Protecting GE Transistors Legs from shorting

[chromesphere]

Hey guys, quick question.  I usually dont have a problem getting these russian GE transistors into PCB's without risk of shorting the legs, but these old vintage transistors i've just bought have a really inconvenient pinout. i have to bend two of the legs in a crisscross fashion, and the transistor ends up looking, kind of like its in the middle of a game of Twister.

So the question is, can you put something around the legs, just for some adding protection against shorting?  only things i can think of are:
- heatshrink (heat might damage the transistor?)
- tape (mostly going to unravel though).
- Hot glue (Difficult to remove from the socket though)

Any other ideas? Thanks for any help!
Paul

[PRR]

Small heatshrink. Don't shrink it.

Or peel some insulation from hook-up wire, use the insulation.

Traditional product is "spaghetti", cloth sleeve for bare wire; but I have not seen that sold in decades.

[amptramp]

You can still get non-shrinking teflon sleeving which should simplify things.  It is not affected much by soldering heat.

[Pyr0]

I just use the insulation from hook up wire too, I build a lot on vero, so need the copper for jumpers, so minimum waste.

These are my patriotic covers 

[LucifersTrip]

maybe I've been lucky, but I've never had a problem with shrinking the heatshrink on ge's. though, I do cover the metal case and try to point the gun at the legs only when shrinking.

also, I scrap tons of vintage electronics and routinely pull what seems like shrunken heatshrink off legs....or was it just some really tight insulation...

[chromesphere]

Or peel some insulation from hook-up wire, use the insulation.

You sir win a prize.  hah.  No this is exactly the answer i was after, ill give it a shot tonight!!  Thanks Paul!
Paul

[darron]

reminds me of the old bc10x fuzz face board. adapt the transistor to the board, no the board to the transistor. they kept that layout running for.. ahmm...

[Paul Marossy]

Small heatshrink. Don't shrink it.

Or peel some insulation from hook-up wire, use the insulation.

I've done both of these methods. Works just fine.