Anyone purchased solder lately?

[Dave2000]

Needing to construct an electronic device to match my new PWM engine cooling fan controller to my dashboard I needed to get some more solder. In the past I had used the little tubes you get from the Chinese and found oxidized joints occur not long after construction, this apparently is down to the cheap solder.

So fair enough, my last order last week from RS components in Spain included a roll of high quality solder, in the pack was a couple of tickets listing the transistors, resistors and so forth and then the roll of solder had it's own ticket attached to the pack.

So what's wrong with that I hear you say? Well the ticket was attached to a EUROPEAN CONFORMITY document,........well not one, no not two.....nah....five would be too easy.......it is an incredible ELEVEN PAGES of A4 about the use of solder!

It is all in Spanish, which I concede I am not very good with but read some of it, and then asked my friend if she would confirm my suspicion and understanding that EVERY page was related to solder.

OK lines such as "if you get hot solder in your eyes go to the hospital", fine for idiots, or if you get hot solder on your skin, wash it off and got to the hospital", fine for people who are using a foundry to melt this roll of solder, and some important disposal instructions along with so much drivel it made our heads spin!

Now call me a cynic but is this really what the EU council sit and discuss and then regulate member countries which we have to pay for?

Anyone on the fence about brexit, THIS along with discussions about how curved bananas should be is why the EU should be dismantled, one non elected over paid greedy pension grabbing representative at a time!

Breathe Dave.......breathe......

Regards

Dave

 

[StarCruiser]

Justifying their own existence maybe?

 

[Julian T]

IMO the EU is an unelected civil service attempting to justify its existence.

 

[Dave2000]

Justifying their own existence maybe?

TRYING to justify maybe but, failing miserably!

Regards

Dave

 

[Dave2000]

IMO the EU is an unelected civil service attempting to justify its existence.

Yep, see above.

Regards

Dave

 

[clivehorridge]

OK, I realize that this thread is more about the EU than its title... solder, but what p!sses me off most is that solder these days doesn’t work!

Well, it doesn’t work as well as the good old-fashioned lead based solder used to, say 10 years ago.

They’ve spent so much time, effort and money ensuring that solder is Politically Correct, that outcome is (effectively) an outright ban of the commodity itself.

These are trivial things in the greater picture, but where will it all end?

We’ve already lost decent paint, creosote, solder and I don’t know what else, at the top of the list ATM is cars or the ICE, where is this going?

Plastic, which is the biggest curse on the planet since volcanoes and industrial pollution, is as good as unregulated.... WTF.

And then there’s the pending unstoppable 5G...??

Ok, my turn to breathe...

 

[Dave2000]

The solder I have purchased does have lead but unsure how much? Bet your life it is in one of the pages somewhere?

Regards

Dave

 

[flint]

Plastic, which is the biggest curse on the planet since volcanoes and industrial pollution, is as good as unregulated.... WTF.

Very good point ! At a time when we should be thinking about less harmful alternatives, the big oil companies (presumably worried about losing revenue) and others are pumping billions into building new plastics factories even though they knew of the damage being caused to the oceans back in the 70s.
http://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uplo...y-Awareness-of-the-Ocean-Plastics-Problem.pdf
http://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uplo...rnable-Coal-are-Driving-the-Plastics-Boom.pdf

 

[StarCruiser]

The plastic isn't the problem. It's partly the transport of the correctly sorted plastic from our recycle bins to countries half way round the world to be recycled when it could be done for a few pence more in the country of origin. It's also the casual disposal by people seeing the plastic as a worthless nuisance. If there was a refund on the items then much would be returned, I dare say cleared up as it then has a value. In India, people actually make their living clearing up plastic (and there's a lot of it).

 

[Shayne]

Aye but the EU has prevented war ever since WW2 , Hiroshima and Nagasaki had absolutely nothing to do with it honest , it was the Fourth Reich and their tolerate or be vilified mantra that saved us and made everyone live in peace and harmony prancing through the meadows hand in hand singing glory be to the Fuhrer .

