[AdamH12113]

I feel like this poem isn't really about soldering, but if anyone is actually bothered by it, there are some options.

Unleaded solder and a decent fume extractor make the process cleaner. A decent soldering iron and solder wire with good-quality flux (e.g. Kester) makes it faster.

If you'd rather not deal with the iron, you can manually apply solder paste and use a hot air rework tool or even a heat gun (careful!) to melt it. (A proper reflow oven is better, of course, but that's pricey.) This makes working with surface-mount components much easier.

If you'd rather not deal with it at all, have a PCB assembled somewhere else. JLC is pretty cheap, especially on simpler boards.

[floxy]

>A proper reflow oven is better, of course, but that's pricey.

You can do a lot worse than a $55 temperature controlled hot plate. Plus you can watch the magic happen. Of course that only works for single sided boards. I've been very impressed with the results.

https://www.amazon.com/Soiiw-Microcomputer-Soldering-Preheat...

[_nxwj]

Yes, you are quite correct in the first point. I've also met people who recommend crimping where possible as a safer and cleaner solution.