[sdiy] IC sockets or not???

[Steve Carter]

I must admit I've lightened up on this issue nowadays.  I used to  
think of IC sockets as work of the devil!  Having worked on commercial  
vintage gear that has used cheap IC sockets and found ICs that need  
reseating after 20 - 30 years I feel the use of sockets to be worth  
the small possibility of unreliability.  For ICs that are being  
removed often under development I wouldn't use a cheap socket.  With  
plated through double sided boards, removing ICs without destroying  
them is not a speedy job so sockets are a boon when you may want to  
isolate an IC during a test procedure.

Having said all that it's a choice that has to made on individual  
circumstances - the operating environment of the equipment, the  
operating temperature of any given IC or the susceptibility to  
instability due to a possible changing contact resistance albeit  
small.  Also in RF circuits the extra inter-lead capacitance that the  
socket introduces maybe an issue.

Steve



On 26 Nov 2008, at 13:30, jpdesroc at oricom.ca wrote:

> I'm starting to build my own DIY synth
> and I wonder if I should use IC sockets
> on all my DIP IC's or solder them directly
> on the PCB... I kind of like the idea of
> being easily able to replace a bad IC
> using sockets but.
> Please take note I'd use only machined sockets with
> gold flash surface.
> What do you think?