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hi,i generally do a lot of soldering and i am really afraid of the vapours that arise out of the solder and the flux. i feel that i have already inhaled many grams of metal and i dont want to inhale more...!Are there any face masks available to prevent inhaling solder vapours. or is it enough if i tie a piece of cloth around my nose and mouth while soldering?BEAMer
It has not been scientifically proven whether solder fumes are harmful or not, but I'm betting heavy particles will get into your lungs occasionally . . .I use a benchtop smoke absorber and it works pretty well. The problem with just blowing fumes away is that its still in your room. But of course I do a *lot* of soldering professionally so I'd rather not take any chances.
-the lead in it doesn't melt
-the fumes don't give you metal inhalation
-solder these days shouldn't have any lead in them. it should be a tin and copper alloy with a bit of flux
I'm not saying that no solder used doesn't have lead and that it isn't still allowed in manafacture but most solders now are meant to be lead free because its more "healthy" for your health. thats what i'm saying.
I think only lead-free solders are sold in stores these days in Canada.
wait is it bad if i ate small pieces of chocolate off the part of my desk that i solder on? and it shouldnt bother you too much as long as you keep ventilation going ie. open window.
I use a PC cooling fan running from 12V and blowing AT the area where I solder. That might seem backward to some.Long ago I tried a fan that sucked air away from my area, and through a carbon filter. It worked poorly unless I was only an inch or two from the fan.I turned the fan around and set it much further back. It blows lightly across the area where I work. This dissipates the fumes just as well as drawing the smoke the other way. The fumes are NOT lead, just burnt flux. Dissipating them in a good size room is sufficient. If you have allergies or a very small room, it might be good to have a separate filter/fan, or an open window - weather permitting.Blowing air INTO the immediate work area is the fastest way to move smoke away from your face.A 12V wall wart will easily power a small PC cooling fan.The blue arrow in the pic is an indication of air blowing over my work area:
is that ^ true?
The general idea is to not ingest any heavy metals.
A minute amount of lead can transfer from fingers into your mouth if you solder and don't wash your hands before eating.
Heavy metals accumulate in your body - I believe that they are not naturally evacuated.
Solder smoke can in theory carry fractional bits of lead - an atom here or there - but that precipitates out of the smoke inches away from your soldering effort.
The solder smoke itself (burned flux/chemicals) has not been established as dangerous,