Re: package converter


"whisky-dave" <whisky-dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Jon Slaughter" <Jon_Slaughter@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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I have a what I think is a really good idea to make a ic package converter
that is solderless(i.e., you don't have to solder the ic to the
converter). Sorta like the ones for plcc's. Not sure if they are on the
market as all I've seen is solder ones. Is this marketable? (probably
main use would be for prototyping) Not sure if its worth pursuing or not.
They probably could be made pretty cheap too.

What about ZIF sockets .

But how much would your sockets cost.
I work in a teaching lab and if we want 20 pin sockets I buy them,
if I want 40 I buy them.
How much would a socket that can take from 8 pin to 64 pin sockets
cost and what of the physical size ?


[1] assuming a package is a form or word for a socket



In my mind they actually would work very similar to what is at

http://www.logicalsys.com/qfp-programming-adapter.asp

But the majority of the bulk in the "socket" is not needed but the idea is
very similar from what I can tell.

Essentially those would be SUV's and mine would be a sedan(or even economy
car). Now I have thought about every detail and mainly just had in mind
stuff to use with breadboards. Large pin packages would probably be an
issue. (44-64 shouldn't be a problem but 144+ would be)

In the case of a dual inline type of package I suppose it could accept any
number of pins up to some max as long as the ic packages had the same
widths. For quad packs it wouldn't work and you would have to have one for
each type. I haven't even thought about BGA's and my idea probably wouldn't
work for them.

I mainly only thought about it for soic's, sops, and qfp's.

I do not know the cost to make them though. I know I can make the pcb's
myself if I needed for a probably a dollar a piece at most.(probably
cheaper) The other components may or may not be expensive but I imagine it
shouldn't be to much but obviously would have to be manufactured some how
and its hard to do cheap on a small scale.

There are only 4 parts to it and all are pretty basic. I imagine the pins
would be the most complicated to do because they need to be fabricated(I
don't know anything about manufacturing but it seems like it should be to
hard) and then bound to the PCB(I figure soldering it should work but there
are a few mechanical issues that would need to be worked out to make it more
rugged). Other than that its pretty simple.

These things won't stand up to a lot of abuse like the ones on that site. If
someone steps on it then it will break and probably be worthless. Should
withstand a drop pretty easy though. I think any standard handling that
anyone does with IC's would cause no problems. And even if they do break
every once in a while, being so much cheaper would be worth it.

In any case I'll look into it more. (I actually have two distinct ways to
make the package converter. One works somewhat different and probably would
be much cheaper but I haven't thought about it enough to know how good it
will work)

You mind giving me some idea how much you spend on sockets you buy and what
you mainly use? Knowing this might give me some motivation to work on this
if its worth it.

To give you some clue about price, and this is really a rough estimate, for
a ssop with 24 pins(which any similar package should be a similar price), I
would say it would cost about 15-20$ assuming I can find a decent way to
manufacture the individual components I need. I would say that 64 pin QFP's
would not be much more expensive either.


Thanks,
Jon


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