Mark

I more or less agree with you.  Changing pcb finishes from
lead/tin wont change much regarding environmental issue
of getting rid of lead from the industry.  It's like pouring a bucket
of water in a large lake to raise a water level.  There's not much
point of  changing to an alternative pcb finish when
lead is widely used in an assembly industry.

Hope the use of lead in pcb/assembly industries will be greatly
reduced in 30/40 years down the road.  I am sure stopping the
use of lead a step at a time now will produce some
practical results much later years.  Besides, engineers need
to create problem and find sometings to do to solve them.

Matthew Park


>>> Mark Simmons <[log in to unmask]> May 4, 1998
8:02 am >>>
This whole business of "free thinking" as it relates to the
environmental impact of lead in electronic assemblies is a
dangerous
trend.  A lot of hard work has gone in to generating a high level of
hysteria and peer pressure by all the major environmental
agencies and
futuristic splinter groups as well as the suppliers of
"alternatives".
These people surely know more and care more than the
un-washed masses of
industrial engineers?

Question:  If a printed circuit is delivered to an assembly house
with
an alternative coating, and then has components attached with
tin/lead,
has the long term environmental impact been reduced?  Source
reduction
at the pc shop? After many years in that trench, this is a weak
argument.

Question:  Why isn't there an all out effort to produce a metal free
adhesive for component attachment?  This way, we can spend
our energy
worrying about the dangers of metal leaching in landfills from
only the
components.

Oh my, what if the bennefits from electronic assemblies does
not out
weigh the environmental damage it will produce?  Maybe we
should just go
fishing, eh?

Mark Simmons

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