Genny, I suggest you conduct a vendor risk analysis. That will tell you the degree of confidence in the information you receive from the vendor. If you're getting no response or it's taking a very long time the information you get could be wrong or incomplete. If the threat of losing your business does not motivate them, you probably need to seek a more responsive vendor (I know that's easier said than done). If the vendor is high risk, your next step in your due diligence is to send the material out for analysis or use XRF in house. Depending on the size of your company this may be warranted. I believe the depth of your due diligence should be in proportion to the size of your company (volume of EEE into Europe) and the risk of your vendors. This in turn would reflect the leeway afforded by the EU authorities. XRF is not cheap and the results for chromium and Bromine are not definitive but it may be necessary and could save a lot of grief. They're also useful for other materials. If you have different metal finishes and material grades requirements it can be a really great tool. I haven't priced XRF at a lab or services from another OEM Sorry no cheap or easy answers. Good luck LS -----Original Message----- From: Genny Gibbard [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 5:08 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Metal compliance OK, those don't really talk about the specifics of 6061. Also, 0.5% Pb is not good enough. The level is 0.4%. I'm a little concerned, now. And from the previous response given by Lester, the problem is, a little company is the last one to want to sign off on a legal sounding statement if they can't absolutely verify it. One wrong case that might come back to bite them could put them out of business for good. =20 They are not going to sign something just because I tell them that there's no problem. -----Original Message----- From: Leadfree [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kallin, Dan Sent: August 10, 2006 2:57 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [LF] Metal compliance My understanding is lead is generally added for machining aluminum. Here is a short article summarizing lead use in 2002 http://www.secat.net/answers_view_article.php?article=3DNew_Alloys_Get_th= e _Lead_Out_of_Free-Machining_Aluminum.html Also. From http://www.key-to-metals.com/Article55.htm Lead. Normally present only as a trace element in commercial-purity aluminum, lead is added at about the 0.5% level with the same amount as bismuth in some alloys (2011 and 6262) to improve machinability. Dan Kallin Phone: 978.371.4155 Fax: 978.371.2468 Mobile: 978.760.0779 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Leadfree [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Genny Gibbard Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 1:32 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [LF] Metal compliance Anyone else having major difficulties getting RoHS compliance statements out of your metalwork suppliers? We have companies that provide things like chassis parts, custom standoffs, etc. They are made of things like 6061 Aluminum, stainless steel, etc. These are things that can use the exemption: 6. Lead as an alloying element in steel containing up to 0.35 % lead by weight, aluminium containing up to 0.4 % lead by weight and as a copper alloy containing up to 4 % lead by weight. However, our metalwork vendors are having trouble getting any sort of statement out of their raw materials suppliers, so they are reluctant to issue statements to us. I don't know if it would be an unlikely thing to have higher than the 0.4% Pb in aluminum, or if you need to have some carefully controlled source of aluminum in order to achieve that. Any thoughts? As always, your help is much valued and appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------Leadfee Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Leadfree To temporarily stop/(start) delivery of Leadree for vacation breaks send: SET Leadfree NOMAIL/(MAIL) Search previous postings at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=3D4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------- This e-mail is intended to be delivered only to the named addressee(s) and may contain information that is confidential and proprietary. 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