I bought the makerbuino kit with tools, and I built and soldered the whole thing without a fumehood, causing me to inhale some of the solder fumes. Would that affect my health in any way?
Yes like when you breath outside the fumes of cars asw… The fumes have lead and some other materials so the toxicity for a hobby is very low. I you made Makerbuino all the days for a long time, you could have to install a system of ventilation or have a mask to avoid fumes like you have to doif you have to stay long in a place in a city with cars or like you have to do in your house because all object in your house make some toxic substances (your furnitures for example, your aerosols, and near all products used in it …)
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If i only took the average build time (around 5 hours) would that be ok? Do I also need to ventilate the area where I built it afterwards?
Of course if you’re in a non polluted zone it’s always better to aerate (and not only because of solder) but as i said, 5 hours to make it is less pollution than 30 minutes of running in a city.with cars … It’s nothing in the quantity of pollution you’ll take in your life…
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@Bob_Sung @Jean-Charles_Lebeau,
This video explains the situation quite nicely:
TL;DR:
- The fumes don’t contain led or tin as you’d need the higher temperature to evaporate those elements
- What evaporates is flux and you shouldn’t breathe it in
- Toxicity for hobby use is quite low and you won’t feel any effects. Although, it’s better not to breathe flux fumes directly.
EXTRA TIP: do not eat solder
Here in MAKERbuino HQ, we have a few cheap solder fume extractors for soldering purposes.
In example:
If you’re soldering once a month, you probably do not need to buy an extractor, just vent the room while soldering.
I hope this answers your question 
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