3-D Printed Discs For Transistor Sockets?

[Ginsly]

Probably more trouble than it's worth, but... Anybody ever 3-D print the plastic part of these sockets?



They're more expensive than the transistor in many cases! Seems like you could just pop the metal sockets out of one of those SIP rows and place them in a printed disc...

Let me get this out of the way to save us some time! "Or you could, ya know... just not use sockets at all... Just sayin." Perfect! Yes, that's luckily an option .

 

[Fama]

That does sound like a pretty useful idea, if one has a 3D printer.

Personally I just solder in three small metal sockets (or just singular SIP sockets with the plastic on), held on by blu tack while I solder them.

 

[Ginsly]

That does sound like a pretty useful idea, if one has a 3D printer.

Personally I just solder in three small metal sockets (or just singular SIP sockets with the plastic on), held on by blu tack while I solder them.

Yep, that’s what I do too. The little disc provides some stability though. It’s wild how expensive they are! I don’t get it.

Luckily access to 3D printers has expanded- as long as you have a design & files you can even go to the library in some cases. Something like this would be incredibly quick to print, too.

 

[jessenator]

You'd need to manually melt in the pins—sacrifice from a row of pin socket headers—but this worked for me.

 

[Ginsly]

You'd need to manually melt in the pins—sacrifice from a row of pin socket headers—but this worked for me.
View attachment 113129

Right on! I knew someone had to have done this!

 

[owlexifry]

Let me get this out of the way to save us some time! "Or you could, ya know... just not use sockets at all... Just sayin." Perfect! Yes, that's luckily an option .

 

[Fama]

View attachment 113130

I'm gonna socket transistors even harder in the future

(not but really, you do you, if you hate sockets don't use them, they save me a lot of trouble with pretty much no downsides and would have saved even more if I had used them more in the last build I did)

 

[Ginsly]

View attachment 113130

Lookit that good boy! Ya did it!

 

[drew.spriggs]

Laser cutting them would be much, much simpler - I've made a few subminiature tube sockets with machined Teflon and header pins, but laser is cheap and easy.

 

[Ginsly]

Laser cutting them would be much, much simpler - I've made a few subminiature tube sockets with machined Teflon and header pins, but laser is cheap and easy.

I’d like to hear more about this, didn’t even consider it… what material would be used?

 

[Alan W]

You’d want to use a printer than can work with higher heat filaments—even with great soldering technique, I’d imagine that PLA wouldn’t do well.

 

[jessenator]

Wasn't too bad, actually, but then again, I don't use transistor sockets anymore.

 

[Ginsly]

You’d want to use a printer than can work with higher heat filaments—even with great soldering technique, I’d imagine that PLA wouldn’t do well.

Good point. Some of the circular ones available look to be made out of some sort of fiberglass like a pcb, but many just look like black plastic.

Also - Missed this when originally searching: https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/to-5-sockets.16836/

Member @Smrtokvitek did indeed make a file for printing these. Not sure how heat-resistant they are, maybe he'll chime in.

@owlexifry, ya Saucy Aussie! This looks to be one of your "greatest hits" gripes based on comment #26 in the other thread too! Consistency!

I get it, I really do - it's extra stuff on the board and a possible failure point. I love breadboarding and don't always use sockets on pcbs, but if you use decent ones that grab pretty well they have their place.