RoHS, practically speaking

[Walter Harley]

My mom-and-pop business makes and sells electronic widgets used by
musicians. Assembly is by hand. Primary market is USA, but I also sell
into Europe on rare occasion.

I'm trying to understand whether RoHS will have any practical impact on me.
Have seen some discussion on this ng, but still have some questions:

1) Do I need to worry about compliance? When it takes effect, will I be
unable to sell my goods in Europe any more, or will no one be paying
attention?

2) It already seems that many components are available in Pb-free packages,
and some are *only* available that way. Do I need to treat Pb-free packages
differently for assembly? (I.e., does solder stick to 'em the same?)

3) Is it feasible to move to Pb-free assembly, for my tiny manual operation?
What kind of solder and PCBs do I need to use, and do I still use the same
soldering techniques?

Any advice welcome.

Thanks,
-walter

 

[Rene Tschaggelar]

Walter Harley wrote:

My mom-and-pop business makes and sells electronic widgets used by
musicians. Assembly is by hand. Primary market is USA, but I also sell
into Europe on rare occasion.

I'm trying to understand whether RoHS will have any practical impact on me.
Have seen some discussion on this ng, but still have some questions:

1) Do I need to worry about compliance? When it takes effect, will I be
unable to sell my goods in Europe any more, or will no one be paying
attention?

2) It already seems that many components are available in Pb-free packages,
and some are *only* available that way. Do I need to treat Pb-free packages
differently for assembly? (I.e., does solder stick to 'em the same?)

3) Is it feasible to move to Pb-free assembly, for my tiny manual operation?
What kind of solder and PCBs do I need to use, and do I still use the same
soldering techniques?

Walter,
the components have to be leadfree to start with, then comes
the leadfree soldering. This is where the problem starts.
There is a multitude of solders with Tinn-Silver-and such,
their melting temp is at 220 compared to the 188 of the usual
tinn-lead solder. The leadfree solder is less reliable and
therefore there are some exemtions for the car industry, for
other safety relevant parts and such.
Plus the silver in the leadfree is know for growing several
mm long whiskers which can shorten a 1206 and below.
This whiskering can be avoided by a teperature treatment at
230 degrees. This is doable unless you use prefabricated units
which have some solder inside. These prefabricated units used
to have hightemperature solder inside to prevent melt during
the usual sooldering process. Now this marging for the
prefabricated units is grown rather narrow.

Who will pay attention ?
This is hard to say. Since the usual certification is self done
in Europe, I guess this applies here too. This then means
a customer or competitor can rise doubts about you adhering
to the rules and you'll have to prove that they do, and
bring up some papers from your manufacturers and/or testing lab.

Rene
--
Ing.Buero R.Tschaggelar - http://www.ibrtses.com
& commercial newsgroups - http://www.talkto.net

 

[Pooh Bear]

Walter Harley wrote:

My mom-and-pop business makes and sells electronic widgets used by
musicians. Assembly is by hand. Primary market is USA, but I also sell
into Europe on rare occasion.

I'm trying to understand whether RoHS will have any practical impact on me.
Have seen some discussion on this ng, but still have some questions:

1) Do I need to worry about compliance? When it takes effect, will I be
unable to sell my goods in Europe any more, or will no one be paying
attention?

As far as I can tell, no-one will be paying attention. Been pretty much the same
for the CE marking required for safety and EMC.

2) It already seems that many components are available in Pb-free packages,
and some are *only* available that way. Do I need to treat Pb-free packages
differently for assembly? (I.e., does solder stick to 'em the same?)

I think *normal* solder will wet most things..

3) Is it feasible to move to Pb-free assembly, for my tiny manual operation?
What kind of solder and PCBs do I need to use, and do I still use the same
soldering techniques?

Various solders are available - some include silver or copper and other various
metals including bismuth IIRC. No-one seems to have decided what's best.

Lead free processing requires at least a 50C increase in processing temps. The
solder joints *always* look dull too.

Graham

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Mon, 23 May 2005 12:48:00 +0100, the renowned Pooh Bear
<rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote:

Walter Harley wrote:

2) It already seems that many components are available in Pb-free packages,
and some are *only* available that way. Do I need to treat Pb-free packages
differently for assembly? (I.e., does solder stick to 'em the same?)

I think *normal* solder will wet most things..

Shelf-life of (unassembled) RoHS-compliant components & boards may not
be as good as the older ones.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

 

[Pooh Bear]

Spehro Pefhany wrote:

On Mon, 23 May 2005 12:48:00 +0100, the renowned Pooh Bear
rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote:


Walter Harley wrote:

2) It already seems that many components are available in Pb-free packages,
and some are *only* available that way. Do I need to treat Pb-free packages
differently for assembly? (I.e., does solder stick to 'em the same?)

I think *normal* solder will wet most things..

Shelf-life of (unassembled) RoHS-compliant components & boards may not
be as good as the older ones.

Hmmm - that's going to be great for lab work where you normally keep a small stock
of regularly used parts. I can see why samples are now arriving in vacuum bags.

