Favorite Cutters For Snipping DIP Leads?

[Doug White]

I have occasional need to cut the leads on a standard DIP to remove it
from a PCB. If the chip is dead or not worth saving, and the circuit
board is delicate, I'd rather cut the leads & pull them one at a time
rather than risk damaging the board trying to yank it all at once.

The catch is that my pointiest cutters are a bit broad, and won't really
fit down between the leads far enough to get a good cut. The ones I
have are Utica 582E angle tip cutters, similar to these:

http://www.stanleysupplyservices.com/erem-angled-tip-cutters/g/329

Given the cost of a really good pair of cutters, and the generally poor
quality of the pictures/descriptions supplied by most tool vendors, I'd
rather not blow big bucks on them sight unseen.

Does anyone have a particular make & model they can recommend?

Thanks!

Doug White

[isw]

In article <XnsA2B1DC8B4BF2F...@69.16.186.7>,

I use one of those craft knives with the break-off blades.

Isaac

[N_Cook]

0.5mm thick abrasive disc or cintride/"diamond" disc in a "Dremmel"

[tuinkabouter]

Bit expensive:
http://uk.farnell.com/bernstein-werkzeugfabrik/3-675-15/cutter-top-oblique-conductive/dp/9727086

[tuinkabouter]

See partnumber 3-674-15 too:
www.farnell.com/datasheets/1655808.pdf

[Doug White]

N_Cook <div...@tcp.co.uk> wrote in news:laqv7h$v0t$1...@dont-email.me:

Thus throwing small conductive bits all over the board. No thanks...

Doug White

[Doug White]

tuinkabouter <dachth...@net.invalid> wrote in
news:lard1b$vlb$1...@dont-email.me:

Actually, if you shop around, they can be had considerably cheaper than
the Erem cutters:

http://www.tme.eu/en/details/brn-3-675-15/cutting-pliers/bernstein/3-
675-15/

If I don't get any better suggestions, I'll try them out.

Thanks!

Doug White

[Doug White]

tuinkabouter <dachth...@net.invalid> wrote in
news:lardd4$1mm$1...@dont-email.me:

Thanks! Actually, the 3-672-15's look even better. I don't need the
heavily angled tip, it's just what I currently have. In some
situations, it can cause issues with bumping into obstacles. Something
really skinny with less angle would allow me to cut more from straight
above, which is usually the only direction I'm guaranteed to have
access.

Doug White

[Kaz Kylheku]

On 2014-01-11, Doug White <gwh...@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>> 0.5mm thick abrasive disc or cintride/"diamond" disc in a "Dremmel"
>
> Thus throwing small conductive bits all over the board. No thanks...

Reconsider your objection. You can blow the filings away with compressed air,
and vacuum up.

The board is not powered up while you're doing this, right?

You could also mask the board off with a piece of paper (or whatever) that has
a cutout just for the IC, if you're paranoid.

[N_Cook]

Its not as though the bits of metal grow dendrite or tin-whisker
fashion. You'd have to be extremly unlucky to end up with a continous
patch of dozens of minute particles forming a continuous path.
Similar situation with solder paste, you cannot guarantee making all
those tiny balls molten and aggregate together as one

[Michael A. Terrell]

Sure you can, if you like to do things wrong. We leased special air
nozzles at Microdyne to eliminate the static charge caused by the air
stream. This prevented ESD to sensitive components.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

[Edward Knobloch]

On 1/10/2014 9:40 PM, Doug White wrote:
> I have occasional need to cut the leads on a standard DIP to remove it
> from a PCB. If the chip is dead or not worth saving, and the circuit

> board is delicate, I'd rather cut the leads& pull them one at a time

> rather than risk damaging the board trying to yank it all at once.

<snip>

> Does anyone have a particular make& model they can recommend?

