On Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:23:45 -0600, "
wrote:

On Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:07:07 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:25:07 -0600, "
wrote:

On Thu, 02 Dec 2010 01:43:38 -0500, Jeff Thies wrote:

On 12/1/2010 5:56 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:15:47 -0500, Jeff
wrote:

On 11/29/2010 12:26 AM, wrote:
How do you know when your soldering iron is tinned?
I keep mine plugged in for 5-10 minutes then when I try tin it, the
solder beads up and just drips offs. It doesn't seem to "wet" the
tip.
Is it suppose to wet the tip of the soldering iron?

I'm using non lead solder, 95%Sn, 5% Sb (Tin/Antimony).
Rosin core.

This is plumbing solder, get some designed for electrical. Something
fairly small. 60/40 tin/lead (or is it the other way). Use the right
solder for the application.


Not necessarily true - the lead free solder madness has hit
electronics like a frieght train.

Lovely. Looks like I got out of the repair business in time.

Lead-free solder isn't required in the US, yet. There is still plenty of
leaded stuff around.

It IS required if the device is assembled with lead free - the two
don't mix very well.

Bull****. Leaded solder works just fine with unleaded parts. Better, in
fact, because you can use lower temperature. The parts, and tools, will be
"contaminated" but that doesn't matter for US consumption.

California has RoHS laws on the books since 2003 - with compliance
required by 2007 - so you do see lead-free solder mandated in parts of
the USA

And as far as you "bull****" is concerned, you are WRONG. Hate to tell
you this, but you don't know as much as you think you do.

Traditional tin-lead materials are not compatible with lead-free
device finishes. Because proper reflow for lead-free materials can
only be achieved with higher temperatures, attempting to process
lead-free terminated devices in 183?C tin-lead conditions leads to
incomplete wetting and the related issues of voiding and opens.

This is from Doug Dixon, Global Marketing Director
Henkel Corp

You can read "the rest of the story" at:
http://www.circuitnet.com/articles/article_39990.shtml

The article by Leo Lambert, Vice President, Technical Director
EPTAC Corporation on the same page agrees.

Lots of other expert opinion out there agrees with me - SOME RoHS
(lead free) compliant components MAY work OK with leaded solder, many
will not - and anyone who is not aware of the consequenses of using
the wrong solder with the wrong parts should not be working on newer
electronic equipment.

Just because you guys have never seen a problem does not mean it
doesn't exist - it just means you've been, up untill now, VERY lucky.