Soldering (Electrical)

[Rog (RJ)]

Some manufacturing processes such as medical equipment, military and aerospace are excluded from the lead free soldering directive because it is known to be unreliable,

[Brian]

Some manufacturing processes such as medical equipment, military and aerospace are excluded from the lead free soldering directive because it is known to be unreliable,

Thats very interesting Rog. I wasn't aware of that!!

[Tricky Dicky]

Question, if lead free is pants why do they make it?

Answering the second part of your question first, lead free solder was introduced due to the harmful effects lead can have for humans. For those people who in industry are constantly in contact with solder and soldering fumes there is a higher risk of suffering ill effects so lead free was mandated for all industrial and commercial use. For the hobbyist who is only going to be in contact for short periods the risks are still there but very minimal, hence why leaded solder is still available.

Lead free solder is almost pure tin plus a few additives, unlike leaded solder it requires higher soldering temperatures and many hobbyists found their soldering irons did not produce enough heat and could not easily replenish the heat in the tip. One work around was to sell slightly bulkier tips as replacement for standard tips these once warmed up to full heat kept the heat in the tip longer but as Brian has alluded to already this increases the wait time for the tip to reach soldering temperature.

The presence of lead in the solder not only reduces the soldering temperature but also helps the solder to “flow” onto the work being soldered, complaints about lead free solder were that it tended to form blobs more readily but this is again down to not enough heat being applied. I have not had any experience of using lead free solder in electrical work but have used it quite a bit doing plumbing and have not noticed any particular problems getting satisfactory joins but then I am using a torch as a source of heat and as a result I would be hard pushed to say whether I have increased the torch flame or spent longer making the joint.

A high wattage iron should cope easily with lead free especially one where you can adjust the soldering temperature. High wattage on its own does not mean it will solder at higher temperatures it just means the soldering iron will replenish the heat drawn out of the tip in the soldering process much quicker providing a more sustained heat.

Richard

[Tricky Dicky]

Some manufacturing processes such as medical equipment, military and aerospace are excluded from the lead free soldering directive because it is known to be unreliable,

I do not know if the rules have changed but 10 years back well after lead free was introduce it was not a requirement for students doing electronic courses in school and colleges to use lead free.

Richard

[Simon_100]

Well my first order with Amazon Prime didn't arrive after three weeks waiting so I've got a refund and ordered from somewhere else - estimated delivery June 20th!!!

[Walkingthedog]

Think I can explain that, I also ordered some from Amazon and it arrived next day but they sent me two instead of one. The other must have been yours.

[Simon_100]

Think I can explain that, I also ordered some from Amazon and it arrived next day but they sent me two instead of one. The other must have been yours.

Ha ha, that would be the case then

Actually my second order turned up yesterday, two weeks ahead of schedule, so no excuse now not to crack on ... Not day tho' as I have my Spanish tax declaration to, er, declare - wish me luck!

[Simon_100]

Think I can explain that, I also ordered some from Amazon and it arrived next day but they sent me two instead of one. The other must have been yours.

Ha ha, that would be the case then

Actually my second order turned up yesterday, two weeks ahead of schedule, so no excuse now not to crack on ... Not day tho' as I have my Spanish tax declaration to, er, declare - wish me luck!

Well I survived my visit to the tax man but have spent much of the intervening time running around getting things done before the Big Heat ...

So I've managed to successfully solder two droppers onto my bit of test track after a a lot of Fing and Blinding, patience not being one of my string points ... but I finally succeeded by using blutack to hold the wire in place after many frustrating times with various clips, etc. I'm not sure if this tip has cropped up before - I' sure it has! - but I guess it's worth repeating.

On Monday I have a leave of absence, principally to go for a haircut, so I hope to crack on down on the layout then - enjoying the cool of my underground location - there are on a dozen or so to do and it would be a real boost t get this horrible job done!

[Stese]

The method I've now always use is to tin both the wire and the rail with the solder first, separately... then holding the wire in one hand, and the iron in the other, place the iron near the solder on the rail, wait until it melts, and then push the wire 'through' the melted solder... remove the iron as soon as the wire is in place, and after a few seconds, both will have cooled enough to hold the wire still...

No clamps or blue-tak required!

[The Sligo Rover]

That is much the same method that this amateur uses.
For connecting droppers to bus wire, I have just discovered Wago connectors - so easy and quick to use. Magic.