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Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Lead free makes sense in a closed environment or massive jobs (amps?) but for soldering a couple of pots, open the window or even do it outside. I do it in the garage with an open door
The days of soldering daily are long behind me and for the odd time I need to do some, then it'll be worthi finding a supplier of leaded I think.
Not trying to tell granny to suck eggs but i see a lot of people using lead free forgetting to observe the basics.
But yeah leaded solder with Dave's good advice above is best.
Anyhow ... the secret is a bloody hot iron (400+ degrees) and using silver/tin/zinc mix solder with built in flux. The miracle ingredient is the silver which lowers the melting point and makes the stuff flow better. Of course it also makes the chuffing stuff four times the price of conventional lead based solder. Not all hippy-solder contains silver so look for the ones that advertise high silver content ...
If you want small Quant-titties try the Maplin stuff. Unfortunately it doesn't come in the industrial sized rolls I use
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The flux in the smoke of lead-free is more harmful than that in leaded solder. The crackdown on using leaded wasn't actually to do with inhaling lead (as the boiling point of lead is 1749 degree) or even touching it as test showed solder workers still have well below dangerous levels of lead build up in there system - we were getting more from exhaust fumes. It was due to the amount of electrical goods that end up in landfill gradually poisoning the ground.
I made a switch about 5 years ago. The silver stuff (which is actually quite fairly priced in Maplins) is far better and gives you a nicer looking joint. One of the issues I think people find with lead-free is the balance between heat and skill. The iron needs to be hotter for lead-free. If you are in good practice and do a lot of soldering, you pin the joint and the solder is made fairly quickly meaning the extra heat is not a problem. However if you only do an odd bit of soldering and you are trying to fix a wobbly joint with a shaky soldering hand there is a tendency to overdo the joint and in doing so heat it too much.
An interesting side effect of 'lead free' is that as you use a hotter iron, it becomes easier and more reliable to solder to 'solderable' coating winding wire. Suppose there has to be some plus side.
By real beef is that hand wound pickups are not going to find their way into landfill ... at least one would hope not therefore why in f--k are we bound by the same daft rules as a cheap Chinese TV set?
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Totally agree with that. As usual it a distraction of tackling the problem from the wrong end.
So it's neat knowing there are folks out there who *will* see the value. I'm keeping my (probably) buggered ibanez cf7 for spare resistors, some pots with awesome push-lock function and even the battery pack is reusable, if I ever wanted to fix another pedal.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Got it for free from freecycle.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
My main pickup winding machine is called Gloria ...
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
There's also gold (plate) on PCB pads and connectors, especially for RF where losses really matter.
And lead free solder is horrible stuff. I've known techs develop health issues from inhaling the fumes. Lead/tin just gives you a headache.