Mounting board with IC socket upside down..

[composition4]

Anyone ever have a problem with ICs falling out of sockets when the board is mounted upside down?  Using the machined pin sockets, not the cheap wiper style ones...

I've done this on plenty of pedals which have been knocked around lots and never had a problem, but want my latest design to be as bulletproof as possible.  Soldering the ICs directly to the board isn't an option for this project

Thanks
Jonathan

[JKowalski]

...Put a dab of hot glue between the chip and the socket? Should never fall out, and taking it out wouldn't be hard, just a bit of wiggling to pop the hot glue off.

Or maybe drill two holes next to the socket and zip-tie the IC down against the socket.

I use the "wiper style?" ones and I've never had a problem with anything falling out. (not saying they are better) It takes some serious effort to get the chips out of the sockets I use, - so much that doing it by hand often results in total loss of control and the IC half embedded in my hand. OW.  Maybe I'm just not very rough with my stuff. Or maybe over time the pins might loosen a little, and then I will start having problems... Dunno.

[dune2k]

It takes some serious effort to get the chips out of the sockets I use, - so much that doing it by hand often results in total loss of control and the IC half embedded in my hand. OW.  Maybe I'm just not very rough with my stuff.

That happened to me a couple of times too... >_<

[Gurner]

It's a rite of passage - it is just not possible to acquire the ability to debug circuits properly until you've pulled the legs of a forcibly removed DIL chip out of your thumb pad flesh at least 6 times.

[deadastronaut]

yep did that...bleeds for ages ..them pins are like little  knives.....always on the picking finger/thumb  too...

just to really niggle ya...i have an ic tool now....

[diemilchmann]

its called a screw driver

[CynicalMan]

It's a rite of passage - it is just not possible to acquire the ability to debug circuits properly until you've pulled the legs of a forcibly removed DIL chip out of your thumb pad flesh at least 6 times.

And the thumb pad flesh has to also have solder burns. 

Seriously, just get one of these:

[liddokun]

I've heard of some people soldering just one pin of the IC to the socket, that way it's secure and you only have to unsolder one pin to remove it from the socket. Never tried this myself however.

[deadastronaut]

It's a rite of passage - it is just not possible to acquire the ability to debug circuits properly until you've pulled the legs of a forcibly removed DIL chip out of your thumb pad flesh at least 6 times.

And the thumb pad flesh has to also have solder burns. 

Seriously, just get one of these:

thats the one!....

[trjones1]

I've heard of some people soldering just one pin of the IC to the socket, that way it's secure and you only have to unsolder one pin to remove it from the socket. Never tried this myself however.

That's my method, though I only ever do it for transistors in sockets.  I've never worried about ICs falling out.  I use the cheapo sockets for them and they hold nice and tight.

As far as removal of ICs, I use my handy-dandy-can't-live-without-it-tool-for-all-situations: a jeweler's screwdriver.

[JKowalski]

It's a rite of passage - it is just not possible to acquire the ability to debug circuits properly until you've pulled the legs of a forcibly removed DIL chip out of your thumb pad flesh at least 6 times.

And the thumb pad flesh has to also have solder burns. 

Seriously, just get one of these:

I have one, it's just that sometimes I am too lazy to go get it. 

[amptramp]

Responding to the OP, is it possible in your design to have a pad of closed-cell foam in the lid that presses the IC into the socket?  If you have a firm mounting for the board (and you wouldn't be concerned about the IC if the whole board was left floating), you should be able to set a thickness of foam that would keep the IC in the socket regardless of vibration.  There are also some heatsinks that bolt down to the board (if you have room) and hold the IC in position.

[Paul Marossy]

I have never ever had an IC chip fall out of a socket. Everything I have built over the last nine years that had an IC chip went into a socket, and were upside down when the pedal was all put together.

Also, those old ADA Flangers from the late 70s/early 80s had the IC chips in sockets, they never fell out. And some of the ones I have worked on looked like they had been to hell and back.