Under good conditions lead-free solder works fine, but the difference in melting point really starts to hurt when you're working on large belly-pad ICs. The intended rework procedure for that kind of part involves several minutes of hot air from above and below, which is more patience than I have when I'm prototyping.
When I take production (lead-free) hardware off the line for dev work, the first step to removing a large part is to flood it with leaded solder to reduce the melting point.
Has there ever been an occupational study of lead levels among hardware engineers? I'd be interested to see it.
I really love my Hakko FR-830 hot air preheater for lead-free rework.
Took some effort with rollers to be able to pan/rotate the board while it's on the heater but does make lead-free feel like leaded for me (on dense but relatively small boards anyway.)
When I take production (lead-free) hardware off the line for dev work, the first step to removing a large part is to flood it with leaded solder to reduce the melting point.
Has there ever been an occupational study of lead levels among hardware engineers? I'd be interested to see it.