Bastard Solder!!!

J

joecool234

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
433
Has anyone ever noticed, after a full day of soldering, the impossibility to stay awake? Soldering is something I do at work very infrequently...maybe once a month tops...so it took me a while to fully diagnose this issue. I have fallen asleep at work maybe a handful of times over the last year. All of these days were after a decent night of sleep, no worse than any other...but for some bizarre reason I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Well, the last time this happened was after an intense 4 hour solder-session. I took almost an hour nap after that.

And today...it happened again. I soldered for like 2 hours...and have just awaken from a little catnap. Fuck this shit...I went to google. And I came up with this, the Material Saftey Datasheet for rosin core solder: http://www.setonresourcecenter.com/msds/docs/wcd00008/wcd00875.htm .

Low and behold, one of the side effects of solder vapor is, tada, drowsiness. Unfortunately for me, this seems to be the most benign of all side effects...they get much worse. So this post is just a heads up to all you solder monkeys out there...use good ventilation when performing your craft.

Now I'm off to get a blood test for lead poisoning!!!
 
I think "good ventilation" goes for doing most things. But working with stuff that produces toxic vapor more than others.
 
UPDATE: Ok, maybe i jumped the gun on calling solder a bastard. I was talking to a bio major buddy of mine and he experienced similar drowsiness...after looking through a scope all day. I too, always looks through a high-power stereoscopic scope when soldering. Maybe my drowsiness was caused by that instead. Who knows...
 
try switch to a halo for the less tediest work. get an air ioniser fan the about the size of a 120mm fan, helps keep satic down and help blow the fumes away form your face. i used to work for jabil circiut and and did a lot of soldering inclueding the paste for the smt parts and the wave mechine. the only time i had problems were days where i had a lot of scope work or no sleep.
 
Yikes:
ACUTE-MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS,SEIZURES,COMA,DEATH.CHRONIC-LEAD CAN CAUSE SYSTEMIC POISONING.SYMPTOMS ARE METALLIC TASTE,ANEMIA,INSOMNIA,WEAKNESS,CONSTIPATION,ABDOMINAL PAIN,GI DISORDERS,JOINT & MUSCLE PAIN & WEAKNESS.MAY DAMAGE BLOOD-FORMING,NERVOUS,KIDNEY & REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS.MAY REDUCE FERTILITY IN BOTH MEN & WOMEN
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Soldering does not heat the lead enough to make it airborne (and inhaled). It does however heat up the flux enough to cause it to vaporize, allowing it to be inhaled.

So if you're worried about inhaling lead while soldering, it doesn't happen. Unless of course you are eating while you solder, in which case you have lead on your fingers and you are ingesting it with your food.

Also keep in mind that most solder these days is lead free.
 
I think most of the drowsyness is to do with spending long periods of time concentrating hard. I used to get the same effect when painting kitset models. I haven't done much research but the main safety requirements are:
1) don't breather thie fumes, not too poisonous but can cause eye irratation and asthema. Use a fan or gently blow on the jount to remove fumes.
2) don't eat the stuff, that's how lead is absorbed
3) wash your hands afterwards as you should with handling any chemicals.
 
SarverSystems said:
Also keep in mind that most solder these days is lead free.
Click to expand...

Perhaps in manufacturing, but I've never seen lead-free solder just at the local store or anything. It's always a lead/tin mix. Maybe that's a Canadian thing though...
 
Yup. Might skip the mask if it's occasional use, but definately get good ventilation. Lead free or not, the crap is still varying degrees of toxic.
 
Soldering with lead solder won't give you lead poisioning - very little lead actually goes airborne. Vaporising rosin is what will fuck you up.

The fluxes that are used in lead free processes are worse... we've been getting RoHS-ready at work, and some of the gasses given off by some of the lead-free spool solders that we've tried can cause serious eye damage.
 
Isn't it common sense to not breath in things besides air intentionally? Kids these days ...
 
I can solder all day long and feel just fine. Sometimes I don't have enough hands and end up putting either the solder or the iron between my teeth to get the job done. First I heard of solder fumes affecting you.
 
SarverSystems said:
Also keep in mind that most solder these days is lead free.
Click to expand...


all the solder we used at jabil circuit had led in it. i think your confusing led with flux as there are two kinds of flux regular and no clean. no clean is just that, it does not need to be cleaned. regular contain acids that will eat through the board if not cleaned off. i have never seen or heard of no led solder, and dout that it exists seeing that the main conponent in solder is led. if i'm wrong, what is the metal in no led solder?
 
silver solder is no lead but it sucks ass and I never use it. The only lead free solder you can find comes on a spool and is for light duty use.
 
oh ok, I never heard of silver solder. I would guess it would be harder to work with giving that led melts at a lower temp than silver. does it look different (like is it shinier on the spool or is the same grayish tone of regular)
 
first of do you wear glasses?

because i do and i have the same problem. after long searching for an answer to the same question i didn't find anything.and a few months ago i had to go to an optician because i needed new glasses. And while she was measuring my eyes she saw that my eyes where a little off from eachother.she asked me if i got sleepy while reading a book or other intense reading. And it turned out my eyes didn't work "together". that means you dont "realy" see depth and if the focus point is too close to your face (like with reading a book) your eyes have to focus hard wich makes you sleepy. the only way to prevent falling asleep is taking short breakes. or dont read a book or in your and my case dont solder >:)
 
PretendR said:
first of do you wear glasses?
Click to expand...

I've always thought that that was part of my problem with the sleepiness. And the fact that I'm usually concentrating pretty hard while I'm soldering, and that takes a lot out of me.
 
A major problem with leaded solders isn't so much the immediate effects, it's when stuff goes to the great landfill site in the sky, lead from the circuit boards can be leached into the soil and ultimately into river or even drinking water, causing brain damage. Same reason that leaded petrol was banned

They're being phased out in Europe in favour of the lead-free, and are banned in some countries. And most schools and factories won't allow the resin flux, has to be halide-free - the resin fumes cause industrial asthma.

The lead-free stuff is 99.7% tin, 0.3% copper, bit temperature 360°C compared to 340°C for 60% tin, 40% lead solder, so there's not much in it. Biggest problem is the new fluxes aren't so good on tarnished components.
 
Just how much lead is harmful? I've neglected washing my hands several times after soldering and touching materials that contain lead... just how much before it starts effecting my health?
 
Lead poisoning is probably the most common form of heavy-metal poisoning, and works like the rest of the category. Any exposure is a Bad Thing, and the more you're exposed to it the more it builds up and the worse it gets. Your level of screwed-ness is dependant on your exposure over time not just the one incident. Ever hear how arsenic works? Basically the same deal.
 
Thanks for letting me know, I was going to start soldering again after years- I forgot.

~Adam
 
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