Meanwhile in other news French riot police clash violently with French prison guards and prisoners though given popcorn while watching the show threaten to sue as the spectacle woke them 15 minutes early .

 

[clivehorridge]

Aye but the EU has prevented war ever since WW2 , Hiroshima and Nagasaki had absolutely nothing to do with it honest , it was the Fourth Reich and their tolerate or be vilified mantra that saved us and made everyone live in peace and harmony prancing through the meadows hand in hand singing glory be to the Fuhrer .

Meanwhile in other news French riot police clash violently with French prison guards and prisoners though given popcorn while watching the show threaten to sue as the spectacle woke them 15 minutes early .

...and what side of the bed did you get out of this morning, Shayne?

Entertaining though mate, 10/10 for that

Would be funny if there was no truth in it...

 

[Towpack]

The only real answer to plastic (and any other recycling issues) is to put some sort of tax or returnable deposit on said items. That way, anyone who doesn't give a hoot about recycling will also have to pay along with everyone else.

 

[clivehorridge]

The only real answer to plastic (and any other recycling issues) is to put some sort of tax or returnable deposit on said items. That way, anyone who doesn't give a hoot about recycling will also have to pay along with everyone else.

I agree.

However, these types of incentives cost money though, so either the deposit has to be punitive or the purchaser forfeits the deposit and dumps it in the forest.

The other option is to make the plastic biodegradable. This isn’t rocket science these days, i understand that for next to nothing extra (1 or 2 pence on an item) theres a choice of 1 year, 5 years, 10 years and upwards for decay times.

AFAIK, most plastics these days do degrade over the long term, but were talking 500 years plus maybe.

I’m no industrial chemist BTW, maybe it shows...

 

[Dave2000]

Well I did some soldering today, and took a moment to read the manufacturer's printing on the actual roll of solder.

'Substance or mixture is not classified as dangerous according to the Globally Harmonised System (GHS)'.

In other words there is already a worldwide agreement in place about usage safety and disposal. Perhaps the EU decided their system is better and went to work spending our cash despite an agreement already done and dusted, we are so lucky the EU is looking after our interests........as well as their own.

Regards

Dave

 

[clivehorridge]

Well I did some soldering today, and took a moment to read the manufacturer's printing on the actual roll of solder.

'Substance or mixture is not classified as dangerous according to the Globally Harmonised System (GHS)'.

In other words there is already a worldwide agreement in place about usage safety and disposal. Perhaps the EU decided their system is better and went to work spending our cash despite an agreement already done and dusted, we are so lucky the EU is looking after our interests........as well as their own.

Regards

Dave

Do I sense a minor undercurrent of sarcasm there Dave?

Surely not...

 

[Dave2000]

Do I sense a minor undercurrent of sarcasm there Dave?

Surely not...

As if Clive....as if.

Regards

Dave

 

[Towpack]

There was a feature on the news the other night about plastic use and recycling in Norway. To avoid a large tax per bottle, drinks manufacturers are only allowed to use 2 types of plastic which is easily recyleable into new bottles, even the labels on them and the glue used to stick them on is controlled. The price of the drink also includes a refundable deposit which is claimed back at collection stations (a bit like vending machines) in shops etc. The result is a very high recycle rate and very little waste. I would guess that once in place such schemes probably cost relatively little to run, it's just the initial cost of getting the logistics in place that is the 'problem'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-...ottle-scheme-that-could-help-clean-the-oceans

On the soldering front, I bought a reel of solder from a local electronics shop several years ago and the guy said he was down to his last few of 'the old stuff' with the higher lead content. Apparently the new solder alloy doesn't run as readily?

 

[chapel gate]

the single best thing that you can do for the planet is.. don't have children..

 

[Towpack]

the single best thing that you can do for the planet is.. don't have children..

Helps your bank balance too.

 

[chapel gate]

Lets not talk about the bank balance. ..