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by BoredPositron 43 days ago
just don't use leaded solder. the absolute obsession of people from NA and lead should be studied.
2 comments

There isn't much advantage to even learning on lead in my opinion, unless your only goal is to work on old stuff that used leaded solder.

Any modern or new stuff (i.e. the smallest components) has the whole supply chain designed around lead-free. Lead free boards, using lead free chips, which are meant to take the heating profiles for lead free solder. If working in industry, you'll need to learn lead free eventually, so you had better do it from the beginning.

I save my leaded solder for old radios and retrocomputing, but as I would rather not spread lead dust around my work area, I only ever use lead-free solder paste for modern work.

Leaded work is easier, a little, but not so much so that I wouldn't consider not learning lead-free.

I agree it's unnecessary but the rosin is more toxic to the user than the metallic lead. It's better to not make lead e-waste though.