"N Cook" wrote in message
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Arfa Daily wrote in message
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"Ian Jackson" wrote in
message
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In message , Arfa Daily
writes

"Ian Jackson" wrote in
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In message , Arfa Daily
writes



Add to this that now the full legislation for RoHS is in place, as UK
repairers, we are fully obligated, officially under threat of EU law,
to
repair equipment originally constructed with lead-free solder, and
placed
on
the market after July 2006, using *only* lead-free.
Are you sure about this? My understanding is that leaded joints can
still
be repaired with leaded solder.





Ian.
--

Read a bit more carefully - that's " lead-free " ....

Arfa


Oops! I misread that. Sorrrrry.
Ian.
--

No probs, Ian. You are right, of course. For those not familiar, the
situation is that any equipment 'placed on the market' before July 2006,
irrespective of what technology has been used to manufacture it, may be
repaired by any technology that you see fit - ie by using leaded or
unleaded
solder. However, common wisdom is that if it was manufactured in
lead-free,
then it should be repaired in lead-free, likewise for leaded manufacture,
used leaded solder. However, it is getting impossible to buy new
components
now that are not lead-free, which file://may// mean that their legs
have
been
dipped in a lead-free solder ...

Some manufacturers, notably Sony, have insisted for several years now,
that
all of their official service centres use only lead-free to repair *all*
of
their products, irrespective of original manufacture technology. The
service
bulletin that was sent out by them regarding this, actually caused
considerable misunderstanding in the UK repair industry, with regard to
what
was the correct legal situation. I am of the opinion that you should
probably not mix solder types if at all possible in a joint but, like
most
reading this I suspect, I just can't help myself when I come across a bad
joint in a place that I know is not going to be reliable if reworked in
lead-free.

Equipment placed on the market after July 2006, must have been
manufactured
in lead-free, and the directive says that we must not compromise this, so
must use lead-free solder and RoHS compliant components to effect any
repairs. The exception to this, is where an equipment has been granted an
exemption from the directive. Such equipment includes avionics and
medical
and some military equipment. This will have continued to be manufactured
in
leaded solder, and marketed quite legally. Repair of such items can - and
in
my opinion *should* - be effected using leaded solder.

Arfa



If the manufacturing date is not on the back of a bit of kit needing
repair,
then presumably its a matter of saying you cannot repair anything made in
or
after 2006 , then asking the owner when he thinks it was made, and then
making the appropriate comment.


As you say, this is one of the difficulties, and where a typical piece of
euro-mumbo-jumbo, however well intentioned, comes unstuck for lack of being
properly thought through in terms of the poor sods who have to be
responsible for its implementation at the sharp end. In years gone by, date
of manufacture was commonly stamped inside the cabinet, or on the chassis.
Now we're going to have to rely on our abilities to read component date
codes, or plastics moulding date clocks in the back covers.

I have, however, started to see the legend "PBF" or "PbF" appearing on
PCBs. Whilst I accept that this doesn't necessarily mean a build date ( or
marketing date ) of post July 2006, it does at least confirm what we might
already suspect just by looking at the dubious grey joints on the board, and
in theory, if only for the reason that no-one is really sure of the
long-term effects of mixing solder types, it would indicate that we should
be using lead-free to repair it.

At the end of the day, all of this is just another way to make our lives
unnecessarily complicated for no well-defined reason. For many years, my
wife owned a childrens' day nursery. It got buried in more and more and more
layers of rules and regulations until the whole day was spent in writing
reports, and trying to avoid breaching any childcare guidelines, or worse,
actual legislation, much of which was at best unnecessary and obstructive,
and at worst, total euro-nonsense. Eventually, like many independents, she
gave it up, and sold it to one of the big chains, who now dominate the
childcare business, and are the only ones who can afford to employ the legal
people to make sure that they are complying. I can see us independent repair
agents being driven out of our businesses over the next few years for the
same reasons ...

Arfa