exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Quick question for you all ...

When socketing chips do you use normal (wider leg space) or machine turned pin style? New IC's I've always used pin style, pulls I put in a normal socket then a machine style. This was on ye olde arcade boards (70's / 80's).

Is there a preference for Atari motherboards ?

Thanks all

Iain

My general preference is for standard dual wipe sockets, and this isn't just for Atari but any old machines I work on.

I personally find the round machined holes unsuitable for ICs as you're putting a square peg in a round hole limiting contact to just the corners of the leg.

I know not everyone thinks that way, it's your choice to make but that's my preference.

Of course I replace any sockets like for like, and if there is a need to plug non IC items that need turned pins, then that's what I'll use, such as adapter boards etc

One thing I do like about turn-pin sockets is that they can come in gold plated variants, which obviously helps a lot in reliability (less oxidation over time)

What I dont like with turned pins for DIP packages is that it's just awful to insert into, as the pins are not vertical. Double swipe sockets are less strict, it takes way less time to put chips into.

The contact area of dual wipe sockets is far larger than for turned pin sockets and there’s active pressure from the springs pushing the contact together.

Turned pin sockets rely upon the legs of the IC sockets deforming to match the insides of the cylinders, so the contact area is purely at the corners of the legs, which is quite small. Also, if you remove and refit the chip the fit becomes less and less good with each insertion as the leg corners are deformed more and more.

Admittedly I'm a noob but I don't like turned pin sockets either. In my (limited) experience I've found them to be a tight fit for old PCB vias and consequently more difficult to desolder.