NJM said:
I was just wondering whether you all would use a socket for small beginner
projects like a 555 in a metronome, or just solder them directly?
The others seem to like sockets, but I disagree.
For more or less temporary stuff, just use a breadboard ... thats what
they're for.
If its going in a board. then solder it in.
Its no more difficult to solder the IC, it saves the additional cost
of the socket, its more reliable.
BTW, in all my years, as far as I know, I've never ruined a component
by overheating it during soldering it. (Lifted a few traces on PC
boards though)
And FWIW you can overheat some sockets soldering them in too (I'll
guess the cheaper ones are more susceptible to it) and THAT might
suck to troubleshoot, cause it'll most likely show up as an
intermittent/poor contact.
Martin