MOTM

Richard,

On 1 Mar 2009, at 15:50, Richard Brewster wrote:
> I
> always press leads all the way over to the board, so they are not
> sticking up, but are lying flat. This is called crimping the lead to
> the board. I'll crimp lots of parts, then cut all the leads, solder,
> wash. They don't fall out, because they're crimped. I received some
> kits from John Blacet with all resistors installed and crimped, but  
> not
> soldered. They stayed in place during shipping.
>
"Crimping" means forming the leads in some way. Some radial capacitors
for example have the leads cut short and formed with a small "wave"  
which
helps them to be pushed into the PCB and holds them whilst soldering.
Just folding the leads through 90 deg to be flush with the board is  
not really
crimping and also makes the component much harder to desolder and remove
the component to change / repair.

Graham