NOS vs. manu refurb?

[niftyprose]

Hi guys, the subject line says it all. I'm looking to build a pedal around an obsolete IC. The chip is readily available but many of the suppliers are listing as 'manufacturer refurbished' and others as 'new old stock'. The latter typically costs twice as much. Questions:

1. I know that chips don't wear out, but I'm guessing that pulling them out of a built-up device might cause problems down the line. Anyone have any thoughts about this?

2. Human nature being what it is, some of those 'NOS' chips actually aren't. Any advice, apart from the obvious caveat emptor?

Best, NP

[blackieNYC]

1. You've got a known working IC. Given proper static handling.  Your problems, if any, will be immediate!
2. Have you checked the pedal-market-specific dealers here?

[ElectricDruid]

What the hell is a "manufacturer refurbished" chip? How do you "refurbish" a chip? Polish each of the legs with a toothbrush?!

NOS I understand, but the other sounds like nonsense. Is it a euphemism for "pulled"? Spade = handheld manual digging implement?

Tom

[R.G.]

In the immortal words of William Jefferson Clinton, it depends on what your definition of the word "is" is.

[bluebunny]

Spade = handheld manual digging implement?

I always understood that a spade was an earth-inverting horticultural instrument.   

(As you were...)

[niftyprose]

Well, with spades knocking about the discussion, let's say that, in the case of ICs, "manufacturer refurbished" == "pulled". How bad a thing is "pulled"? Should I avoid? NP

[ElectricDruid]

It would depend on when it was pulled and how. I've seen manufactured boards that subsequently became obsolete get chips stripped off them for resale. If they were socketed, those would be pretty much as good as new - unused and never soldered.

I've also seen old synth chips pulled from dead instruments. An example is Polysix battery leakage, which kills the main processor board, and then people strip the valuable SSM2056 envelopes and SSM2044 filters off the voice board. These chips might well have been in use for twenty+ years. They're expensive chips and getting very hard to find, so if you needed one, you might not have any choice, but they wouldn't be recommended for reliability.

Finally, I suppose it's possible someone might try to sell chips that had been desoldered. I've never seen this personally, but I'd stay well away.

HTH,
Tom

[nick d]

     " Pulled Pork " is very popular at the moment . The main thing about it seems  be is that is overcooked  , then ripped to bit using two forks . Says it all , really .

[GGBB]

Pulled out of sockets would be one thing. Pulled (desoldered) out of board holes is another thing entirely. A friend of mine desolders using a blow torch followed by a strong smacking of the board. May sound extreme, until you try desoldering 8 or more legs of a part in a cost efficient way. The only way someone is going to sell quantities of "refurbished" ICs that had been soldered is if the desoldering process is fast.

[ElectricDruid]

Sounds about right. We used to use a heat gun at work, which is only marginally more polite. Either way (heat gun/blow torch) I wouldn't go near unsoldered chips.

Tom