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# of Hours before stainless Wave solder damaged by Lead Free?

Proy

#35208

# of Hours before stainless Wave solder damaged by Lead Free? | 28 June, 2005

I'm looking for REAL data about how many hours of Lead Free (SAC) alloy run time it takes to really deteriorate or damage a stainless wave solder pot. Realistically if I TIN purge my wave solder pot, how long will it take to be damaged beyond use or repair? There are photos around of the damage, and marketing fluff on the subject, but I have never heard anybody say something like 100hrs, or 1500 hrs etc

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#35218

# of Hours before stainless Wave solder damaged by Lead Free? | 29 June, 2005

Hi,

I think that the time depends on the type of stainless steel, temperature and solder alloy. For example, one of our machines is delivered with 316 stainless pot and alloy SnNi. It worked six months (120days*16hours = 1920hours) and after inspection of the stainless it wasn't occurred corrosion. About SAC alloys, may be the best choice is coated steel because practical have no corrosion.

Best regards

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#35222

# of Hours before stainless Wave solder damaged by Lead Free? | 29 June, 2005

Many of the components will deteriorate at very different rates. This makes giving an hour rating difficult. If you read, http://www.speedlinetech.com/docs/EquipmentImpactsofLeadFreeWavesolderingAPEX2003BestUSPaper.pdf you will see they give inspection frequencies for the various materials.

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KEN

#35259

# of Hours before stainless Wave solder damaged by Lead Free? | 30 June, 2005

What your asking has many variables.

1. Material: SS vs. Cast Iron. Iron is thicker. Which SS? 316, 316L

2. Pump speeds, turbulence, hours of operation directly affect equipment life.

3. Things like scraping the pots, the tunnels, impeller housings...these all affect life span.

The bottom line is you will have problems...its just a matter of when.

I ran my first "temporary" pot with Tin/copper for about 1 year (ceramic pot on back-order). Tested quarterly. Negligible increase in Iron / Chrome / Nickel But, the volumes were very low that year and the machine ran infrequently. I changed the pot and pumps...and I did not see anything obviously deteriorated. But, again, very low hours of opertion.

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#35390

# of Hours before stainless Wave solder damaged by Lead Free? | 8 July, 2005

Hello Lupo, Can you confirm the alloy you are using is the nickel stabilized tin/copper alloy. Thanks, Bob

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#35391

# of Hours before stainless Wave solder damaged by Lead Free? | 8 July, 2005

Proy, Another issue is what exact formulation of SAC is used. Much of the SAC305 being used in Asia contains phosphorus, which is added in an attempt to reduce the heavy drossing that SAC305 produces. Phosphorus acts as a flux on steel so will increase the reaction rate of oxide dissolution on the surface of steel. I would be surprised if a solder manufacturer would sell you SAC305 knowing you are going to add it to an unprotected pot. Our policy is to ensure our customers have a protected pot for any of the SAC alloys. We do offer the nickel stabilized tin/copper alloy (SN100C) for existing machines and have seen no corrosion issue to date in over 400 pots converted worldwide.

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