[sdiy] Last and final RoHS warning

[clark at andrews.edu]

   Hi list,

   A few months have gone by since all the doomsayers were spouting this
stuff before and guess what?  The world hasn't ended!  Reminds me of
Y2K.

> The only people this law benefits are the large corperations.

   I run a small business and I have had NO trouble converting products to
lead-free.  In fact, all I _can_ make now is lead-free products!  And
I'm quite okay with that!

> For example, the shelf life of lead free boards is very very poor.

   Be more specific!  Lead-free HAL has a guaranteed shelf life of over a
_year_.  Just as good if not _better_ than before!  No other coating on
PCBs can guarantee this, not even leaded HAL.  If your board house can't
do LF-HAL, then find another house.  Even if you still plan to use lead,
go LF-HAL.  There should be no difference in cost!

   As for other supposed LF problems, I have some of the first LF boards I
ran a few months back.  No issues whatsoever.  No whiskers.  No
blacking.  _nothing_.  PCBs look nice and shiny still.

   The _only_ problem I have encountered with LF is having a slightly
higher incidence of ICs spontaneously failing due (most likely) to the
higher heat associated with convection reflow.  Since I suspect that very
few of you out there are doing this, I expect you won't have this problem
at all.

> Add the fact that most component manufacturers have seen this as a
chance
> to do two things
> 1) Raise the cost of their parts for no good reason
> 2) Drop any part that is selling less than one million a month.

   Most ICs have been lead-free for well over a year or more.  No pricing
has been affected for most of these products.  Where I _have_ seen it is
in companies that converted late in the game.  Of course it's going to
cost them more, they have to cost out the entire manufacturing
changes.
   A company that I can specifically point a big fat finger at is Bourns.
But then they have one of the highest price points in parts of any
supplier out there, so it doesn't suprise me in the least.

> FWIW, I beleive the WEE and RoHS is the death of the small, electronics,
'cottage' industry.

   Only if the cottage industry _wants_ to die.  I haven't seen _anyone_
put out of business yet, and as far as I can tell, it's going to be
business as usual. However, this is Darwinism at it's finest.
   Adapt, or die.  It's your choice!  No doubt _some_ small business died
due to Y2K, but they were probably still running IBM XTs or Tandy
Cocos.

   SAC305 baby!

   Tony

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