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I bought a soldering station a while back and was practicing on a kit and had the website on assembly up while I was soldering using 60/40 tin-lead solder. Should I worry about splatter on the surfaces causing contamination? Or from using my keyboard/mouse while I was soldering? I occasionally snack in there and was wondering if I was slowly poisoning myself.

Edit: is there any way to clean it the contamination from the room?

Edit 2: Possible duplicate doesn't quite answer my concern on surface contamination and transfer of contamination I feel. For example when I touched a door knob after soldering but before washing my hands, would I have transferred any amount of lead contamination to the door knob in which case I could be unknowingly ingesting lead by touching the door knob and eating/drinking in another room?

Edit 3: question was not properly answered I feel, does lead transfer to surfaces after my hand touched the solder because if so wouldn't door knobs and light switches in my house be contaminated

Kyurama
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    I have spools of 60/40 and use it for hobby work. I wouldn't want young children in the room where I work. And common wisdom has it that there is no safe level of lead. So if you are touching it, you are probably absorbing it. And so far as anything medical I've seen, it stays with you. I'm sure that's not entirely true as your body is always changing. But the "levels" appear to linger a long time. My attitude is that you live exactly once. Make the most of it, whatever that means. Mitigate risks, but don't avoid them. Life is too short. That said you don't have to use 60/40. You have options. – jonk May 14 '19 at 04:49
  • This 2011 SE answer of mine covers the subject reasonably extensively. BUT be sure that YOU are happy with the answer. – Russell McMahon May 14 '19 at 13:01
  • Possible duplicate does not quite answer my question. @Russell McMahon's answer helps a bit but please see the second edit on the post. – Kyurama May 14 '19 at 15:49
  • @Kyurama Nothing is certain, but based on the various statements in my answer, I'd expect the amount of lead transferred to a doorknob to be utterly minimal. While I understand the door knob concern your query as stated does not make sense. IF you transfer lead to a door knob when leaving a room after soldering then you should wash your hands before eating and the door knob does not feature in the process. |If you enter and then leave the room without soldering you conceivably could have lead transferred to your fingers from the doorknob. Washing always before eating solves any problem. – Russell McMahon May 15 '19 at 09:13
  • @Russell McMahon right, but wouldn't I be getting lead on my hands from the bathroom door knob as well everytime since I touched it with lead on my hands? – Kyurama May 16 '19 at 05:42
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    me thinks you worry too much. Just wash your hands with soap, and relax. – analogsystemsrf May 19 '19 at 23:46
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    The vegetables you buy usually contain more lead than any traces of solder you may touch in your whole life. Luckily, lead poisoning takes more than ocassional micrograms. – Janka May 19 '19 at 23:49
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    Some numbers: World Health Organization (WHO) estimates typical oral doses of at least 100µg of lead each day. More than 1000µg daily is considered harmful in the long term. As lead isn't too soluble, you could actually eat 100g (!) of lead without getting poisoned. Lead vapours (as a lot of metal vapours) can cause metal fume fever. That's why you should have proper ventilation where you solder. – Janka May 19 '19 at 23:59
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    @Kyurama Are you aware that lead wasn't all that toxic until 2006? – Nick Alexeev May 20 '19 at 00:31
  • I've been washing my hands but it's starting to hurt because my hands are breaking open – Kyurama May 20 '19 at 00:34
  • Would a little soapy water clean it up off my laptop and stuff? I bought some d-lead wipes too but they advised against using them on a laptop screen – Kyurama May 20 '19 at 01:43
  • Roofers install lead boots around vent stacks and they don't take any precautions. And this is pure lead, not an alloy. – Mattman944 May 20 '19 at 06:41
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    Kyurama - STOP BEING CONCERNED. STOP NOW. The lead will do no harm in the amounts involved. You have received MANY responses and references to past answers that already tell you this. Reading even some of the answers will make it clear that long term use of lead solder requires simple actions to stop accumulating VERY TINY amounts of lead. Over a VERY LONG period of time these may build up to significant levels but it is not an instant or immediate hazard. PLEASE ignore some of the STUPID & MALICIOUS advice that a few people have given while "trying to be funny." – Russell McMahon May 20 '19 at 08:07
  • Lead solder is NOT a major immediate short term danger. Use it sensibly. Do not suck it. Ideally do not smoke while using it.* Wash your hands after use. Wiping of surfaces etc is NOT required. – Russell McMahon May 20 '19 at 08:09
  • @Russell McMahon thank you. I will do my best to listen to your advice and calm down. – Kyurama May 20 '19 at 13:03

3 Answers3

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I've been using it for over 60 years and haven't poisoned myself yet.

