Help on socketing

[stevo9029]

Does anyone have instructions on how to socket my LM

[mcsvt]

Our own resident Cordes did a great write up. It's on his website here:
www.omniglht.com

[Anonymous_User]

Great instructions there.

I'll add that when I pull the old chip out I don't plan on re-using it. I take a small pair of diagonal cutters and snip all the legs off at the IC. I then grab each leg with some needle nose pliers, heat the solder, and pull each leg out one at a time. Then I go back through with a desoldering pump to pull off as much solder as I can. Then with a pin vise I clean out the holes.

[Whorse]

If you can find some, I find that solder wick works much better than a solder sucker for removing the solder from the throughholes once you have removed the leads from the chip. If you do choose to cut the leads with side cutters or flush cutter (highly recommended), make sure to add a bit of solder to the tip of your iron before heading up the leads to remove, and make sure all the solder is hot, without leaving it on too long (will burn the board if you leave it on for a minute). Trying to pull out the lead while it's still attached damages the vias on the board that the leads are soldered to.

Also, if you have a soldering iron more than a couple years old, DO NOT by ROHS solder as most of it requires a higher temperature to melt, which is not suitable for the PCBs on our old circuit boards. Make sure you get rosin core lead solder.