Hi,

I like the Xcelite model 170M

http://www.amazon.com/Xcelite-170M-General-Shearcutter-Diagonal/dp/B0002BBZIS

73,
Ed Knobloch

[N_Cook]

Another consideration is multiplicity of tool use. Such side cutters can
only be used for very light duty, no power transistor leads or worse.
Break the cutter face and an expensive replacement (especially if used
in a shared workshop).
Break a Dremmel disc and 20 cents to replace. And such drills have a
some <infinity of uses.
If a circuit board is too cluttered to get a disc in to an IC then a
ball-mill or small cylinder or cone "diamond" bit will probably get
where a dedicated pair of end snips will not go

[William Sommerwerck]

I did this a few years ago when I had to remove a DIP and a five-lead TO-cased
buffer from the top of a board.

The TO package came lose with a pair of cutters. I don't remember how I
removed the DIP, but I'm pretty certain I used a cutoff disk. (Even if you
have fine-tipped cutters, you run the risk of damaging the board from the
force exerted.) I don't remember what I did about the fine shavings (if there
were any).

[gghe...@gmail.com]

I've got a decent set of cutters that I took to the grinding wheel,
and trimped down the 'bits' that where in the way.
I use them for SMD dips too.

George H.

[John Robertson]

Yes, those Xceltie snips are our cutters of choice in our shop too.

John :-#)#

--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."

[Michael A. Terrell]

Really? You ever test new boards, right out of the reflow oven? A lot
of lead to lead shorts from balls of solder trapped under the IC's leads
if the reflow profile, paste solder and a dozen other things aren't
exactly right. I've removed hundreds of them from new boards. Metal dust
doesn't have to make good connections to cause problems. I had a batch
of new embedded computer boards come from the vendor with a problem. It
wasn't caught at incoming inspection, so we stuffed and reflowed them.
The were erratic as hell. I found the problem. The PCB house had
scratched the film along a +5V rail. This was arching to the parallel
ground plane, and right next to the input of an ADC. Know it alls claim
you can't have an arc at that voltage. All you need is enough potential
to jump the gap.

[Rick]

"William Sommerwerck" <grizzle...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:lau958$lkd$1...@dont-email.me...

I have been using this from Home Depot
www.homedepot.com/p/Xcelite-4-in-Shear-Cutter-Plier-Set-2-Piece-S2KS5/100163974?keyword=s2ks5#.UtRwxiFEOgM

They are only $ 13.97 and include a needle nose pliers. They cut dip leads
just fine and are cheap enough to keep a few sets around. It is a good
bench set of tools.

[Bruce Esquibel]

Rick <rik...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

> I have been using this from Home Depot
> www.homedepot.com/p/Xcelite-4-in-Shear-Cutter-Plier-Set-2-Piece-S2KS5/100163974?keyword=s2ks5#.UtRwxiFEOgM

> They are only $ 13.97 and include a needle nose pliers. They cut dip leads
> just fine and are cheap enough to keep a few sets around. It is a good
> bench set of tools.

This is a good point.

Early on I started using these imported (either Sweden or some where around
there) diagonal cutters and thought they were surgeon tools. But in the
early/mid 1980's, they were around $80 a set.

Thing was, even though they had a better life span than like Craftmans, they
still didn't last more than 6 or 7 months, but they did see much heavier
than normal use.

After a while, they did seem to be a waste of money, some of the
over-the-counter brands like Xcelite were actually pretty good, shorter life
span but good hand balance, narrow tip, hold angle.

Being you could get 6 or more pairs for the cost of 1 import, the difference
in life span just didn't make sense with the imports.

-bruce
b...@ripco.com

[Doug White]

Doug White <gwh...@alum.mit.edu> wrote in
news:XnsA2B1DC8B4BF2F...@69.16.186.7:

Thanks for all the input. I looked into some of the options, but the
nicest cutters were either outrageously expensive, or out of stock. I
finally ended up getting a pair of Erem 2470E "Diagonal Tapered Full
Flush Tip" cutters, and they work perfectly!

http://www.all-spec.com/products/2470E.html?
gclid=CPukrcPJl7wCFZBj7AodUBcA-Q

Although they are nominally rated for only #24 wire, they seem to do
just fine with the soft leads on the dips I've had to remove. No sign
of any wear or strain on the jaws so far.

Doug White