At least one insertion machine I've seen that stuffs boards grabs the IC from the outside of all the pins and automatically squeezes to make the pins all exactly the right distance apart. It sets the I.C. into the pad holes in the board, then a little ram in the center shoves the I.C. down against the board.
It's critical that the pins all be set a bit wide to be certain the pins all press against the grips so no pin gets bent under the IC when it's inserted. The machine only squeezes from the outside to start the insertion. If any pin was slightly bent inward a tad too far, it'd be shoved against the board and bent under the I.C. when the 'ram' pushed it down against the board. I believe the automatic insertion machines used to put I.C.s in sockets do the same. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
