Solder Fumes & Cable Labels

[bluesman714]

I just posted this as a reply to a thread in the moan zone & thought that it was probably good enough to share, so I posted it here in hope that more people would read it. I do lots of soldering, this was my solution to a very serious health issue......BREATHING SOLDER FUMES! I hope this helps everyone else as much as it has helped me.

bluesman714

I too have made myself VERY sick from breathing solder fumes on extended soldering sessions. I finally installed a louvered clothes dryer vent in my shop door, I screwed a muffin fan to the inside of the vent-blowing out & connected it to a 20' collapsable dryer hose (think slinky). The hose is easy to position on my soldering station & pulls away all smoke & fumes taking them directly outside, and at 20' its long enough to reach any point on my workbench. It stays there collapsed until I need to solder, then all I have to do is pull out & position the hose & plug in the fan. The fan was free, salvaged from an old computer, the vent & 20' of hose were about $20.00 @ Home Depot. Soldering has never been more fun & I'm glad....I am building about 100 patch & mic cables to upgrade every cable in the studio.
While I'm on the subject of cables...This weekend, at the suggestion of a Tapeop member, I bought a Brother P-Touch labelmaker. This thing is a great tool!
It uses 3/8" or 1/2" self adhesive label tape & prints labels that are the perfect size for labeling every cable in the studio....they are easy to read & have a very professional appearance, best of all the Office Depot price was $29.95. One more problem solved!...Only a staggering number remain!

[quincyg]

i have that same tape labeler. a warning, the plastic labels come undone if you try to wrap them around a cable or fold them onto themselves. the paper ones work better.

[rufus13]

If you are heat-stripping Teflon (often found as mil-surp) cables, use some kind of vent. If you feel bad, STOP! Go outside and breathe. Fumes from Teflon melting/burning are quite toxic.

Smoke and fumes from soldering irons are not good for you. Vent well.

The lead particles and residue that gets everywhere is also not good for you. On your skin, it's fine, but ingested is bad. Wash hands and face before eating or smoking.

Don't solder near children. Lead (and other heavy metals) is 10X as bad for kids as an adult.

Desktop venting with a metal dryer hose and an exhaust fan sounds effective and cheap. Good idea!

Karl

[brianroth]

It seems that some solder rosins are more noxious than others...such as Kester "44". The "no clean" kester I've been using for awhile seems must less noxious, plus it doesn't leave nearly as much mess on a PC board. Downside: "44" is better for corroded connections, such as found in "ancient" gear.

Bri

[tINY]

Neat Idea - I always just blew it away from the bench and into the rest of the shop.

Karl - If you are getting fumes from Teflon - something is waaayyyy to hot. PVC fumes are bad too (and happen at lower temperatures.



-tINY

[rufus13]

Not with a soldering iron! That would be waaaaaay too hot for useful tin-lead-silver soldering.

I have found that the best way to strip lots of wire with no nicking is with a thermal stripper. A small Variac adjusts the tip temp. The stripping tips get red-hot during the operation (intermittent), and sometimes goo gets stuck on the tips for the next time around (in a few seconds or a few minutes). Nice strip, but don't breathe the smoke. A box fan in the door or window keeps the smoke moving. Venting is better.

Karl

[nathanvacha]

It may be due to a cheap soldering iron... but I have had trouble soldering with the fan on, particularly if there's a ceiling fan in the room. It seems to cool the iron too much to effectively melt solder. This is why it seems I am always sweating over aything I try to solder... Do I just have issues?

[bluesman714]

I'd say that its probably a cheap iron. My Weller soldering station has no trouble maintaining tip temp with the ac, celing fan & now benchtop vent fan opperating at once.