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lets see a show of hands

#25440

lets see a show of hands | 12 August, 2003

With components all switching to lead free, I'm just wondering how many of you in the US have switched to lead free soldering processes? How many of you are playing with lead free and have a plan to implement it into your process? I'm interested in who jumped onboard and why. To be green? To ship product to Europe? I think everyone knows the opinions and both the pros and cons of lead free, so I'm hoping we don't get into them.

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BBT

#25441

lets see a show of hands | 12 August, 2003

Just a note about the EU and no-lead. Not all products are subject to the EU legislation on no-lead. I'm told its consumer electronics, PC, mobile telephones, telephones, games, automotive, etc... those that find themselves into the waste stream. And those that are sold to consumers. Buisness to business like SuperComputers, Robots, Machines of various types are exempt. This is what I'm hearing. Got to read the law carefully, that goes into effect Jul 06. No-Lead, No-Sh..T. A fact too is that less than 1% of all lead waste that goes into the environment is electronics products- but they have to bust our balls.

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#25442

lets see a show of hands | 13 August, 2003

I work for a avonics company and the decesion by the company is that we will move over to LF kicking and screaming. They did the same when I took the 1,1,1,Trichlorethene away due to government regulations. Be carefull when any governmental organization exampts certian segments because once the regulations are in place it is easy for them to remove the exemptions.

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CAL

#25446

lets see a show of hands | 13 August, 2003

You have not seen kicking and screaming as 1,1,1,Trichlorethene phase out actually had a drop in process with cleaning soaponifier options. Lead Free is not a drop in process by any means. Gary I hope the kicking will be with soft shoes my friend.We here are waiting as implimentation dates keep changing/sliding...and the alternatives are actually environmentally worse than leadfree.But with that being said great strides had been made by the solder manufacturers in getting a usable paste.

Cookson Electronics has actually been doing tons of work in Lead free (Understood why when you have materials and machines) Here is the link...

http://www.cooksonelectronics.com/greenline/ppt/leadfree/Lead-free_modified_files/frame.htm

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Dean

#25451

lets see a show of hands | 13 August, 2003

We have two major industry leading customers that are driving a lead free process. We have chosen to embrace it, invest in the technology and process and become a regional leader in lead-free process. Like most companies we kept current on the trends and publications (what little there has been) and waited until a driving force (our customers) brought up their needs. Our current relationship is that of manufaturing research partners for global lead free process development.

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Stephen

#25452

lets see a show of hands | 14 August, 2003

I just recently heard a new phrase "following the followers" instead of following the leaders. Getting rid of lead in electronics does not make the environment better because the replacements are worse.

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#25454

lets see a show of hands | 14 August, 2003

We can solder and clean lead-free in well-controlled and stable processes. We have no reason to believe that products made with lead-free will be reliabile. We know that lead-free soldering is worse for the environment than other less costly processes. While our customers don�t know �lead-free� from �schmed-free�, they do expect reliable and reasonably priced products.

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#25455

lets see a show of hands | 14 August, 2003

Hi All,

I enjoyed this discussion and applaud the quote from Stephen �following the followers�. I�m President/Technical Advisor in a flux and solder Mfg. Company and have so far resisted marketing lead-free and VOC free products, because at this point no objective scientific research with empirical data exist supporting reliability of the individual products not to talk about the combination of the two. I specially don�t understand the environmental issues. Lead is not man made it comes from mother nature, we dig it out of the ground �use it for a while� and than put it back where it was coming from in the first place. Where is the problem? Just don�t eat it or put it in a landfill close to a well. I would also like to follow and participate in a VOC free discussion, because we all know that water-soluble chemistry is per definition corrosive and conductive. The promoters of VOC free fluxes are well aware of that fact, but good sales people they are, refer to their fluxes as water based, not water soluble (am I missing something ???)

Both topics lead-free and VOC free are sales driven not scientific or environmental and it�s encouraging to see resistance in our industry. I believe we have other priorities in this economy.

To finish on the subject, when I board a plain I'm not concerned about terrorists, but very concerned about the reliability of the electronics in the plain.

Keep up the good work, Patrick

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iman

#25596

lets see a show of hands | 26 August, 2003

LOL

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