Post by thread:[OT] Solder fumes?

I'm also interested in this, as I do not have a garage or anything to work in, so I have to solder either in a room downstairs, or in my room (where my main workbench is setup). I am not soldering very often, every couple of weeks for an hour seems about average, as most of my work is done on solderless breadboads. While working, as with the OP I use a small fan pointing towards an open window. How safe is a setup like this considering the amount of soldering I actually do? If unsafe, what can I do to make it safe on a reasonably small amount of money? -Jamie. On 04/06/05, Mark Chauvin <.....chauvin555KILLspam@spam@sbcglobal.net> wrote: {Quote hidden}> I've got an office I built in my garage, about 10' x > 12', fully enclosed, and I do a bit of > soldering/assembly work for a couple of hours a day. > I've got a small fan that blows the fumes away from > the work surface when I solder, but shouldn't I also > have either an exhaust fan or air filter of some kind? > What's a good, cheap way to get rid of solder fumes? > Would a filter like an Ionic Breeze do anything? > > TIA > -Mark > > -

Hi Mark, On Sat, Jun 04, 2005 at 10:28:26AM -0700, Mark Chauvin wrote: > I've got an office I built in my garage, about 10' x > 12', fully enclosed, and I do a bit of > soldering/assembly work for a couple of hours a day. > I've got a small fan that blows the fumes away from > the work surface when I solder, but shouldn't I also > have either an exhaust fan or air filter of some kind? > What's a good, cheap way to get rid of solder fumes? > Would a filter like an Ionic Breeze do anything? Good ventilation is your best choice of action here. In addition to the fan blowing fumes away from what you're working on, put a large box fan in the doorway of the office to help circulate the air. The only thing you really have to worry about here are the fumes from the rosin. IMHO, I would worry about rosin fumes as much as I do about burning a candle; which is very little. At the temperatures used for soldering, the vapor pressure of lead and tin are so low that you don't have to worry about inhaling vapors from these metals. Just be sure to wash your hands after you work! Take care, Matthew. -- "The liberty of others extends mine to infinity." Graffito written during the French Student Revolt - May 1968

And brush your teeth after long soldering as well. Seriously :) Metals vapor isn't that "very little" as it seems. Matthew Miller wrote: {Quote hidden}> > Hi Mark, > > Good ventilation is your best choice of action here. In addition to the fan > blowing fumes away from what you're working on, put a large box fan in the > doorway of the office to help circulate the air. > > The only thing you really have to worry about here are the fumes from the > rosin. IMHO, I would worry about rosin fumes as much as I do about burning a > candle; which is very little. At the temperatures used for soldering, the > vapor pressure of lead and tin are so low that you don't have to worry about > inhaling vapors from these metals. Just be sure to wash your hands after you > work!

On Jun 4, 2005, at 10:08 PM, Matthew Miller wrote: > The only thing you really have to worry about here are the fumes from > the > rosin. IMHO, I would worry about rosin fumes as much as I do about > burning a > candle; which is very little. You might need to be more careful if you end up using one of the non-rosin flux solders. I haven't kept track of what's in use or how obnoxious they are to inhale when burning, but obviously a "water washable" flux is no longer made from rosin (for example.) Lead has a very low vapor pressure at the temperatures involved. You really don't need to worry about inhaling lead... BillW

In message <7b59f2aebeba4ea008131c86fbe07a4eKILLspammac.com>> William "Chops" Westfield <.....westfwKILLspam.....mac.com> wrote: > You might need to be more careful if you end up using one of the > non-rosin > flux solders. I haven't kept track of what's in use or how obnoxious > they > are to inhale when burning, but obviously a "water washable" flux is no > longer > made from rosin (for example.) Personally, I've been using rosin-based 60-40 SnPb solder for years. About three years ago I cobbled together a primitive filter out of an 80mm mains fan, a couple of fan guards, a carbon cooker-hood filter and a plastic box. Problem is, it's not that effective. The fan blades are too small relative to the motor and the fan casing. One fan guard is on the exhaust side of the fan, and there are two placed back-to-back (with a nut in the middle) on the other side. The filter fits between the two guards and another nut locks the front guard in place. If I built another one, I'd use a 120mm DC fan and a small 250mA 12V PSU. The 80mm just doesn't move enough air to make it worthwhile. Total cost: About £10 (I found the fan in my junkbox - figure around £20-30 including the fan). 90% of the time I run the soldering iron at around 275C. I only ramp it up to 350 when I need to solder enamelled copper wire. The iron is a 50W Antex temperature-controlled thing that hooks up to a 660TC base station. Works quite well, and isn't as prone to thermal runaway as the non-regulated irons. Cheap irons tend to go bang if the bit isn't locked on properly - the bit is used to regulate the temperature (to some degree). The other nice thing about temperature controlled kit is that you don't tend to lift the tracks off the board as much - I had an iron that hit 400C and literally cooked PCBs. Switched to the 660TC and set the temperature to a reasonable level and I managed to solder a PCB without burning it to the point where it looked as if it had been thrown in a fire... Later. -- Phil. | Acorn Risc PC600 Mk3, SA202, 64MB, 6GB, EraseMEphilpemspam_OUTTakeThisOuTphilpem.me.uk | ViewFinder, 10BaseT Ethernet, 2-slice, http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | 48xCD, ARCINv6c IDE, SCSI ... A clean desk is a sign of a -sick- min

Good one Jinx!!!!! lmao!!! Carey > -----Original Message----- > From: piclist-bouncesspam_OUTmit.edu > [@spam@piclist-bouncesKILLspammit.edu]On Behalf Of Jinx > Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 9:03 AM > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > Subject: Re: [OT] Solder fumes? > > > > > I've been a ham since I was 14 and I've always > > held solder in my mouth when I need a third hand. > > It hasn't hurt me any - see attached picture. > > Carey > > Ugh - that's the worst "before" picture I've ever seen > > --