Hi All,
I have posted this on another forum that I follow and have so far, not received any comments or feedback and wondered if anyone here had experienced the same issue?
I recently repaired a soldered joint that had started leaking but later became concerned that I had inadvertently used the wrong solder, as I had rolls of ordinary and 'lead free' together on my workbench. To put my mind at ease, I purchased a lead testing kit from eBay which consisted of swabs that you make damp with water and rub on the item or area that you want to test and if it turns red, it indicates the presence of lead.
I decided to try one on a soldered joint that was definitely made with 'lead free' solder and much to my dismay, the swab turned red.
I then tested a few more of my original joints and some samples from the two different rolls of 'lead free' solder that I purchased specifically after reading about the dangers of lead.
I was horrified to see that in each case the test proved positive.
I am now pondering what to do, as I have invested considerable time and money in the project and more importantly, wonder how many other people out there must be running their equipment, completely unaware and oblivious to the fact that the 'lead free' solder they used is not quite what they thought?
GTC