I never thought of this… lead exposure…

Locrian99

Locrian99

Well-known member
So I take my 5 year old to his annual wellness exam and I’m sitting there going through the questionaire. Tucked in there amongst the does anyone want to hurt me or my child, or can I afford food, is do you do anything with lead specifically mentions soldering. So i mark yes, the wife gives the look…

After everything is done Dr asks about doing a lead test because he has high probability of being exposed. Asks what I do with soldering go through the whole explanation of its a hobby. Seperate room, i use a fan with a carbon filter and he never touches the solder. But say yes as if there is exposure I want to know and fix it. Man i felt like a bad parent for a minute as it is the music room and he comes in and bangs on the piano, guitars, drum pads etc in here but I’ve always been clear to keep away from touching the solder.

He came back fine well within the normal limits but man never even thought about that being a concern at the drs office on a form
 
I think somewhere on here, someone mentioned "treat lead solder like raw chicken and you'll be fine"

I've thought about getting a test myself, but maybe it's too late for me 🫪
 
Can you fix lead exposure? AFAIK no amount of lead is safre for humans. I wash my hands all the time when soldering - before, after major batches of joints, and after using the tools.
I think it's time to try lead-free solder but I know I'll be disappointed.
 
I wash my hands after soldering/before I eat and I finally got a little desktop fume filter thingy. Hopefully that's enough.. if the doctor ever asks at a check up/physical or something I guess maybe I'll found out then
 
Betty Wont said:
When I was a kid my dad taught me to bite down on lead fishing sinkers to get a good tight grip on the line. To this day I love the taste and texture of lead in my mouth. I did NOT teach my kids this.
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I forgot about that, i still bite down on those split shot sinkers.
 
Damn is it THAT dangerous soldering for an hour or two at a time? I wash my hands before soldering but don’t have a fume extractor and don’t really wash my hands afterwards unless I’m about to eat. I’ve never really thought about it…maybe it’s time to get one.
 
I wash my hands after soldering and my setup is down in the basement away from everything else. I try not to breathe it in. No amount of lead is safe, especially for developing children
 
I wash my hands all the time too. I have a little Hakko extractor fan which keeps the fumes away from my face, but someone here explained that a soldering iron is nowhere near hot enough to vaporise lead so breathing in fumes shouldn't be an issue. Flux fumes are bad so that's why I use the fan.

Research has suggested that the spate of serial killers in the '70s was due to lead in petrol while they were growing up. In the '60s and '70s kids in inner city areas where car emissions were bad had lots of mental issues. But I doubt your soldering will create a serial killer. I hope not. My son seems like a decent guy...

I remember when I was a kid going to visit newspapers on school trips. We visited the old guys on the linotype machines and could smell the sweet odour of lead. The linotype machine was connected to a vat of molten lead which is used to make up the metal type. Fortunately all that stuff is done on computer now and no lead is involved. Somewhere I have a slug of lead alloy with my name in reverse cast into it from that visit.
 
bluedmc777 said:
Damn is it THAT dangerous soldering for an hour or two at a time? I wash my hands before soldering but don’t have a fume extractor and don’t really wash my hands afterwards unless I’m about to eat. I’ve never really thought about it…maybe it’s time to get one.
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From what WHO says, it's mainly through contaminated water, soil, etc.

The misnomer is that it comes from soldering fumes. While it can come from fumes, this has to be from mass smelting or other contaminated waste burning where the lead can get closer to it's boiling point, much higher than soldering temps. But still, the flux (visible) fumes aren't good for you either, so a extractor is recommended.

I don't think it's so much from skin contact, but more from soft tissue, secondary exposure, like ingestion. Still, good to wash up after contact and properly dispose of waste should be enough as long as small critters aren't eating the blobs from the tip cleaner.
 
andare said:
Can you fix lead exposure? AFAIK no amount of lead is safe for humans. I wash my hands all the time when soldering - before, after major batches of joints, and after using the tools.
I think it's time to try lead-free solder but I know I'll be disappointed.
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I've been using I think this one https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/kester-solder/24-9574-7618/3660017 for a while now, and been quite happy with it.

