What's the best way to clean sockets and legs?

[diecaster]

What's the best way to clean ROM legs and sockets other than the natural wiping action from reseating them? I use an eraser for edge connectors, but not sure with the delicate legs on ROMS.

Thanks!

[channelmaniac]

A small dremel with a wire wheel attachment works well. Clean lightly. It doesn't take much pressure to clean the gunk off. Too much and you'll break the leg.

If the leg falls off then take a leg off of an old bad chip and solder it to the broken leg.

On Galaga games this is a HUGE freakin' problem. Corroded/tarnished legs that like to break off at the shoulder or at the skinny part of the pin. I'll clean them up with the Dremel and wire wheel then slide them into a new double-wipe socket. (NOT a machine pin socket!) Once they are in a socket I'll put more pressure on the broken pin with the wire wheel to clean it up enough to get solder to stick reliably to it.

Once it's clean, dab a little liquid rosin flux on it and tin the leg. Slide the new leg down into the socket, press it up against the broken pin, and touch the soldering iron to it to finish the repair.

Now you can slide the socketed chip down into the socket on the board. Looks funny but makes for a nice repair.

[diecaster]

Thanks!

This sounds good, but what about the socket itself? Are the female sockets less prone to oxidation?

I've polished legs before, but do we just rely on the natural wiping action to clean the socket holes?

I was hoping a miracle chemical came out that fixing everything!

[channelmaniac]

The problem with the leads on the oxidized chips is that they are silver plated steel. The tarnish, then corrode, then fall off.

I've never run into sockets that were silver plated like that. They have been gold plated or nickel plated.

Now I *have* run into a LOT of old sockets that just flat out didn't make good contact with the chips. They were poorly made sockets by some BIG name makers - amp, TI, and lots of others.