Cleaning After Soldering - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: RyanPasling345
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 14, 2019, 11:14:22 pm
content: Hello all,I have a bad habit of worrying to much about everything. In doing this, I've done some research into safety related to soldering after having bought a station and practiced. I used lead solder for my practice and am now worried about lead contamination in my room. Should I worry about having contaminated surfaces and things I've touched with lead by soldering? Is it ok to drink/eat in the room I soldered in/ on the desk I was working from?

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2019, 11:24:53 pm
content: The boiling point of pure lead is something like 1800 C. There is really no free lead particles when you solder. What you see as fumes is flux. It is not the healthiest thing ever, but it is not dangerous, unless you have a full-time production facility in your room.Don't worry about it.The whole RoHS thing is there to prevent lead from getting into landfills and contaminating the soil and the drinking water. Using leaded solder for hobby is perfectly safe.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2019, 11:50:49 pm
content: A little bit of caution with the fumes from soldering is on it's place though.The smell and smoke is from the burnt flux and not from the solder itself.For occasional soldering it is sufficient to not be breatng in those fumes directly. A (very small / low rpm) fan to spread the fumes so they don't go directly into your nose, combined with a bit of ventialtion in your room is sufficient.If you're soldering a lot it is recommended to get a fume extactor, or make one yourself from buying some spare carbon filters and a small fan.

author: RyanPasling345
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 15, 2019, 12:08:15 am
content: I was thinking more about lead that was on my hands that would transfer to other surfaces when I touched them after touching the roll of solder.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2019, 12:11:02 am
content: It would be such a minuscule volume that I would not worry about it. Wash your hands after soldering so you don't ingest it. And don't lick your walls, I guess.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2019, 01:19:00 am
content: It's a good idea to wash your hands after handling solder and try not to touch your face. Also keep solder secured, if you have cats or dogs or small children in the house you don't want them chewing on it. Otherwise there's very little risk, just use a little common sense and it won't hurt you.

author: graeme.c.payne
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 15, 2019, 03:56:34 am
content: Several decades ago, when I was working for an electronics manufacturer, there were tons of 60/40 solder around & nobody worried about it. The wave soldering lines didn't even have covers over them.(We even had open vats of liquid Freon to clean boards & assemblies in!)The main thing is to always wash your hands before eating. (But I was doing that a couple of decades before I knew what solder was!) Also keep kids & pets out. We know lead is bad for them, the only questions are related to threshold levels.Sent using Tapatalk

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 15, 2019, 12:50:59 pm
content: When I solder or handle any kind of chemical on my bench, I wear nitrile gloves. I buy the Grease Monkey gloves from Home Depot for $13 a box of 100.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2019, 01:57:32 pm
content: Nitrile gloves aren't suitable for working close up with really hot objects. Bare-handed if you accidentally brush against the barrel or bit of your iron, you will feel it quickly enough to react before you get more than a very small burn. in most cases if you make contact with any part of your hand with thicker skin, you'll get away with no more than surface scorching and no blistering.However, as soon as you add rubber/plastic gloves, any burn will involve melted plastic that sticks to your skin and vastly increases the heat transferred and thus the damage. Also any blobs of molten solder large enough to melt throuugh the glove will be stuck to your skin till they cool or you manage to knock them off.The risk can be mitigated to a large extent by wearing gloves made of a heat resistant fibre or thin leather over the ones providing the chemical barrier, but their extra bulk makes it very difficult to do fine work.If to meet quality standards for surface contamination, you *HAVE* to wear gloves, you need to be a lot more careful. It also makes it far harder to manipulate really small parts, so will have a significant impact on your productivity. The only other reason to wear gloves is if you are in the repair trade and working on personal devices, as the user contamination in them can be pretty gross, even if your counter staff are trained to reject repair jobs that are obvious bio-hazards.Finally: *NEVER* smoke cigarettes while working with SnPb solder. Solder dross will get transferred from your hands to the cigarette paper and burnt, and you will end up inhaling fine lead oxide particulates and organolead compounds from the oxides reaction with the tobacco pyrolysis products.