I have worked with it and have concluded that it is different, but not
neccesarrily that big a deal. Some of it is much harder to work with than
others and I suspect that just like the early days of circuit board
automated production, we will see the manufacturers go through a learning
curve with respect to how to use it properly. Lead definitely has its
advantages, and I think the environmental impact is minimal for now, but
what about hundreds of years from now? Who knows what those lead containing
boards will be subjected to in time? It is a change that I suspect will not
be reversed, so I see no reason to do anything but get used to it and
happily accept any repairs that it brings me. No different from all those
hundreds of LA7838s that did not have enough solder deposited on the joints.
We ain't going back to manual inseertion and soldering in production lines
either.

Leonard

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
Hi all

Friend of mine also in the electronic service business just called me to
tell of a conversation he had in the pub last night with one of his
friends. Turns out this guy is a washing machine service engineer with his
own business of many years. He told my friend that from a business point
of view, he is delighted with lead-free solder, because in the last year
or so it has boosted his profits significantly. This is because of the
number of bad joints that he now sees on items such as solenoids. He is
firmly convinced that the lead-free solder, being a harder material that
doesn't stick well in the first place to items with a large thermal
inertia, cannot take the vibration that a washing machine subjects it to.
This seems altogether reasonable to me.

Just this morning, I have repaired a NAD CD player that would play for
anything between 5 and 45 minutes, before randomly failing. No amount of
physical provocation would bring on the fault, nor correct it when it
occured. It would need to be left off for about a half hour before it
would play again. Just for sport, I tried a laser, but of course, that
wasn't it. I then took the board out, and went over it with a headband
magnifier. I then found two perfect cracked-right-round joints on a
connector. The joints had that traditional lead-free straight-sided
volcano like shape. Once these had been attended to, and the original
laser put back in, everything was fine.

Is it just me, or does anyone else have concerns for the wider
implications of this nonsense technology that has replaced a mature and
reliable technology in the dubious name of that new great ( and some would
say false ... ) god, "Green" ? If washing machines can vibrate these
joints into submission, I sincerely hope that the exemptions that the
avionics and automotive electronics industries currently enjoy, never get
rescinded ...

Arfa


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