Solder

[AntarcticPilot]

I try not to think about the amount of time i spent in my younger days inhaling fumes from lead solder! Even so, i still use it for the occasional personal project

In the 80s I was involved with ice sounding radars, and the equipment we used was built in the grandly named electronics laboratory. My colleague, the electronics side of the partnership, actually preferred wire wrap, but of course the place had been used for years with vast amounts of soldering. Towards the end of my time there, it was redecorated, and it was amazing how much lighter the place looked afterwards! The ceiling, nominally white, looked more like a smoker's fingers - and none of us smoked! I hate to think how much lead there was on the ceiling and walls of that room. But I must admit that the solder we used then was easier to get to flow than the modern stuff. But I think I'd rather put up with a little extra waiting than breathe lead fumes.

 

[penfold]

I try not to think about the amount of time i spent in my younger days inhaling fumes from lead solder! Even so, i still use it for the occasional personal project

Unless your soldering iron was glowing it was mostly rosin fumes you were huffing, not lead.

 

[savageseadog]

Unless your soldering iron was glowing it was mostly rosin fumes you were huffing, not lead.

A cause or trigger of asthsma

 

[Bru]

Unless your soldering iron was glowing it was mostly rosin fumes you were huffing, not lead.

Mostly

Then there were the molten solder baths on the flow soldering lines

I doubt i inhaled enough for it to be serious but it would surely have been better not to have been exposed to the risk at all

 

[TernVI]

Unless your soldering iron was glowing it was mostly rosin fumes you were huffing, not lead.

Exactly.
With modern solder being at higher temperatures, there are IMHO more, not less issues with flux fumes.
Even for DIY work I'm now moderately careful with fume extraction.
A simple computer fan with a filter is easy and quite effective at stopping the fumes coming my way.
Lead itself is pretty safe stuff, it's compunds of lead which do damage.
Rosin is quite a vicious chemical when hot, it attacks the oxide layers on copper etc.

 

[harvey38]

I pointed out to some forum members in the US (it's a mainly US forum) that F1 use crimped connections as vibration makes solder connections less durable.
They didn't seem to accept that.

Do the yanks like being told anything, voting in Trump endorses my comment!