Transistor leg twisting in Uber drive

[brightlight]

Im still pretty new and learning some of these tricks, so thanks for your patience! I'm building an Uber Drive which calls for 2 2sc732 transistors, but i had to sub for 2 2n5089's. The base and collector are swapped for these 2 transistors so basically on the 2n5089 I have to swap legs 2 and 3 if looking at the flat side of the transistor.

I'm having a hard time getting the 2n5089 properly seated in the PCB without having the legs touch. I assume it's NOT ok for the legs to touch so I'm trying to be cautious. When I get it into the pads I can avoid them touching but the transistor has to sit kinda high for the legs to not touch each other. Is this all normal or is there a trick to bending the legs here that I'm missing?

 

[andare]

Slip wire insulation over the legs so they don't touch then bend the transistors down once they're soldered. Or use sockets

 

[jimilee]

Can you twist the transistor any?

 

[brightlight]

Slip wire insulation over the legs so they don't touch then bend the transistors down once they're soldered. Or use sockets

This is exactly the kind of genius I was after. That works, thank you!

Can you twist the transistor any?

I tried that without the insulation method above and it just made me too nervous that they'll touch at some point in the life of the pedal if I did this. A combo of insulation and twisting it like you said works wonders! Thanks!