In message <7b59f2aebeba4ea008131c86fbe07a4e@mac.com> William "Chops" Westfield wrote: > You might need to be more careful if you end up using one of the=20 > non-rosin > flux solders. I haven't kept track of what's in use or how obnoxious=20 > they > are to inhale when burning, but obviously a "water washable" flux is no= =20 > longer > made from rosin (for example.) Personally, I've been using rosin-based 60-40 SnPb solder for years. Abou= t three years ago I cobbled together a primitive filter out of an 80mm main= s fan, a couple of fan guards, a carbon cooker-hood filter and a plastic bo= x. Problem is, it's not that effective. The fan blades are too small relativ= e to the motor and the fan casing. One fan guard is on the exhaust side of the fan, and there are two placed back-to-back (with a nut in the middle) on the other side. The filter fit= s between the two guards and another nut locks the front guard in place. If I built another one, I'd use a 120mm DC fan and a small 250mA 12V PSU.= The 80mm just doesn't move enough air to make it worthwhile. Total cost: About =A310 (I found the fan in my junkbox - figure around =A3= 20-30 including the fan). 90% of the time I run the soldering iron at around 275C. I only ramp it u= p to 350 when I need to solder enamelled copper wire. The iron is a 50W Antex temperature-controlled thing that hooks up to a 660TC base station. Works quite well, and isn't as prone to thermal runaway as the non-regulated ir= ons. Cheap irons tend to go bang if the bit isn't locked on properly - the bit= is used to regulate the temperature (to some degree). The other nice thing about temperature controlled kit is that you don't t= end to lift the tracks off the board as much - I had an iron that hit 400C an= d literally cooked PCBs. Switched to the 660TC and set the temperature to a reasonable level and I managed to solder a PCB without burning it to the point where it looked as if it had been thrown in a fire... Later. --=20 Phil. | Acorn Risc PC600 Mk3, SA202, 64MB, 6= GB, philpem@philpem.me.uk | ViewFinder, 10BaseT Ethernet, 2-slic= e, http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | 48xCD, ARCINv6c IDE, SCSI ... A clean desk is a sign of a -sick- mind --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist