Why has solder become so expensive?

[Nick C.]

About ten years ago I stocked up on solder, my choice being Kester 63/37 '245 No-Clean'
in 0.031", 0.020", and 0.015". I paid about $16 per one-pound roll at the time, IIRC.

Today I looked to buy some more, and see that a one-pound roll sells for $75-90 at Mouser
and Digikey. Solder from other manufacturers isn't all that much cheaper.

What did I miss? Did lead/tin suddenly become rare elements?

Almost $100 for a pound of solder. Geeez! :???:

 

[bigdogguru]

Digikey has 63/37 Kester '245 No-Clean' for $62 - 63.

But to your point, it mostly likely due to the content of lead and its status as a hazardous material.

At current prices there is approximately $7 - 8 worth of metal.

And yes it has become very expensive.

BigDog

 

[keith1200rs]

Look at the price of tin 10 years ago - around $4000 per ton. Now it is around $24500 per ton although was up to $33000 recently. Also, lead was around $450 a ton 10 years ago and is now $2500. The situation is worse for lead free solder - the cheaper lead has been replaced by yet more tin!

Keith.

 

[jpanhalt]

At the original source (Chart Builder | Charts & DataMine), you can type in other mineral commodities, including oil, as well. There has been more than a 5-fold increase in 10 years. That is not reflected in the Consumer Price Index (except for energy -- oil -- which is only a part). Thus, the CPI has not increased nearly as much as these commodities. The dip in 2008 was,of course, the market crash.

John

 

[Nick C.]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I knew the cost of metals had gone up, but didn't realize it was that much.
Still, $91 for a pound of 0.015" solder seems so astronomically high. Larger size solder (both plumbing and
electrical) is still available for $17 per pound at the local hardware stores. Strange.

I do see that Loctite's 'Multicore' solder is less than half the price of Kester's. Maybe I'll give that a shot.
I suppose there's no point in getting too attached to any one brand - it's only metal and flux, after all.

Digi-Key - 82-117-ND (Manufacturer - MM00978)

Thanks again guys.

Nick C.

 

[bigdogguru]

I do see that Loctite's 'Multicore' solder is less than half the price of Kester's. Maybe I'll give that a shot.
I suppose there's no point in getting too attached to any one brand - it's only metal and flux, after all.

I was thinking of giving Loctite a try myself. Please post back your critique.

BigDog

 

[keith1200rs]

Small diameter solder always costs more forma given weight. Unfortunately with modern components you need to buy very small diameter solder for hand soldering.

Keith

 

[bigdogguru]

Small diameter solder always costs more forma given weight. Unfortunately with modern components you need to buy very small diameter solder for hand soldering.

Yes, as the diameter decreases the price definitely increase. Who would of thought Tin would be selling for about the price of Silver a decade ago?

 

[Nick C.]

keith1200rs
Unfortunately with modern components you need to buy very small diameter solder for hand soldering.

That's for sure. When I first started in the electronics hobby in the 80's, I thought that 2.54mm DIP parts were hard to solder.
Then I finally tried working with 1.27mm SOIC IC's many years later, having convinced myself that those parts were just too
small for a hobbyist to work with. Then some 0.65mm TSSOPs. Now I'm finally doing 0.50mm TQFLP's and even the smallest
solder seems too big at times. Next up are some 0.4mm parts. :-D

bigdogguru
I was thinking of giving Loctite a try myself. Please post back your critique.

Will do. I'm no expert on solder, but I'll let you know how it compares to what I've been using.