Bending a SIP package

If you do it this way, you stress the point where the leadframe enters the package. It is better to put the pins in a vise and bend down the loose ends.

yes, bend the pins first, then solder.

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@o61g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

If you have good access to the space behind the IC, you can bend it into place after soldering it. If it were surface mount, only bending before soldering makes sense, but in this case it might be easier to do it afterwards.

First point to note is that whichever way you go first, the stress on the IC package from any lead can be the same, so to protect the package as a whole you just need to maintain an even strain, and doing it after soldering makes this easier for this IC.

If you look at the pins in the profile diagram, you can see that there is a bend just after they leave the package, after the bend the pins take one of two forms. What you need is two stainless steel rulers or similar objects. Place the end of one so that the upper edge presses firmly against the outside of the bend, and one end of the other flat against the front of the IC. Guide it like a hinge, applying pressure so that the centre of rotation is on the point where the bend rests on the first ruler, NOT around the point where the pins enter the IC. This will start to straighten out that bend, and when the IC is near-flat you can remove the first ruler. You won't get it fully flat without clamping, unless you reflow the solder joints while temporarily holding the IC flat.