3-D Printed Discs For Transistor Sockets?

Ginsly

Ginsly

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

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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 :).
 
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.
 
Fama said:
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.
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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.
 
drew.spriggs said:
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.
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I’d like to hear more about this, didn’t even consider it… what material would be used?
 
Alan W said:
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.
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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. @jessenator yours didn’t melt at all when soldered?

@owlexifry, ya Saucy Aussie! This looks to be one of your "greatest hits" gripes based on comment #26 in the other thread too! :LOL: 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.
 
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I wonder if the layout artists here could do up a sheet of THICK PCB-styley sockets at JLCPCB, but...

The question is: DOES JLCPCB HAVE THE PINS TO DO IT?
 
Ginsly said:
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. @jessenator yours didn’t melt at all when soldered?

@owlexifry, ya Saucy Aussie! This looks to be one of your "greatest hits" gripes based on comment #26 in the other thread too! :LOL: 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.
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I did it with an SLA printer, so it was a resin print. I did not melt the pins in, as the tolerances in MSLA prints are so low that you can push the pins in easily with a fit just snug enough. If the print is fresh, they will also get stuck a bit more when you cure the print with pins inserted, I guess. But to be fair, you don't need mechanical stability there, so it does not matter that much. You just need it to hold together till you solder it in PCB.
 
Ginsly said:
@owlexifry, ya Saucy Aussie! This looks to be one of your "greatest hits" gripes based on comment #26 in the other thread too! :LOL: Consistency!
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yeah not this time :censored:

genuinely, my intention is to encourage folks to try breadboarding things for better results, but usually this just results in hurt feelings.

do i at least get a banana sticker for shutting the fuck up this time?
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owlexifry said:
yeah not this time :censored:

genuinely, my intention is to encourage folks to try breadboarding things for better results, but usually this just results in hurt feelings.

do i at least get a banana sticker for shutting the fuck up this time?
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Funny enough, I DO make transistor sticker labels for members... I suppose I could make some curvy yellow ones... Sadly you're a bit too far!

I agree completely that sockets are not a great substitute for breadboarding. Even the good ones can lose their "grab" after a few swaps. I mostly use them so I don't fry transistors (unlikely) or in the event that things sound slightly different than the breadboard - then I can pop something else in and hopefully fix it. It's also a good way to put "special" transistors in a pedal and have the option of robbing them later! Endlessly rotating components in those things is a surefire way to have a faulty connection after just a slight jostle, though. Ask me how I know...

The better I've gotten at breadboarding the more time I've spent on that stage - it's incredibly quick and easy to try many different configurations of transistors, caps, pots, etc... I've honestly built less pedals as of late, and that's because breadboarding allows me to really figure out how I want to tweak many aspects before I even pick up the pcb. It can be quite the rabbit hole, but I love it.

Still, those little green TO-5 sockets are pretty slick. :)
 
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