Hello techies,

As many are in preparation for the transition from Pb to Pb free soldering
using their wave soldering systems, I have been curious exactly how people
are preparing the solder pots for this, because I too am preparing a wave
soldering line for Pb soldering.

I have been told that there are a few different ways to do this, such as:

- Replace the solder pot altogether (expensive, but may be necessary and
safe as well)
- Drain the pot and manually scrape off as much leaded solder as
possible "hoping" we get enough of it  out
- Drain the pot and manually scrape off as much leaded solder as possible,
then perform a chemical etching process to eliminate the remaining material

Obviously with 2 of these there is a risk factor (???) that comes into play
and with roughly $13K worth of Pb Free solder and possiblity of
contaminating CCA's maybe it would just be safe to replace the pot. On the
other hand if the amount of lead left in the pot and the addition of
1200lbs. of Pb free material, the risk may not be very high and thus this
would be the most cost effective approach.

Does anyone have any experience with any of the methods mentioned or with
others that may exist? I was told there are different ways to clean the
pot, but they are not published due to the liability of the authors.

Thank You in advance.

Chris Schaefer
Suntron Corporation
Process Engineer
[log in to unmask]

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