Not hard to get 60Sn/40Pb solder at all. Here's some from Marlon Jones http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15345+TL Cheers, Chuck

On 2 Oct 2007 at 21:32, woodelf wrote: Okay, how's this? http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270171180127 Cheers, Chuck

woodelf wrote: When last I looked CPC still had leaded solder for sale. It is (AFAIK) perfectly OK to purchase and use. Theoretically there may be some issues if you decide to produce new widgets at home in order to sell (or even give) them to others, but in practice I think you'd have to ring the HSE and beg to get them to come round and prosecute. Similarly, I expect that if you rang and said "I have what amounts to a machine tool workshop, do I have to follow the full elven safety rules" you'd have a hard time getting one of them to say "No, feel free, do what you like". On the other hand, I'd be somewhat surprised if they turned up on your doorstep one day. Antonio No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.13.39/1045 - Release Date: 02/10/2007 18:43

BOth RS (which is NOT Radio Shack, OK) and Farnell have tin/lead solder listed on their websites (I checked earlier this evening) and neither seems to say 'avaialble until stocks exhausted'. I don't think there's any real problem yet in getting it over here. -tony

On Wed, 3 Oct 2007, Curt @ Atari Museum wrote: Quite likely a combinatorial multiplier, less likely a flash A-D. Peter Wallace

ISTR one of the early rags (Kilobaud? Microsystems?) describing a board using one of these things, a 16x16 multiplier by TRW (MPY-16?), circa 1977-78 or so. ISTR the thing was really power hungry. Cheers, Chuck On 7 Sep 2008 at 18:11, steve stutman wrote:

On 10/3/07, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: Maplin have stopped selling it entirely. Look in the latest catalogue - it's not in there. Ed.

One I think that for lead free solder, in order to make a proper connection, you need an alternate plane of reality. You know, one where the laws of physics are different. Lead free solder doesn't flow, doesn't stick properly, and barely even melts completely. Cold joints are assured in most circumstances. I accidentally bought a roll of it once. I kept tring to use it at different times figuring "Well, maybe with this iron" or "maybe since I'm just soldering two wires together". Not only that, but it smells bad when it melts. So far, I have found that I can use it only as a paperweight. It does that pretty good. Lead free solder == total garbage. Neat idea, but it doesn't work. -Ian

--- Patrick Finnegan <pat at computer-refuge.org> wrote: Perhaps. Perhaps from the manufacturing standpoint, it is usable in a wave-solder machine or similar. But I have never once achieved satisfactory results with it. I've also seen several very recent things fail due to bad soldering. Of course, TV manufacturers have never quite gotten the hang of soldering, even with standard 60/40 leaded solder, so I guess that isn't much of a sticking point. I don't know - I even tried my 100 watt soldering gun on it. Nasty stuff. Also, probably a very good point. -Ian

While not using lead-free solder in electronics construction, I'm exposed to it in musical instrument construction and repair, as many insruments now originate in the EU and even some Chinese brands have turned to using it. It has been an interesting experience adapting to using it. I'd usually have two alloys of leaded solder on hand--63/37 "eutectic" solder (it's either liquid or solid, but not "plastic") for most work, and 50/50 for those times when I needed to fill a gap (has a comparatively broad "plastic" range and so can be worked a bit before it sets. Lead-free is different to work with, but not awfully so. Generally, most eutectic alloys melt at a higher temperature than the 63/37 alloy. The type of flux seems to be more critical--but then, I use liquid acid fluxes, so that may not obtain in electronics work. Lead-free is generally harder and stronger than leaded when cool. For non-eutectic solders, the plastic range "feels" different--the solder seems to be a bit more "grainy" (like wet sawdust) than "smooth" (like cake batter), but that's subjective and the plastic phase shouldn't be part of proper electronics work anyway. "Wetting" seems to be somewhat more difficult with lead-free, but good, strong joints can still be made if done with sufficient care (very clean surfaces, sufficient heat and flux). On the plus side, I'm sometimes called on to repair small cracks or splits in silverplated brass. Doing so with leaded solders usually means spot-plating (copper, then silver) over the repaired area because lead stains silver surfaces rather badly. With silver-tin alloy solder, I can make the repair, then simply buff the solder to blend in with the surrounding silver--it's very difficult to see when finished--and I don't need to fuss with the silver cyanide plating solution. I've also been given to understand that it's not a good thing to mix the two types of solder, so I don't. For me, that means cleaning old joints down to the base metal before resoldering. If you're interested, NIST has published a table of properties at: http://www.boulder.nist.gov/div853/lead%20free/props01.html In conclusion, I don't think that lead-free solder should be a barrier to anyone's work, if the effort to learn how to use it well is made. ------ On a side issue, I've been wanting to learn to use the solder-flux paste used in surface-mount work. One thing that's been off-putting is the very low shelf life of the stuff--and the need for refrigeration (raising shipping costs). Does anyone make a two-part solder, where the metal and flux are combined just before use? Cheers, Chuck

Hi, Ian Primus said: I've been using it for repairs to lead-free equipment for a year or more now with no problems. You *do* need an iron with a tip temp of around 370 deg C and capable on maintaining that temperature while you're making the joint. In my experience the solder with a small amount, 4% or so, of silver flows signifcantly better then the plain tin/copper stuff. -- Cheers, Stan Barr stanb at dial.pipex.com The future was never like this!

Sounds exactly like Rat Shack (aka Radio Shack) in the US. They still stock some parts, but quite honestly it seems to be a rather odd mix. They're more interested in Cell Phones, cheap stereo equipment, and cheap electronic toys. Zane

It's like Tandy/Radio Shack _used_ to be over here, sure. About 20 years ago there was Tanfy, who sold Lo-Fi, portable TVs, etc and a few components. And there was Maplin who sold components, electronic kits [1] and little else. And the shops had at least the common things, like 10k resistors, 74LS00s, DB25 connectors, etc in stock. [1] Some of those kits were specific to Maplin, and were quite complicated. I remember building the Nicam TV tuner/decoder, for example. A lot of R's and C's and I had to align the IF strip when I'd built it. In the old days I bought quite a it of stuff from Maplin. Now just about the only thing I buy from Maplins is propan-2-ol, amasingly they keep spray cans of that in stock at the shops. I got to RS or Farnell for components. The only real prolem is cable. Maplin used to do a good rangem, and sell it by the metre (well, ribbon cable in 30cm multiples). TS/Farnell generally only sell large (50m, 100m) reels. No prolem if I'm buying single-core wire, I use 100m in not-too-long, and it's not expensive. It is a prolem if I have to pay \pounds 300.00 for a reel of multi-core cale when all I need is 1m, and I can't see ever needing the rest... -tony