Speaking of which, leaving this here to come back to later (I havenā€™t heard it yet)

3 Likes
#24

Iā€™ve always used roisin-core lead solder as a hobbyist - lower temperature means easier on tips & was more used to the way lead solder flows. Seems to me itā€™s somehow less fiddly. I always use some kind of fan/ventilation with that stuff anyway & wash my hands after touching the tasty leadā€¦

Anyway when I took current job theyā€™re using lead free stations, with much posher equipment than Iā€™m used to. Central to that setup is liquid flux - you squirt that stuff all over the work area, it burns and stinks. Guess what itā€™s also not good to breathe in!

So whatever the health risks of lead solder, even a lead-free setup releases a bunch of toxic nasties you shouldnā€™t inhale. The chemicals in flux core seem to be pretty corrosive evil crap so make sure thereā€™s some kind of fan set up on the bench to blow the smoke away from your face - preferably out of the window. Good use for an old 12V computer fan!

5 Likes
#25

It is my understanding that the majority of the fumes released when soldering leaded or otherwise are from the flux. Best to solder by a window, with an exhaust fan (ie suck air away from you), or outdoors if itā€™s a nice day.

My utterly unresearched belief is that leaded v non-leaded is based around the reduction of use of harmful metals on an environmental level (public health) rather than an individual health one. Of note, non-leaded solder formulations often have a more complex chemistry including things like antimony which may also have impacts on health.

I use leaded solder for prototypes bc working on SMT parts with unleaded solder is a giant pain and generally requires about 4x as much flux & double the time with the iron, which probably has a net-negative impact on my health vs leaded option.

5 Likes
#26

watch out for killer squirrels! Rember people, danger is everywhereā€¦

(not least the danger of dying of boredom due to under-exposure to soldering irons & electronics)

3 Likes
#27

Itā€™s funny, Peter even mentioned that leaded solder ā€œhas a nice pine scentā€ and flux-core ā€œsmells like nasty chemicalsā€.

1 Like
#28

Hi, Iā€™m soldering together a tt-busboard but have a condition which makes my hands shake quite a lot and I always find it more difficult than I remember. I wanted to ask how easy it is to cook the components there too much and break something? Also, I stupidly donā€™t have any kind of multimeter so just wondering whether thereā€™s any danger if my solders are no good? or whether the thing just wont work when plugged into the back of my new teletype to connect jf and ansible. Thanks all

#29

Iā€™ve decided to get some soldering skills underway. Are there any recommends for a good starting project and soldering iron?

My thoughts are a Bastl Kaslte, Hakko FX-888D (or https://www.rapidonline.com/atten-st-60-premium-intelligent-soldering-station-60w-85-6924) and a hakko sppon

Thoughts would be much appreciated :ok_hand:

#30

The Hakko 888D is really good, itā€™s the soldering station I use for through-hole and SMD since I started DIY Eurorack a year ago.

#31

Ginko Syntheseā€™s Grains and Sampleslicer both seem to be straightforward DIY kits. Iā€™m planning to begin with them anyway - canā€™t personally recommend just yet.

#32

If youā€™re totally new to soldering something like this would be a good cheap beginning project.

#33

My first synthesiser DIY build was a Shruthi, a now discontinued desktop synthesiser project from Mutable Instruments. It wasnā€™t a kit, I got the PCBs from a group buy and sourced the components myself. I already had quite a lot of soldering and electronics experience. It is possible to get kits from tubeohm in Germany, which I have heard good things about. They rebranded it and call it the Phoenix. If youā€™re in the USA, then I think it is possible to get full kits from Laurentide synthworks.

Itā€™s quite a bit bigger than a Bastl Kastle, but very easy to put together (all through-hole components), and much deeper and more flexible than it looks at first glance!

Good luck with DIY and soldering! Great skills to learn, and loads of fun.

#34

I learned on kits like thisā€¦


quite fun and quick. but also cheap and forgiving if you make mistakes.

#35

or thisā€¦

you get the idea.good luck.

#37

Hey, thanks for the enthusiastic replies Iā€™m gearing up to dive in :robot:

#39

My dad always recommends leaded solder. (EE for 30+ yrs). So definitely second @infovoreā€™s advice.

1 Like
#41

Iā€™ll echo the recommendations to get a good iron and good solder. The quality of these things transformed soldering from a serious annoyance into a joy for me.

Iā€™ve been using Kester 245 ā€œno cleanā€ solder with great results. It flows well, doesnā€™t leave a mess, and the flux isnā€™t acidic so you donā€™t have to worry about washing boards etc.

As @Kel mentioned, getting comfortable putting together orders from Mouser or DigiKey is essential, but you will almost always forget something and have to make a few orders for a project :slight_smile:

1 Like
#43

Out of curiosity, is anyone using a soldering fan/hood regularly?

I donā€™t solder day in/day out but I do have stints of a few weeks throughout the year where Iā€™m operating the iron for a few hours a day. Outside of eurorack (which I havenā€™t worked on in a while), I also build and customize tube guitar amps from time to time which eats up much larger amounts of solder. Iā€™m generally using whatever I have available so mostly lead based.

#44

I use a fan with a filter when Iā€™m doing a longer session, and when weather permits I open a window. For quick small jobs I just try not to inhale too much.

#46

hmmmā€¦ Iā€™m not being nearly as careful as you folks are. I wonder what Iā€™ve done to myself.

1 Like