Mark Austin said:

>All this debating is great (except for the derogatory comment about the size
>of our motor vehicles), BUT.....

I hereby apologize to all small car drivers worldwide. Formerly I owned a
VW bug, an Opel Kadett, and two Fiat 124's, and they could all be pushed to
start. My current V-8 GMC full sized pickup is used alternately with a very
low emission Honda and someday I will give it up. I was heading towards
enlightenment regarding lead plates in batteries (or maybe piles in Mark's
case) since 1968.

BTW, does this initiative not affect batteries? What about nickel-cadmium?

>I haven't read any definitive opinions on what will be the best alloy and
>process's to use. Is it the case that know one is confident enough to jump
>in at the deep end or are we going to be faced with the same situation that
>we had with the CFC ban and have to face hundreds of different process
>combinations??

Too soon. I would say that the present scenario for assemblers is much like
that with CFC banning. Don't forget that solder paste, bar, wire solder and
possibly the related flux chemistry will all require substitution. My own
opinion is changing from denial to acknowledgment that "right or wrong"
lead elimination has achieved a sort of critical mass, and the likelihood
is that we will need to change in the next 4 years or so.

In time, the choices will be more clear, and the risks less bothersome. My
suggestion is that the "early adopters" such as the major Japanese
manufacturers will be pointing the way and publishing articles and NEPCON
papers for several years. We can all follow these leaders.



cheers,





Jerry Cupples
Interphase Corporation
Dallas, TX USA
http://www.iphase.com

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