Electronic – Are there special protocols one should take when handling vintage/old electronics

corrosionintegrated-circuitpcbvintage

UPDATE: I am mainly interested in learning about vintage chips, ics, cpus etc, mainly non-soldered chips. It would also be interesting to know about any other component (i.e., capacitor) that could have been near a soldered chip that could cause an issue (might still be broad, since computers run everything/the chips could have been used elsewhere besides in computers).

Taking from my previous question here Are there dangers to humans from PCB/Circuit Corrosion?

I am curious if there are special precautions one should take when dealing with old/vintage electronics?

From my understanding current electronics are all made with lead-free solder, while older equipment (and even current hobbyist equip) will contain lead solder, which I'm not sure if that is a worry, but some comments were suggestion that there could be "lead-dust…." in some situations, and not sure if handling will cause issues (maybe the solder is breaking down over time, not sure if it does that?).

There is also the worry of corrosion and other nasties that could be on the circuits.

So my question is, when dealing with vintage/old electronics that might or might not be contaminated with nasties, are there specific handling instructions we should take note of? obviously when dealing with corrosion and other build up of nasties we should be wearing protection, but what about dealing with boards/circuits that are in pristine new-line condition?

EDIT: Thanks for the answers so far, and even though there isn't a lot of handling instructions, I appreciate being told what nasty chemicals I should look out for, and what.

I have edited the question a bit to try to be "less broad."

Best Answer

A loose list. I'm torn between this question being far too broad and far too interesting.

What I shall clearly not do is address the physiological effects of chemical compounds. Just so much: don't downplay the dangers of things like lead poisoning. It's dangerous. Keep your hands clean, don't eat while handling equipment, standard etiquette.

I can't also give you good handling advice. In fact, it's simple: Old electronics can contain hazardous material. There's national standards on how such must be handled. Don't settle for less "just because you're a hobbyist", "small entrepreneur" or "will be doing this for only a short time".

  • Mercury and Cadmium batteries, old batteries tend too "bleed" those
  • Lead migrated from solder joints, contained in particles ("dust")
  • Bromine-based flame retardants permeating everything, especially printed circuit boards in the pre-glass fibre era
  • Asbestos in the isolation of temperature-controlled components
  • Chromium in lacquers
  • DEHP, BBP, DBP, DIBP as abundant plasticizers in polymers
  • Boric acid in electrolytes of capacitors
  • Fire hazards due to aged capacitors
  • Electrocution hazard due to aged cable isolation, esp. in transformers
  • Microwave equipment, esp. gyrotrons and the similar contain very hazardous alloy components
  • Fire and electrocution hazard due to conductive or hygroscopic dirt accumulations

Device type-specific dangers of common appliances:

  • CRT TVs contain high voltage supplies
  • damaged CRTs can implode, scattering very sharp glass shrapnell. Security of old Cathode Ray Tubes is not up to modern standards.
  • CRTs emit X-Ray radiation. Shielding only in the front. Old TVs are not up to modern standards and will cook your organs
  • Tube amplifiers have 500 V+ as acceleration voltages
  • high-powered transformers are commonly suspended in oil, which has been heavily treated with very poisonous chemicals.
  • Old fire warning systems contain radioactive material in significant amounts
  • Old gas discharge tubes may contain radioactive gas.

International references

a good idea is to look into the RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) legislation and the laws it build upon. That gives you a good idea of what used to be abundant.

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