Ivan, others,
I am not trying to deliberately extend this discussion but so far I
have not seen any mention of the front end effects. The mining of Lead and it's
associated environmental issues. Sure it is found naturally in the ground and
it has been there for a long time. So is uranium, radon and a host of other
much more nasty materials but they usually do not raise a significant health
hazard left in their natural state. Start mining it and now it is in the air,
the water, falling off the sides or backs of dump trucks and conveyors, washing
into streams or water reservoirs. Then you smelt it, more lead enters the
environment. Not to mention all of the energy input that goes into this process.
Other metal alloys also have similar energy inputs so that is not so
much a green or greener issue.
The one issue that I question, I don't have a thorough knowledge of the
details, who's products have lead content that account for greater than 0.1% of
the product weight? Seems to me that a lot of PCB assemblies are just going to
skirt the whole issue based solely on this weight exclusion. Any comments?
Sincerely,
Brad Velander
Senior PCB Designer
Northern Airborne Technology
1925 Kirschner Rd.,
Kelowna, BC, V1Y 4N7.
tel (250) 763-2329 ext. 225
fax (250) 762-3374
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Bagotronix Tech Support
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 11:56 AM
To: OT Forum (Techserv); "Indrek Rebane"
Subject: [OT] Re: [PEDA] Lead free re design
Hi, Indrek:
> > I enjoy nature and green spaces as much as anyone, but some of the
> > greenies' ideas of conservation are scientifically unsound. This
> > lead-free solder is one of them.
>
> And your reasoning is? Assume that CRT's and Pb-batteries are properly
> recycled.
My reasoning is that lead-free solder joints are not as reliable over the
long term as lead-full solder joints. We won't know the real facts on this
until lead-free has been in actual field use for several more years. Early
indications do not look favorable, from what I have seen and read. What
good are lead-free products if you have to produce 3 of them to get the same
operational lifetime as 1 lead-full product? Then there are the costs of
service calls, etc. Yes, my CRT's and batteries are recycled, their
cost-benefit ratio for recycling is good since they contain large amounts of
lead.
____________________________________________________________
You are subscribed to the OT discussion forum
To Post messages:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe and Other Options:
http://techservinc.com/mailman/listinfo/ot_techservinc.com
Browse or Search Old Archives (2001-2004):
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
Browse or Search Current Archives (2004-Current):
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
