Thank You. Yes I have verified that I do have a cast iron pot and have already ordered new flow ducts, nozzles (ultrafill style), pump components, etc... The only thing left is the solder pot and the preparation for the transition. Thanks again. -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Dale Ritzen Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 10:16 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] Preparing Solder Pot for Lead Free Processing Chris, Before you leap, please read up on the potential problems with the type of pot you have. Stainless steel wells will be eaten alive, over time, and you will eventually have leaks of molten solder. There are ceramic coatings that can be purchased to cover stainless wells, but one scratch and adios. If you have a cast iron well you're in luck because it should handle the LF solder okay IFF all the ducting and piping are also non-stainless, the impeller for the solder flow is non-stainless, etc. The high tin content solders attack stainless and, over time, you will pay the price. The new wave machines built for LF usually have either the ceramic well and constituent parts or have a cast iron well with non-affected parts. You have to be VERY careful in this transition... A nice, even 1/4-inch hot solder coating of your work area's floor is not what you want. Happy Friday! Dale Ritzen Quality Manager Austin Manufacturing Services -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Chris Schaefer Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 9:57 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Preparing Solder Pot for Lead Free Processing 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] --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------