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Hey guys I'm search of ILF wisdom. I'm building a Meatball clone and I forgot to order sockets for the ICs. Will I mess up the ICs if I solder them straight to the PCB?

Wont mess it up as long as you don't melt it and don't bridge any of the pins together that aren't supposed to be.

You should be fine. Just be careful not to solder them too long. I honestly wouldn't bother with sockets on a cheap IC unless I planned to experiment with different ones.

As long as you don't want to experiment with different ic's (often the case if you want to try different opamps) you should be fine. Sockets make repairs easier too. Just don't solder too long.

just MAKE DOUBLE SURE you've installed the the right way around, i.e. with the dot on the chip indicating pin 1 - they're almost impossible to remove cleanly once soldered in place.

just use a socket, they are $0.02 at tayda. if you dont use the socket, you might burn the IC and it will be harder to troubleshoot and replace. it depends on the IC though. some are more sensitive than others. you either know by experience or you guess from the datasheet what IC's are safe to abuse with cheap soldering irons.

Thanks guys. I soldered them staight to that mofo. I went to Radio Shack to see if they had sockets and of course they didn't and I didn't want to wait a week and pay shipping for two little sockets. I wish there was somewhere locally I could get components beside the shack

when radioshack has sockets they are like $2.50 for 5

I bought 20 sockets for $1 from tayda so I always have them.

Sockets are one of those random things you don't always think about having...but you should.

Pfffft. That half hour of frustration and general unpleasantness trying to remove the IC you put in backwards is a great character building exercise. It's like the DIY equivalent of a final boss...

... of course, it's the kind of final boss that comes back to life when you decide to put that same IC back in and realize you burned it up whilst removing it the first time.

McSpunckle wrote:Pfffft. That half hour of frustration and general unpleasantness trying to remove the IC you put in backwards is a great character building exercise. It's like the DIY equivalent of a final boss...

... of course, it's the kind of final boss that comes back to life when you decide to put that same IC back in and realize you burned it up whilst removing it the first time.

and then you put the new IC in backwards. I have done some stupid shit but thats gotta be the worst feeling.