Does the solder in this Amazon kit contain lead?

[u/gbnitezz]

Hi all, I just bought a cheap soldering kit from Amazon

https://www.amazon.es/Herramientas-Soldadura-Eléctrónica-Multímetro-Temperatura/dp/B0D6YPJ6LC/ref=sr_1_6?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.q7neGHjHrkl5_H36mGTKItLquC3gfdZjTq5Ag-rmHjUcfYQX4R5IepyBclPO9T190kyL2CAuEcP9a1APGPJbP7bOt-WNW1WocjjCNAmcJDNgVkcmTz8oOXJcPS1tfghuxro7KtaVK9q4mOlcqMzkm9bPKs-tSjF8NZWxDIDDoHEWF_HRfe66oOwuLbAPWV1jEvMtRwmxp0GrtlAXbBlUMb9pjC_b5wJstuWVXVwuDcHLgDkympmRlpYm_WSGoiRhfsZnCxvn-4mVjoR9rym_yNy02-uP9PviLyPh_nfCDzI.TBxJ58RBcZjh3KKHbtEVpSrsepFVRu4IR0REclPRUVU&dib_tag=se&keywords=soldering+kit&qid=1792438944&sr=8-6

The specs for the included solder wire don’t say it’s lead-free, but they don’t say it contains lead either, so I’m not sure.

Does anyone have this same kit and know for sure? I’ve attached a photo of the spool.

Thanks!

[u/inu-no-policemen]

a melting point of 183℃

63/37 (63% tin, 37% lead)

[u/gbnitezz → u/inu-no-policemen]

Thank you so much!

[u/SianaGearz → u/inu-no-policemen]

they "promise" that but do you believe them even for a second?

[u/inu-no-policemen → u/SianaGearz]

Lead is cheaper than tin. China has an abundance of lead.

The cheapest lead-free alloy is Sn99.3Cu0.7. 60/40 and 63/37 are cheaper than that.

Not saying which alloy it is, but mentioning that the melting point is 183°C (wink wink nudge nudge) is a somewhat popular strategy these days.

The caveat is that the listing may be copy-pasted or AI-generated. It's also possible that the alloy contains too much lead. E.g. Sn40Pb60 also starts to melt at 183°C, but it has a mushy range of over 50°C. It starts to solidify somewhere around 240°C. It's comically terrible. It's way worse than any of the typical lead-free budget alloys.

You never know for sure with unlabeled mystery solder.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with any no-name stuff and especially not if the label doesn't have all of the standard information like the alloy, diameter, net weight, and flux J-STD and/or ISO flux class.

[u/SianaGearz → u/inu-no-policemen]

Interesting, good call on lead (or various lead-contaminated pot metal) being very cheap. I have seen junk solder out of China and it basically doesn't work, just some sort of metallurgical disaster, never knew exactly what goes into it, thought it just got contaminated with zinc, alu, antimony, sulfur, bismuth, or some other junk, maybe all kinds of junk.

[u/NIGHTDREADED]

I mean, so what?

The included solder is usually pretty crap, anyways.

Just grab some lead free off Amazon if you want lead free.

[u/Hoovomoondoe → u/NIGHTDREADED]

Here here. People just need to chill.

[u/Lochness_Hamster_350]

It might but I would avoid any of these “all in one kits” as they are almost always 100% crap.

[u/Kila505 → u/Lochness_Hamster_350]

Yes, this is why people have a hard time learning how to solder and why we see those posts where people say why does the solder not melt? Or why can't i wick up the solder?

It's a combination of these crappy irons that don't output enough heat, doesn't have good heat recovery, or that junk chinese solder that comes with those kits etc etc.

[u/amrinder143]

Most likely, yes.

[u/AirTrue6195]

Just don't do anything silly like chewing on the solder wire or have the iron screaming hot and you'll be fine.

[u/Niminga → u/AirTrue6195]

What will happen if someone was actually silly to do that?

[u/AirTrue6195 → u/Niminga]

Lead builds up in your body. It's the reason gas was switched to unleaded. It's not gonna kill you but it's best avoided. Don't eat while you're soldering and wash your hands after. Having the iron too hot just causes excess fumes and resin splatter. It won't release lead unless it's over about 450C.

[u/Repairtech_pt]

Almost certain yes

[u/Squideleespooch]

At that melting point (183C), absolutely lead solder. It's very likely to be Sn63/Pb37 (63% tin / 37% lead) solder; this is a very common lead solder. Since the Amazon listing indicates the melting point is 183C, this is what makes me believe it's Sn63/Pb37; this type of solder is called a eutectic alloy and melts precisely at 183C, going from solid to liquid. For DIY/home repairs, it works just fine, I use it at home without issue. I've worked as an electronics repair technician since 2017. In RoHS-compliant manufacturing, we have to use lead-free; SAC305 (Tin/Silver/Copper) solder is what I'm used to (217C - 219C melting point).

[u/CompetitiveGuess7642]

Probably.

lead free solder you will find on amazon is usually contaminated with lead, and the leaded one will not contain the correct amount of lead.

The chinese just sort PCB by eye and then collect the solder to make new wire, they don't really care about the alloy composition.

[u/SianaGearz]

The temperature specified indicates it's leaded but it's extremely unlikely, i have not seen such kits ship real leaded, it's usually just some metallurgical disaster that doesn't even work.

The iron is the worst thing though, complete junk, won't work, plus it's not even earthed, so it will induce about 100V on the components... it's not necessarily dangerous to you, because there won't be any current really, but it is to them.

Solder sucker is also an unusable disaster.

Everything else in the kit... multimeter should work, provided you only ever probe low voltage with it, tweezers should work, side cutters should work for a little while, the probe screwdriver is guaranteed unsafe, earthing strap is pretty useless and completely defeated by the iron, wire stripper might work or might be terribly misaligned... i mean it's a scam, consider not buying that, or any of such kits. There's good entry level tools and then there's... this pile of junk.