At 07:43 AM 1/17/98 PST, you wrote:
>Hi there
>
>For my application I will be using standard (as opposed to ZIF) sockets
>to hold the PICs.  Can anyone recommend some that are better than others
>for numerous inserting/removing of chips.  I will be using an adapter
>for development work which will be made using a ZIF socket but I cannot
>afford a ZIF for every board nor do I have enough board space for one.
>I'm not too sure if I'm being very clear.... let me try again.  I need
>good quality IC sockets which will not damage my PICs after numerous
>insertion and removal cycles?  Hows that... better?
>
>
>While I have you guys here.... can anyone point me towards PCB
>connectors which allow two boards to stack together.  I guess they are
>sometimes called daughter board connectors or something like that.  Just
>though someone mught have a favorite source.
>
>Thanks!
>Charles
>

A friend of mine (who is also on this list) showed me a great way to
protect chips under these circumstances: use Augat brand hi-reliability
sockets (the ones with the round contacts) and solder one into the board
but don't directly place the chip into it. Instead, place an additional
hi-rel socket onto the chip and leave it there. This way, when you insert
and remove the chip, you will be inserting/removing a socket from a socket,
and not directly touching the chip pins. Of course, this may not be
suitable for very sensitive or very high freq. circuits because of the
added capacitance, but it is not likely that you would be using sockets at
all in these cases.

Sean


+--------------------------------+
| Sean Breheny                   |
| Amateur Radio Callsign: KA3YXM |
| Electrical Engineering Student |
+--------------------------------+
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