re: Episode 17 - The Handheld RoHS Solution

CLaude W. "Bubba" Powers — Wed, 09 May 2007 14:22:17 GMT

The material or product being reviewed with Portable X-Ray equipment may sometimes be misleading. We manufacture Soldering Tips and Desoldering Tiplets that in years past, contained Lead in the Tinning process. This has been eliminated for many years and replaced by a 99.99% Tinning Alloy. A customer who used a portable X-Ray device evaluated our products and stated that we did not pass the requirements for Lead. We went to great efforts and expenses to have our product tested at an independent lab using a SEM Microscope, only to find out that the Tinning was 99.97 pure Tin (Sn) and that the unacceptable levels of Lead exposed in the X-Ray test were a biproduct of the Copper base material which is allowed up to 4% (40,000 PPM) in Copper for the purpose of machining, well above what is acceptable under the requirements of RoHS! A very expensive lesson learned by both parties.

Bubba Powers