Old lead solder vs lead-free... which side are you on now?

My buddy and I got into it last night about solder types. He swears lead-free is fine for everything and says I'm stuck in the past. But I've been fixing old audio gear for 10 years now and I swear lead-free joints crack more on vintage boards. Last month I had to redo a whole receiver because the lead-free joints on the power supply failed after 6 months. On the other hand, I get that lead is bad for you and the environment. What do you all use for general repair work and why?

3 comments

3 Comments

jana5099d ago

Stuck in the past" hit me different cause I used to say the same thing about my old boss. Honestly I was all for lead-free until I fixed a 70s Marantz with it and had to reflow half the board a year later. Now I keep a roll of 60/40 for vintage gear and only use lead-free on newer stuff where it actually works.

colegarcia9d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? Like yeah you had one board fail but who's to say the same thing wouldn't have happened with 60/40 if you installed it wrong or got a cold joint? I've used lead-free on plenty of old radios and stereos and never had to touch them again. Maybe your iron temp was too low or you used the wrong flux. People act like one bad experience means the whole thing is garbage but honestly it's probably just user error.

colegarcia9d ago

I gotta push back on keeping 60/40 around for vintage gear. That Marantz issue you had was probably a bad batch or bad technique, not the solder itself. Modern lead-free solders are actually more reliable in the long run if you do it right. The real problem is people don't set their iron hot enough or use the right flux for lead-free. You just need to crank the heat up and use a good no-clean flux. Plus, 60/40 cracks over time from thermal cycling anyway, you just don't see it as fast because it's softer. I've done dozens of vintage restores with lead-free and none have failed on me yet, it's all about learning the right method.