this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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So my late uncle was working at Siemens and had a "little" home workshop/lab with resistors, capacitors, ICs, switches, soldering boards, wires and what there is. He learned something regarding radio (german: Nachrichtentechniker I think). Among others there was a self built radio clock (that got quite warm, plugged it out bc of safety concerns)

Now I am getting into microelectronics and roughly know what there is. But I only know that I should not use the leaded soldering tin (bc lead) - is there anything else that is unsafe because of old standards or aging? What should be safe to use?

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[–] einkorn@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago (3 children)

just handle it properly

Well, how does one handle leaded solder properly, then?

[–] FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Just wash your hands and don't lick it tbh. People handle much worse on the regular--most denatured alcohols are literally poisoned. People use them all the time directly on their skin and inhale the fumes the entire time, for example. I wouldn't personally work in a lead mine, but a little exposure by touching a bit of it will be fine.

[–] aubeynarf@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 2 days ago

soldering fumes are not lead, they are rosin. Those fumes can still be an irritant

Lick the solder. Got it.

[–] vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 2 days ago
[–] aubeynarf@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 2 days ago

i use nitrile gloves and am careful about solder debris; often doing the work on a piece of cardboard I can discard. I don’t sweep debris onto the floor or blow it away.