[_pigpen__]

>a $40 roll of thin gauge solder (which will last the rest of your life)

I dunno, I'm 56 and I'm about to finish the roll I bought as a teenager. (Albeit bought in pre-RoHS times.)

[lostlogin]

Hopefully your affairs are in order…

[m463]

should things be in flux to be in order?

[tibbon]

I've been going through a 1-2lb of solder a year recently, and find myself needing multiple thicknesses and types. But, I've been repairing guitar amps, organs, building lots of microphone preamps, outboard rack gear, digital projects, etc. Kester solder rocks.

I do remember my first pound lasted about 15 years though...

[bigiain]

> Albeit bought in pre-RoHS times.

Yeah. Old high lead content solder is way nicer to solder with than modern stuff.

[nemosaltat]

Since no other navy nukes have chimed in on this thread to speak about ETMS—eutectic point is a huge piece of the puzzle and there are tradeoffs for selecting between 60/40 and 63/37. Fillets suck, bifurcated terminals are worse.

For any other Navy nukes, I wanted to link to a good reference on what ETMS is (was?) but couldn’t readily find anything. If anyone has a reputable link to publicly available course material on their solder grading rubrics or the 7-step, I’d be interested.

[SOLAR_FIELDS]

Was there an actual safe way to deal with this stuff besides maybe wearing a gas mask while you were working with it?