What type of solder do you use most often?

Life in Norway from my perspective:

There is good and bad in Norway, as in all places. The Norwegian values and perspective on life in general are more in line with my own than anywhere i have lived, so that is very good for me. A lot of nice people, but also a few crazy ones as well. In my opinion, Norway is an exceedingly beautiful country when we get nice summer weather - but that happens rarely and i have experienced (on multiple occasions) up to 3 years in a row where the summers were what i would call "green winters". The summers here are far too short and the winters far too long for my taste.

Not having much of any value, i am dependent on an income to survive. I have been having great difficulty finding work after i passed 50, and now after passing 60 it is almost impossible for me. So life is very difficult for me. I am hoping that this engagement leads to employment, but so far they are saying that they do not get enough orders to justify hiring any more people - so i am not optimistic. I do not know what i will do if this attempt also fails.

I've read about higher melting point being an issue with some temperature sensitive components, but apparently most of the complains about non-lead solder come from those that do wire soldering. There are some low temperature melting point solders based on bismuth and indium, but they more are expensive too. Then there is this Sn-whiskers issue too, but I've never seen anything like that.

Anyway, how is life in Norge? Is it a nice country to live and work?

Eight months ago i got an engagement for a year at a Norwegian company that produces geological, meteorological, and hydrologic equipment. They are ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified. In order to become certified they had to - among other things - use lead free solder. I found it difficult at first, but it did not take me very long to get used to the lead free solder they use. But a big reason for this is most probably that they use top notch quality tools/equipment - that is always an important factor if one is to do a good job. We use high quality Weller soldering irons there (and i have an even higher quality one privately at home) and the solder that we use is Felder ISO-CORE EL SN100NI+. The temperature of the soldering iron is dependent on a number of factors, but for most of the work i do 380 deg. Celsius is perfect.  In the beginning i was of the opinion that using a soldering tip with a width of about 1.6 mm would be best since most of the things that i solder are small, but i was forced to used one that was about 3 mm. It turns out that that dimension actually works best for me (and my colleagues).

I see no reason to go back to using lead based solder at this point in time as i am very comfortable with the tools that i am using and the quality of my work. But - that said - i should add that i am constantly trying to improve and believe it is important to constantly assess my results under the different situations with a view to achieving that goal.

A hot enough iron and flux does the trick. And some practice.

I tried lead-free but the results were poor and it messed up the tip of my soldering iron. Probably ignorance on my part in how best to use it but I like the smell of the old stuff and it works well for me.

I only have experience with tin-lead, but I plan to move to lead-free at some point, although I'm a still a bit concerned about its higher melting temperature and soldering difficulty. As it is now, I end up washing my hands very often when soldering.

I have used lead-free but for most projects, the standard tin/lead solder of the finest gauge is the way to go- especially for SMD stuff.

I am still using spools of solder I purchased in the 1970's.

Yes, I know they are older than a lot of you.

DAB

I still use 60/40 Sn/Pb at home. I recommend a thin diameter (0.5 mm) with multi-core flux - only a few manufacturers do that.

If the electronics is later disposed properly, the environmental risks are on the same level as with non-leaded electronics. Plus, the joints can withstand more stress, which makes the electronics last longer.

In my opinion, it is more ecological to own one device (contaning lead) for many years, compared to buying and throwing a lead-free device every two years.

I have both on my bench, but whenever I actually go to build a kit or something on vero, I always reach for the 60/40. The lead free reel hasn't seen much action - the slightly mottled looking joints are less appealing, the flux smells ... strange and it doesn't seem to wet as well as the 60/40. Needing higher temperatures is a bit of a pain ... but on the other hand, I don't see lead being such a big danger either especially if it's just a repair of a few joints in something inside an enclosure on just one or two units. Or maybe because I'm already mad due to lead poisoning ... jkzjkz.

- Gough