I think for soldering it's fine, it's not really an issue. Desoldering can be a pain though, but even then I think it's better than other solders I've used before.

I think I'm still relatively young compared to most of the forum users (no disrespect intended), so I figured it's best to stay away from lead. Plus of course it's illegal here to use leaded solder if you're not a professional, so there's that too.
 
jessenator said:
From what WHO says, it's mainly through contaminated water, soil, etc.

The misnomer is that it comes from soldering fumes. While it can come from fumes, this has to be from mass smelting or other contaminated waste burning where the lead can get closer to it's boiling point, much higher than soldering temps. But still, the flux (visible) fumes aren't good for you either, so a extractor is recommended.

I don't think it's so much from skin contact, but more from soft tissue, secondary exposure, like ingestion. Still, good to wash up after contact and properly dispose of waste should be enough as long as small critters aren't eating the blobs from the tip cleaner.
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America and its lead problem is insane. Headscratching to see everyone still using leaded, but whatever:

"Researchers used blood-lead level, census and leaded gasoline consumption data to examine how widespread early childhood lead exposure was in the country between 1940 and 2015.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, they estimated that half the US adult population in 2015 had been exposed to lead levels surpassing five micrograms per deciliter – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention threshold for harmful lead exposure at the time.

The scientists from Florida State University and Duke University also found that 90% of children born in the US between 1950 and 1981 had blood-lead levels higher than the CDC threshold. And the researchers found significant impact on cognitive development: on average, early childhood exposure to lead resulted in a 2.6-point drop in IQ.

Via: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/07/lead-exposure-us-children-cognitive

And...

"Most American children are exposed to lead, a substance that is not safe at any level,” said co-author Dr Harvey Kaufman, a senior medical director at Quest Diagnostics, which led the study. According to the CDC, “[e]ven low levels of lead in blood have been shown to negatively affect a child’s intelligence, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement.”

“This is an entire United States issue,” Kaufman said. “It really is everywhere.” The nation’s programs to detect lead before it poisons children and to identify those who have been exposed are astoundingly slipshod.

“We literally are using the blood of our children as detectors of environmental contamination,” said Dr Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who helped to expose the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

States like Rhode Island, which requires all children to get two screenings for lead poisoning by age three, are investing in early detection of lead poisoning. But such initiatives also show the difficulty of removing the toxin from our everyday environments."

Via: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/08/lead-poisoning-crisis-us-children
 
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Fama said:
I've been using I think this one https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/kester-solder/24-9574-7618/3660017 for a while now, and been quite happy with it.

I think for soldering it's fine, it's not really an issue. Desoldering can be a pain though, but even then I think it's better than other solders I've used before.

I think I'm still relatively young compared to most of the forum users (no disrespect intended), so I figured it's best to stay away from lead. Plus of course it's illegal here to use leaded solder if you're not a professional, so there's that too.
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No Kester in Poland. The only lead free solder I can find is some Chinese crap that's probably worse than lead. Also can't find any soap for removing heavy metals.
I'll look into it again.
 
andare said:
No Kester in Poland. The only lead free solder I can find is some Chinese crap that's probably worse than lead. Also can't find any soap for removing heavy metals.
I'll look into it again.
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Suppose Banzaimusic has solders to choose from?

Fama said:
illegal here to use leaded solder if you're not a professional
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I think it’s more of you’re not able to buy lead containing solder unless you have a trade/business name. Haven’t really looked really into it, but I wouldn’t say it’s illegal to use. Using lead solder is all legal for repairing and assembling, but selling f.ex. circuits made with leaded is where things get to the illegal side. But f.ex. It’s okay for you to sell/buy used vintage pedal originally made with leaded solder AND repaired with matching leaded solder.

The laws are for to be reasoned with!
 
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I made the change to lead free a couple of months and I won’t go back.
What I got

I swear it feels a lot nicer to handle and the smell from soldering is worse in some ways more overwhelmingly better.

I’m still washing like crazy after working in the pedal room, but it doesn’t feel so bad. Maybe psychological, but if I had to start over then I wouldn’t do lead.

Performance wise, it needs a little more heat and doesn’t flow as nice at the start. Nothing which stops me from getting a good connection.

My POV is why bother the risk of lead?
 
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