free solder

[electoyd]

Hi

got 2 full reels of maplins lead free solder (practically unused), not my scene to use this stuff,  But if it's good enough for you its yours for postage, let me know.

cheers

ian

[Circuitbenders]

i'm tempted to take it off your hands just to give it a decent burial 

[electoyd]

yeah i know what you mean, but i hate things to go to waste no matter how shit.  I thought if someone is skint or not that bothered then it is probably good enough for them.  They are quite big reels, 100g i think but could be wrong.

[Bogus Noise]

I'm scared to say I might go for it now! 

What's the problems with lead free then? I had a tube of leaded ages back but it was when I was still pretty new to soldering, so wouldn't have known the difference at the time. Is the Maplins stuff particularly bad?

[electoyd]

the main problem with lead free is that it doesn't flow as well as leaded esp on fine soldering, also i would say that solder points won't be as strong.  Its good enough for some, not for others i suppose it all depends how seriously you take what your doing.  I have used lead free when i first started and some of the toys i made 7 years ago are still going strong, it can be bad for developing short circuits though, but i always used to use a tiny bit of hot glue on solder points to stop things moving against each other when i used lead free. 

On the plus side it wont give you horrendous lead poisoning and its free, so i would weigh up the options and email me if you want it.  If it was a wee bit i would probably chuck it, but there is almost 200g there, seems a shame if someone can use it.

[Circuitbenders]

It certainly does the job, just don't use it on a double sided thru hole circuitboard unless you're absolutely sure you've got it right first time. Getting any components out again without destroying the solder pads won't be much fun.

[electoyd]

Yeah i would agree. the solder is the 95%sn (silver/nickel i think) from Maplin, to be honest i dont think it is the worst of the lead free solder that is available,  probably be good for a beginner.