Lead-free solder and audio quality.

[pseudoid]

Old one that still works is a comfort.

My comfort food when I am soldering interconnects is "Silver" solder.
I have a good stash of it (meaning "old)

...The biggest curse in audio is our age...

I would call that a blessing... but that is my imo and respect that ymmv.

Also the higher temperature required makes it possible that certain components could sustain damage if the heat is applied for too long a duration.

... "...the Sn-Ag-Cu ternary eutectic melting point (217 °C) is below the 22/78 Sn-Ag (wt.%) eutectic of 221 °C and the 59/41 Sn-Cu eutectic of 227 °C. Those 10 degrees may be important... "

 

[Sokel]

My comfort food when I am soldering interconnects is "Silver" solder.
I have a good stash of it (meaning "old)

I would call that a blessing... but that is my imo and respect that ymmv.

I have a good bit of silver too but I use it only at the end and not when fooling around as usual
Chip Quik is soldered by itself

 

[TheBatsEar]

But the leaded solder will sound old-timey and smooth.

Unleaded solder needs higher temperature to get soldered, so it sounds warmer.

 

[pseudoid]

Unleaded solder needs higher temperature to get soldered, so it sounds warmer.

but

Stopped reading right there and then. Leaded vs unleaded ...

Exactly !
What I wanna know is when this thread is gonna get to discussing the ESG virtues 87 vs 91+ octane?

 

[fpitas]

What I wanna know is when this thread is gonna get to discussing the ESG virtues 87 vs 91+ octane?

Frankly if we warn one innocent about the scourge of Martin Colloms, it's all worth it.

 

[Moonbase]

Definitely lots of considerations for using tin/lead solder verss lead free, mainly around temp and quality/easy of soldering good joints. Never heard of sound quality as being a reason .

 

[thegeton]

Martin Colloms often makes no sense, tho

Often?

 

[Cbdb2]

I once had a chat with an engineer who helped design satellites. He told me that lead-free solder had some drawbacks when used in spacecraft, mostly brittle joints that are prone to failing. This is not an issue if it happens on Earth, but it would turn your spacecraft into floating space junk and cost millions of dollars.

I don't know whether the same is true for aircraft because you certainly don't want a solder joint failing and taking out vital electronics while you are in the air.

Might be the extreme temperatures in space.

 

[NTK]

I once had a chat with an engineer who helped design satellites. He told me that lead-free solder had some drawbacks when used in spacecraft, mostly brittle joints that are prone to failing. This is not an issue if it happens on Earth, but it would turn your spacecraft into floating space junk and cost millions of dollars.

I don't know whether the same is true for aircraft because you certainly don't want a solder joint failing and taking out vital electronics while you are in the air.

Might be the extreme temperatures in space.

Lead-free solder is more prone to tin whisker formation.

NASA Goddard Tin Whisker Homepage

See slides starting from slide 41:

https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/reference/tech_papers/2011-kostic-Pb-free.pdf

 

[RayDunzl]

Lead soldering is allowed for pace maker electronics because the end result is more reliable in time.

I was looking forward to getting a Plutonium powered pacemaker, but I guess I'll be out of luck when the time comes.

Facts about pacemakers

The Off-Site Source Recovery Program recovers unwanted, excess, and abandoned radioactive sealed sources.

osrp.lanl.gov

 

[Keith_W]

Lead-free solder is more prone to tin whisker formation.

NASA Goddard Tin Whisker Homepage

See slides starting from slide 41:

https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/reference/tech_papers/2011-kostic-Pb-free.pdf

Now that you mention it, that's what he said ... tin whiskers. Apparently they break off and cause short circuits.

 

[jhaider]

One should ignore Martin Colloms.

And crimp connections when possible (obviously not parts on a PCB) rather than solder.