I wonder what the effect is with socketed parts ?

Graham

 

[John Devereux]

"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> writes:

My mom-and-pop business makes and sells electronic widgets used by
musicians. Assembly is by hand. Primary market is USA, but I also sell
into Europe on rare occasion.

I'm trying to understand whether RoHS will have any practical impact on me.
Have seen some discussion on this ng, but still have some questions:

SNIP

I have a question:

Is there any process which would allow me to mix lead-free with
non-lead-free parts? (For SMT).

I realise the result would not be RoHS compliant! But it would be nice
to be able to have a transition period where I am using up the old
stock, while buying new stock as lead-free.


--

John Devereux

 

[Joerg]

Hello Walter,

A bit OT here but out of curiosity: You say on your web site that you
want to turn the biz into full time. Does it work? IOW, does it generate
decent revenue?

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[James Morrison]

On Sun, 2005-05-22 at 11:44 -0700, Walter Harley wrote:

My mom-and-pop business makes and sells electronic widgets used by
musicians. Assembly is by hand. Primary market is USA, but I also sell
into Europe on rare occasion.

I'm trying to understand whether RoHS will have any practical impact on me.
Have seen some discussion on this ng, but still have some questions:

1) Do I need to worry about compliance? When it takes effect, will I be
unable to sell my goods in Europe any more, or will no one be paying
attention?

From my understanding, as with most Eurpoean directives you will be
self-declaring. If you equipment has the right paperwork filled out and
the right logos (CE mark and TBD ROHS mark) then customs will let the
product into Europe. Note that the opposite is not necessarily true--it
may get in without it but not guaranteed.

Once inside Europe you _may_ be challenged and in that case you will
need to prove that your declarations are legit. For the ROHS case this
means that you know exactly what went into your product and that is all
meets the ROHS directive as an assembly.

There are fines in place if you try to pass yourself off as being
compliant but willfully are not. It is my understanding that you don't
have to be 100% correct you just need to show that you _thought_ you
were correct and that it is documented.

2) It already seems that many components are available in Pb-free packages,
and some are *only* available that way. Do I need to treat Pb-free packages
differently for assembly? (I.e., does solder stick to 'em the same?)

The soldering process is NOT the same. Pb-free solder must be heated to
a higher temperature and stay there longer for a proper joint. You will
have to check with your non-Pb-free packaging but this will usually go
over the recommended soldering temperature for those older packages.

So in theory you can use PB-free parts in the old process that is lower
temperature. This works as long as the "pin" is not made of solder
itself like on a BGA--in this case the ball needs to melt and will need
the higher temperature to do so properly. There also may be joint
issues using PB-based solder with PB-free pins. But there are so many
variations of each that its impossible to give just a simple rule.

I'd suggest talking with a assembly house and PCB fabrication house and
see if they can send you any information. You may want to cross
reference with a few different places.

3) Is it feasible to move to Pb-free assembly, for my tiny manual operation?
What kind of solder and PCBs do I need to use, and do I still use the same
soldering techniques?

Yes it is feasible but things do change. Exactly what solder to use is
a point of contention and the long-term reliability of the solder joints
is difficult to predict.

My personal opinion is look at this in a slighty different way. Instead
of trying to simply comply to whatever legislation is around I'd rather
do some research and use the minimal impact on the environment as a
marketing feature of the end product. Given that it looks like your
business caters to high-end audio I think you may find that this
approach will give you an edge. Go beyond what is simply required by
legislation and do The Right Thing (TM)--we'll all be better off for it.

James.

 

[Walter Harley]

"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:3jqke.787$rY6.199@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...

Hello Walter,

A bit OT here but out of curiosity: You say on your web site that you want
to turn the biz into full time. Does it work? IOW, does it generate decent
revenue?

Well, I spent about half a year doing nothing but audio, and then some of my
old software buddies made me a contracting offer I couldn't refuse... So
audio is back to part-time; actively pursued but only a couple hours a day.
The contracting gig will end at some point, and then I'll be back to chasing
audio full-time.

I don't expect audio to ever make me rich. I'm neither a great engineer nor
a great entrepreneur, although I do seem to manage to satisfy my customers;
and there are plenty of other people wanting to do the same thing as me. I
just want it to make me enough money that I can afford to keep doing it.

The business was turning a profit, but not enough of one to pay myself
decently. Most of the revenue came either from sound reinforcement or from
broadcast studio work (installations and maintenance); but that kind of
work, while fun, doesn't pay so well. The one product I manufacture sells
at a steady, but slow, pace; not enough to pay the rent. I'm working on
another product that will be more profitable.

-w

 

[Pooh Bear]

JeffM wrote:

The contracting gig will end at some point,
and then I'll be back to chasing audio full-time.
Walter Harley

It's better that you chase it than it do this to you:
http://www.google.com/images?q=88Maxell_Ad1b

Hah ! Audio tape. That's becoming pretty rare now.

Graham