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High lead solder? Are you sure about that?

For what it's worth, I took the time to learn leadless soldering specifically so that I could teach my kids. I like to introduce them to safe hobbies (that why they all went skydiving before their 10th birthday, too).



Leaded solder is safe to use if you wash your hands afterwards. Leaded solder - particularly 63/37 eutectic solder - is much more forgiving of poor technique. Lead-free isn't a massive inconvenience if you know what you're doing, but it can be absolutely infuriating for novices.


What about breathing the fumes? Also, doesn't (long-term) exposure to the fumes severely affect skin? I remember the folks soldering a lot of things for the Gemini and Apollo programs had very wrinkly, obviously damaged skin on their faces.


There is no lead in the solder fumes. If anything, lead-free solder is substanially worse, since the flux used for lead-free solder is a lot... harsher. Either way, this can be largely fixed by a small fume fan.


Thank you. In fact, I drive a small horizontal quadcopter propeller with a 3.7v LiPo while soldering to pull the fumes away.




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