Solder fume protection.

[FranciscoPerez]

Hey!

Although I do this occasionally and almost exclusively for personal use, I already soldered several complete amps.
I do it at home, and I do not keep any special precautions other than usually keeping a window open to get some air flow inside the room.
However, I inevitably inhale some of the fume that comes out of the solder when heated from time to time.

Been reading here and there the risks of inhaling Pb, and the solder I use is made 40% from it.
So I wanted to ask you guys.
Do you wear some kind of breathing protection when soldering? What kind of solder do you usually work with?
Is it that dangerous, or the fume that the solder produces comes from the solder flux, and it's not Pb fume, being almost harmless?

Health comes first!!!! 
Thanks!!

Regards,
Fran

[sluckey]

or the fume that the solder produces comes from the solder flux, and it's not Pb fume, being almost harmless?

Yes, you're just smoking rosin.

[FranciscoPerez]

Thanks Sluckey! I guess I'm kinda hypochondriac :)

[eleventeen]

Find a dead computer power supply and a wall wart (wall transformer) that produces either 9 or 12 volts, AC or DC. Take apart the computer power supply. Keep the AC entry fitting for an amp and pull out the circuit board and everything except the fan. If your wall-wart produces AC: there is a bridge rectifier in the power supply, usually 4-in-line type. Take the half of the power supply that holds the fan, and on that sheet metal, mount the rectifier and an electrolytic of sufficient voltage rating from inside the power supply on the sheet metal. Add a switch, now you have a little stand with the fan on it which can either push or pull the fumes away. This one blows air into the vent on my laptop which gets hot enough to shut down on warm days. On this one, I doubled up the fan with the frame of a broken fan to help keep papers from entering the fan.


 

The one for my bench I just clamp on to a shelf.

[FranciscoPerez]

Great idea!, don't have any pc power supply at hand, but got a couple of big cpu fans that I could use for this   
No more rosin smoking

Thanks!!!

[G._Hoffman]

I just got an 80mm fan from the computer shop, and a 12V wall wart I scavenged from somewhere (I always keep the wall warts when I throw away some piece of junk electronics), and set that at one end of my bench blowing across whatever I'm soldering.  Works great.  I used to have a charcoal filter on it, and would try to suck the solder away, but the fan isn't nearly powerful enough to do that effectively.


Gabriel

[FranciscoPerez]

The fans I have are a bit bigger, 120mm, and seem to be quite powerful. It'll be great adding a charcoal filter on it.
Thanks Gabriel!

[FranciscoPerez]

Hi!
Finally used the pair of fans I had at hand. They're quite expensive and efficient, so it would maybe seem a little silly to use them for this purpose.
I can't find any better use for them at the moment rather than selling them, so I think i'll keep them for this.
Used an adjustable wall wart I had taking dust on the shelf. Its rated 300mA up to 12V DC. It's great cause you can manually adjust the speed of the fan.

Here's a picture in case you're curious about it.


Thanks for your ideas!!!

Regards,
Fran

[G._Hoffman]

I am glad you are thinking about addressing possible Pb fumes at home.  Both inhalation and oral means are ways of getting Pb into your system.   For a very conservative  view on the hazards search "MSDS Lead Tin solder" on the web.   

There are no lead fumes involved in soldering.  Lead's boiling point is 1,750 degrees Centigrade.  Not many soldering irons get anywhere near that hot. 

No, the fumes involved are from the flux.  Which is plenty bad enough, but definitely NOT lead. 


Gabriel

[Shrapnel]

Hi!
Finally used the pair of fans I had at hand. ...
Here's a picture in case you're curious about it.


Thanks for your ideas!!!

Regards,
Fran

  But you'll burn up your CPU without that thing attached!!! Especially taking the heatsink with the fans.  IF you burn up your CPU, you can't come visit here and talk or listen to us.

[FranciscoPerez]

  Well fortunately I have another pair of those running inside the workstation, which gets quite hot anyway during summertime here in Spain at 45 celsius.
Thanks drgonzonm and Gabriel, I took a look at a material safety datasheet and it's very conservative indeed!
Anyway, shouldn't hurt anybody to take some additional precautions like washing hands after soldering etc.

[sluckey]

Taking a shower can be deadly!