Ivan, your wish comes too late. The EU is going to require leadfree pcb's from 2005 onwards. As far as I know no more leaded pcb may be sold after 2007. While I have some understanding for your position, any discussion is meaningless. My favourite assembler already produces leadfree, and I have a few rolls of leaded tin to be used up.
Rene -- Ing.Buro R.Tschaggelar http://www.ibrtses.com Your newsgroups @ http://www.talkto.net
Bagotronix Tech Support wrote:
Hello, all:
I was wondering if there are any easy, quick tests to determine if solder has lead (Pb) in it, and what the approximate concentration might be. I don't need a quantitative lab analysis, just a yes/no. A vendor told me yesterday that their process has been lead-free for over a year now. Then when I said that I don't want a lead-free process, they had their process engineer call me back later and say that they don't use lead-free processes. So I am wondering if the first guy made an honest mistake (he's not technical), or if they are switching their story to cover up something.
Personally, I wish the lead-free hysteria would just go away. Lead usage in PCBs such a small percentage of total lead usage, it's not worth the reduction in solder joint reliability to switch to lead-free. Besides, how environmentally friendly is it going to be when the landfill fills up twice as fast with lead-free PCBs that failed due to brittle solder joints? I wish U.S. electronics companies would fight this lead-free madness (which started in the EU) by challenging it in the WTO as a non-tariff trade barrier. Oh, I guess it's just good business to make stuff that lasts half as long, that way they sell twice as much of it! Oh, and don't forget the patent royalties from new solder formulations!
Best regards, Ivan Baggett Bagotronix Inc. website: www.bagotronix.com
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