SamR
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    And your evidence is? – Solar Mike May 14 '19 at 05:01
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    My evidence is a clean bill of health from the Mayo Clinic over many years of testing. – SamR May 14 '19 at 05:06
  • Yeah, but you don't need acute lead poisoning (let's face it, if you are able to notice it on your own then it's already far past the threshold of damage) for it to dull your mental faculties. It would never fly if you said you never exercise and you haven't gotten a heart attack yet, or smoked but have never gotten cancer yet, so I don't know why so many people seem to accept similar reasoning for lead exposure. – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:08
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    There is so much medical evidence for the effects of lead on the human body... did your clinic test for lead and its effects - most probably not. – Solar Mike May 14 '19 at 05:10
  • Actually yes they have. And I don't sandblast lead paint off steel, eat lead paint chips, or suck in lung fulls of solder fumes when I use lead. I also used lead sinkers when fishing and lead shot when bird hunting and eaten what I shot with it. I have used it for many years with no discernable contamination or ill effects. I WOULDNT use it around a keyboard because splatter tends to melt holes in the keys if you do. That I have experienced using lead solder. – SamR May 14 '19 at 05:18
  • I probably received more lead exposure from handling oxized lead sinkers while fishing and crimping sinkers onto line with my teeth than from soldering with it. And no lead contamination in any of the blood tests for it. Obviously they were not taken a day after a fishing trip or a soldering job. – SamR May 14 '19 at 05:30
  • Yeah, lead is tricky because blood tests only indicate continuous exposure levels since your body lead leaves your bloodstream and gets stored in other places like fat, bones, and brains. – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:35
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    @SolarMike, "so much medical evidence" - probably the same sort of evidence as for ozone hole and CFC, or anthropogenic climate change... and I also have been soldering since I was a kid, and for over 60 years for now, and I second the SamR sentiment. – Ale..chenski May 20 '19 at 03:08
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I can verify that soldering does produce beads and dusts in the area, even when you're careful. It's quite a bit more than some people make it out to be. If you keep your workstation clean and it is the proper colour, the solder has no grime or camouflage to hide amongst. An iron will mostly produce larger bits like beads and flakes, but solder vacuums are notorious for producing fine dusts.

If you're jumping back and forth between soldering and using the mouse/keyboard, then you should not be jumping back and forth between eating and using the mouse/keyboard.

DKNguyen
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  • I washed my hands after soldering the one time I did it. Just worried that my room may be contaminated from the one time. Is there any way to make the room safe again? – Kyurama May 14 '19 at 05:12
  • If you're a normal person who doesn't suffer from OCD, I would think wiping everything down and then vacuuming (in that order) should be enough to take care of flakes, beads, and dust. Wipe down first to catch any finer dust that will make it through the vacuum's filter back into the air. HEPA is nice. Larger bits of solder won't adhere very well to wet towels so vacuuming is easier but I don't vacuum. I try and pick it all up with the towel. I don't actually know to the extent of something like "lead residue" in the sense that a greasy sausage might smear grease onto everything it touches. – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:28
  • I unfortunately suffer from OCD. That's what's causing me all of the anxiety about the lead. – Kyurama May 14 '19 at 05:30
  • Ehhh, the fact that you ate in your room first and then started wondering about it later makes me think it's not so bad. My OCD is specifically lead focused so I would never let it get to that point or I would go crazy since I would not be able to figure out how to clean it up (I actually do treat it like a greasy sausage because I don't have knowledge and can't find any information about lead smear). – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:32
  • Well, the day after I was stressed to the point of not wanting to be in the room. Managed to get over that after wiping a bunch of things down with Clorox wipes and soap + water. But now I'm stressing out and once again to scared to go in the room again. – Kyurama May 14 '19 at 05:36
  • Well, Clorox is kinda pointless since there is nothing to kill. If you're dealing with OCD then I would wipe EVERYTHING (light switches, tables, buttons, tools, devices etc) down with soap+water three, four or fives time then vacuum those surfaces to get the flakes and beads I missed, then steam clean the carpet. If that's not enough, then I would declare it a dirty zone and turn it into an room exclusively for soldering. – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:43
  • OCD as I am, I only use water or alcohol (because it dries fast and doesn't rust things), not soap since there's usually no oil/grease involved and soap can only really be used with a table...not tools or machines since it can't be rinsed off. I'd tell you how far my OCD goes, but you seem to not have gotten that far yet so I won't mention those things or else you might start thinking about them too. – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:44
  • Yeah.. I realize that now about the Clorox – Kyurama May 14 '19 at 05:44
  • Oh yeah, double keyboards and mice might help. A set for clean hands and a set for dirty hands, since those things are difficult to clean well enough to alleviate any OCD'ness (I've done it enough to know how much you can get away with running a keyboard or mouse under a tap). Gloves also help a lot if you know the proper procedure to remove them infectious disease style. – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:47
  • I'm probably going to give up on soldering, honestly. OCD causes to many problems, I'm just hoping to sanitize my room of lead contamination rather than deal with the stress and anxiety. – Kyurama May 14 '19 at 05:51
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    Ehh, I've found a way around it. I wear gloves and keep track of which tools and which end of the tools touched solder, or things the solder touched, or things that touched things that the solder touched, etc. You can use tweezers, hemostats, and makeshift stands for them so that you never have to touch the solder and the working end of things that touch the solder never touch anything else. Then keep a wide berth around the workstation so you nothing ever gets too close and clean regularly. I also don't go randomly touching other things while I'm soldering before washing my hands. – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:54
  • You can also use lead-free solder, but it's tough to use and you need good equipment (and I have very very good full blown equipment that should be able to deal with lead-free easily and I still choose to use leaded solder because that's how good leaded solder is and how bad lead-free solder is). I reserve lead-free for cumbersome non-precision tasks that require globs of solder since globbing is one of those instances where lots of splashing can occur. Someday, I should see how this fancy stuff handles lead-free since the last time I seriously used lead-free was with much inferior equipment. – DKNguyen May 14 '19 at 05:56
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Yes there will be solder dust if your regularly soldering things. If anyhow these dust goes inside PC or complex smd circuits it may causes short circuit or disfunctions. Clean these dust with vaccume or use solder paste under your solder holder so the dust stuck on the paste surface. Clean your solder bit with wire net soaked in water.

Sohan Arafat
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