Neil Bradley writes:
>>My experience echoes Paul's. I also own/operate an arcade, and the boards we consistently have more problems with are ones with socketed ICs.<<
I think a lot of this depends on environment. All my gear sits in a house, I'm the only user of it, I treat it nicely. Perhaps in smoked filled environments with people banging and kicking stuff, big temperature swings, or gear in a mobile situation, I would have a different view of them. So far, it's 25 years and no socket problems in anything. Pots, switches, buttons, and cables. Those are my problems.
>>He's also right in that replacing an IC is easy. One does not have to "desolder"
the chip - instead, just cut it out with some snips and heat/desolder the holes.
It's easier than attempting to desolder a chip, and no traces get lifted, either.<<
Perhaps I've had bad luck, but traces getting lifted is the first thing I think of even when trying to remove just the legs. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but they seem to hinder my solder sucker and I always seem to have some that don't want to come out no matter what.
-Elhardt