Product category: PCB Assembly Equipment and Tools
News Release from: OK International | Subject: Fume extraction systems
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 04 September 2006
Fume extraction systems banish acrid
odours
Rework professionals are increasingly calling for better health and safety measures and better fume extraction.
Concerned by the acrid odour given off by lead-free fluxes and solder pastes, rework professionals are increasingly calling for better health and safety measures and better fume extraction Lead-free reworking processes require higher temperatures and greater use of more active fluxes, which could account for the stronger smell of the gases released during lead-free rework
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 25 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The often unpleasant odour is a matter of concern for many electronics manufacturing operators, who are worried that it may signal an increased health hazard.
Even though the smell of a gas is not necessarily an indicator of its impact on health, the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concurs that rework professionals are right to be concerned.
This is partly thanks to the fact that, after years of no-clean solder fluxes, lead-free has triggered a return to the electronics workbench of rosin-based fluxes.
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