Socket Question/First build

[maddscientist]

Heres a question I hope isn't too self explanatory.  I just attempted to break a 8 pin socket in half w/ snips and well, I can see it takes a very light touch and maybe a very thin pair of snips.  The question is: Can I solder individual pins where I need them w/o the plastic?  It seems like it's going to be a pain to bend those little legs anyway.............  Thanks.

[RickL]

Absolutely. It will be much easier if the socket had machined pins, in fact I'm not sure if the leaf type pins will work this way.

I have a whole bunch of machined pins that I took out of surplus sockets that I use this way all the time. They're great for socketing transistors, caps, diodes, LDRs and such.

[maddscientist]

I'm not sure if mine are leaf or machine (mill max DIP low pro sockets) but when those little pins are so easy to place it seems crazy to bend around the whole unit.  I'm really glad that will work.  The pins look wobbly but once they are soldered they should be fine.  Thanks, this is my first full build from scratch (lava rim 2) and I appreciate all the help I can get!

[petemoore]

  I 'd hold out for the decent socket ...
   MAchined pin, pretty strong just with one, if you know the relative strength of a pad and other leads.
 For the 'ribbon wiper lug' type IC sockets, I use three in a row as a minimum for physical stability reasons, whether I need 3 connects or just 2, holds caps better that way, and look for nifty ways to use the complete IC socket...like around where I'm gonna be wanting sockets.
 I've been known to use a 'spare' end pin of socket to a top of board, lead soldering.
 Also known for, ashamedly, soldering onto an IC pin using a heat sink. [To get around a wiring mistake that took place before the spiders nest of wires grew atop of it]..needle nose pliers hold both leads in place/heat sink...this takes a 'good dab' of exposure to the heat so close to the heat sink, and is best done the one time, installed and left alone. Flexible wire no bigger than the IC lead seems to help.
 It can be done to where the IC doesn't even feel warm, can easily be dodgy at best, test the IC pin lead when testing that IC pin lead, not the wire.

[maddscientist]

Holy moly.  Brother that might as well be chinese.  I thank you graciously for the reply but I have no idea what you said.  I'm just getting started and don't see how in the world I could get these sockets to fit in these holes.  When I saw how easy it was to pop out single pins (by accident) it was a natural thought to just solder the single pins exactly where they are needed.  It just seems to easy.....

[petemoore]

  Go Small Bear, and get some of the inline cutaway as many pins as you need sockets. Can't beat 'em for working with.
  These are machine pin. Starting with a rod of copper, and shaping top so pins go in a nice round hole and get grabbed real good if 'stuck in' go in so they come out easy if pressed lightly in.
  The cheepie 8 Pin sockets aren't really designed to be cut, the bases dont even sit flush to the board that way, and wobble around, they don't inspire confidence, but I've not traced a problem to using them this way.
 

[maddscientist]

Thanks.  The help is really appreciated.  If parts touch above the board is that alright?  i.e.: trimmers touching sockets, etc.

[KMS]

trimmers touching sockets ......not a good idea especially if the trimmer is not all plastic body and you have pulled the metal part out of an 8 pin socket and thus it is no longer is insulated.

I have used the 8 pin for socketing transistors and such with no problem, but snips cutting an 8pin socket is kinda like using a chainsaw to cut a toothpick. That is joke to by the way!

I use an "Exactro" knife or any razor knife to cut the 8pin.  Place the socket on a sturdy wooden surface that you don't care about scratches.  Then push the knife (don't slide or use back and fourth cutting action) push the knife into the socket right down the center in between the two rows of four pins.  Then take the four pin section and hold with long nose plier on the wood surface and cut off one pin at a time.......gently pushing the knife into the socket (don't slide or use back an forth cutting action). They cut real easy with the razor knife.  Actually they break off, not really a cut.

It sounds like your layout is designed for a standard three pin transistor socket where the three legs of the transistor form the cornners for the outline of a triangle shape.  I just bought two of that type of socket yesterday and they look like a half moon shaped piece of flat plastic with three pins....25cents each.

If you must use single pin sockets and you plan on testing several transistors, the IC socket trick is not to good because the IC socket is designed for a very thin, flat,  lead where the transistors leads are not that thin and stretch the IC socket out too far.  The IC socket is "OK" for two or three transistor inserts but after that they loose their tension for holding the transistor firmly in place.  It would be best to get the kind of socket that Pete recommended or get a standard three pin if it will fit on your layout.

Good luck...........

[maddscientist]

Thanks.  Yeah, I just saw those three prong transistor sockets at small bear.  A little late.  Hey thanks for the razor tip.....  Next order I'll get those sockets but for now I'm stuck w/ what I got.  I just soldered the worlds ugliest circuit.