>How does anyone cut the leads on crystal oscillators? I used some wire
>cutters and after a week the crystal failed.... I've heard before that you
>need to do it a different way to avoid the shockwaves going up the lead and
>cracking the crystal but how does anyone do it?? Is it better to do it
>before soldering it in??

You can get shockless side cutters. These have blades that have a flat
surface on the side that you put towards the component. They will produce a
flat (or very nearly so) surface on the end of the component lead instead of
the peaked end that you will see on the other part of the lead. Most cutters
will produce peaked ends on both parts of the lead.

We have to use these shockless cutters in assembling PCB's for space flight
hardware to minimise the shock on component leads.

Having said that I doubt that this is the source of your problem unless
something has happened to damage the glass-metal seal the lead comes
through. If that has cracked then the wire going to the crystal will move
around relative to the case and may give problems.

I suspect that your real problem is the crystal has been dropped at some
stage (or suffered some other form of sudden shock during shipping maybe)and
the crystal itself is chipped or the support wires have bent so it touches
the case. Either way your only way to get reliable starting is to replace
it.

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