🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov17.175550.14583@netcom.com> kehoe@netcom.com (Thomas David Kehoe) writes:
>Will I get lead poisoning from breathing the smoke
>from solder?  I work next to an open window, and leave
>the soldering iron on the window sill, but when I'm
>doing close soldering work, I can't avoid breathing
>the smoke form the solder.
>

You can, but you probably will not. Lead poisoning pretty much depends
on the quantity of exposure vs. the length of time. Burning the paint
off of a house implies large exposure in a short time. Hobbiest soldering
on the otherhand is usually infrequent. 

Now, if you are the type of person who worries about such things, here
are the "proper" precautions for soldering.

-Work only in a well ventilated area.
-The work surface should have forced ventilation drawing or blowing
    fumes away from the person soldering and delivering the fumes
    outside or to a proper filter (sub-micron + charcoal).
-The work surface should be of a non-flamable, non-meltable material.
-Do not eat, drink or smoke while soldering.
-Wear safety glasses whenever the iron is hot.
-Keep solder away from eyes and mouth at all times.
-Wash hands thouroughly after holding any solder product.

Do I do this? Well, I have a little muffin fan to clear the smoke and
I do wash my hands after soldering. I'm not real concerned, but then
my employer draws blood (literally) for a lead test every 3 months.

>I've switched to lead-free solder, which is 97% tin and
>3% silver (available at Radio Shack).  The label still
>says to avoid breathing the smoke.  Why doesn't everyone
>use th

The smoke from soldering comes from burning the flux inside the solder,
not from the molten metal. The lead hazard is from particulates, or dust
which can be made if the solder boils, or steam is released. The other
hazard is from the oxides which form on the surface of the solder and
can transfer from the solder to your hands and skin and then be moved
to your mouth.

Industrial users of solder need to consider a wide range of things
while selecting solder formulations, such as, melt point, wettability
to various other metals, flux interaction, joint strength, etc, etc.
A hobbiest on the other hand probably does not care. I would, however,
think that 97%tin solder would be fairly brittle at low temperatures,
but that's a guess.

John

-- 
| ONE LINE NOVEL: She backed away from the corpse slowly, not so much out  |
| of fear, but simply unsure of what the crowd expected her to do with it. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| John R. Schuch  -  Motorola Computer Group  -  Manufacturing Engineering |