Comments on: Parts: Chip sockets for dual in-line package (DIP)

By: Mihai MATEI

Mihai MATEI — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:01:31 +0000

As others said too, the sockets illustrated in the above picture are the worst type. Best ones, with rows of holes (gold or silver), named by others “expensive ones” are named AUGAT (google for augat sockets)

By: TheKhakinator

TheKhakinator — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:56:43 +0000

All the ICs in the pic are the terrible wiper-contact sockets. I like those expensive ones with the rows of holes.

By: ben

ben — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:54:13 +0000

I do appreciate the parts articles over the past few weeks. I think it’s a fantastic idea that brings up some very fundamental issues.

However, my one complaint about the parts articles has to do with the follow-through, that they don’t go quite deep enough into the given topic. For instance, on this post it would have been very nice in this article to mention the difference between machine pin sockets and the spring-action sockets pictured above. It would have been nice to at least mention zero-input force (ZIF) sockets for applications where easy extraction is much more important than board space. It might have even been worthwhile to mention something about more complex sockets for higher pin count chips, and I could probably ramble on.

I have similar criticisms of the stereo jack article, the microSD card article, etc. I think that the LM317 article had the best background information (or at least links to helpful calculators, etc).

I think you guys are doing a very good thing by including these parts articles as a reoccurring type. However, I think you could improve them greatly by adding a little more substance (background, implementation, schematics, links to sample code or projects, etc).

~ben

By: mem.namefix

mem.namefix — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:36:32 +0000

Is hackaday turning into an online shopping network ?
Id just like to say, these parts are way overpriced.

$0.41 for a 40pin socket at mouser
or
$0.18 for the same at http://www.futurlec.com.au

By: Taylor Alexander

Taylor Alexander — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:29:08 +0000

Keep in mind though these sockets wear out, and things like comparators and op-amps and other analog parts that are very sensitive to signal inputs can give you faulty responses after a few too many uses.
-Taylor

By: ty johnson

ty johnson — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:56:51 +0000

or enabling the autosave frature in openoffice :)

Anyway, these are a must for 40 pin micros like the PIC, (definately dont want to waste solder wick on one of those). especially if you don’t have icsp like me and my cheap self built one

By: kurf

kurf — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:58:26 +0000

Sockets are an absolute must for any prototype application. Don’t cause yourself more problems then necessary. Using sockets is like saving often in Word.

By: John

John — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:22:03 +0000

I like single inline sockets (ex Digikey pn: ED7064-ND). Just cut off the number of pins you need.

By: Mike Y

Mike Y — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:07:24 +0000

I never solder ICs directly; sockets are great, plus for the home-brewer, it allows room for mistakes – just pull and replace the IC.

For building programmer boards, I can’t find ZIF sockets locally and the usual suppliers seem a bit expensive. For a good resource, Chinese vendors sell on eBay and I’ve had good results. I can get 6 or 8 ZIF sockets delivered from Hong Kong to Texas in about 8 or 9 days.

By: borgie

borgie — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:15:20 +0000

Just want to say I really dig these posts on parts. The comments are as insightful as the original posts. Thanks.

By: Jan

Jan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:14:42 +0000

the expensive kind of socket comes very handy for homemade double-sided PCBs, because you can solder under them. there is some space between the frame and the board surface where the socket pins are reachable with a soldering iron. When you have to make via connections under IC pins, this is an elegant way to do it.

Jan

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:02:50 +0000

If you have to remove an ic often, for example when you’re programming a microcontroller without using iscp, get two sockets of the expensive kind, place one on the pcb and place the ic in the other.

This makes removing the ic from the pcb much easier.

By: pokey

pokey — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:35:09 +0000

I always buy whatever size (14-28) surplus sockets I can find, and if I need a size I don’t have laying around I’ll cut rows off two sockets until I have the size I need. It might be a bit wasteful, but the sockets I buy are usually production run surplus anyway.