DIY SOIC to DIP Chip Adaptors

The world of electronics is moving further and further away from Through-Hole components and towards SMT (Surface Mount Technology) every day.  Sometimes this doesn't always go well for the enthusiasts building at home, so we have to adapt. 

Literally.

SOIC to DIP adaptors are useful for many things:

• For prototyping a circuit on a through-hole proto-board and later converting to SMT
• For saving money with cheaper SMT chips
• Some chips might only be available in SOIC packages
• Programming SOIC microcontrollers without expensive ZIF sockets

These kinds of boards are available at websites for $1 to $3, but if you are trying to cut costs by using SMT components in the first place, you may want to make your own.  If you have circuit board etching supplies handy, you can make these adaptors for 25 cents apiece.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Heres what you will need to build these:

Materials:

• Copper clad board
• Breakaway male strip headers (like these)
• Ferric Chloride etchant (or equivalent)
• Additional supplies for your etching method of choice
• Solder

Tools:

• Drill
• 1mm drill bit (3/64" is what I use and it works well enough)
• Tin snips or other PCB cutting tool

Comments

[pfred2]

Your adapter seems to cover all the holes in the breadboard it is plugged into. I think you need to go vertical or something so you can access some of the connection holes. SMT is a pain so I don't bother with it personally. Although if I did and wanted to use an SMT on a breadboard I'd probably just solder wire to the pads and put legs on the IC like it is supposed to have. I've soldered broken legs back to ICs before so it can't be any harder than doing that.

But like I said being a hobbyist I just say no to SMT.

[mattthegamer463]

Its not plugged in right, you'll notice the pins are shorted together.

Unfortunately the world is going SMT with or without us, breakout boards just let us keep living the breadboard dream.

[pfred2]

I've enough saved from the past that I do not worry about the future. Presently that leaves me in pretty good shape.

[hardwarehank]

Thank you very much for this excellent Instructable! I've added it to my favorites, but I have one small gripe: I cannot open .docx files properly (Linux). I downloaded your JPG version of the layout, though, and after some experimentation got it printed correctly from GIMP. For anyone else struggling, I've attached a screenshot of my printing settings and the result (with a 555 IC as the star of the show).

1. Open image in GIMP (it can be found above)
2. Go to Image Settings and change Width to 2.60 inches. Height should auto-scale.
3. Print and fit! Cheers!

[scottinnh]

Thanks for the instructable, but DOCX? I also use Linux also... but my XP system at work can't read it either. DOCX moves the goalpost and not much else can read it.

Can you upload this as DOC? I know OpenOffice can make PDFs for free, and it has great DOC support, so I could make a PDF from that.

[mattthegamer463]

Sorry, I put the DOC file on the intro page.

[mattthegamer463]

Thanks for that info, that should work with any image printing software for anyone having trouble.

[hardwarehank]

Also, if you want cleaner cuts, a box knife and a ruler/triangle as a guide work beautifully. I've used that for mine. Pic attached. This doesn't have any effect on the functionality of the product, just aesthetics.

I also attached the 555 to one of my completed boards. There's a pic for that too. I'm waiting on my header strips from China/ebay now...


Thanks again!

[alterator]

so you are practicing *dirty* soldering?? use smaller bit, and thinner solder. and preheat pads and pins, a little, so that solder joins them properly..

[mowdish]

Thanks. That's going in my favorites. I'm trying to limit myself to parts I scrounge up in broken electronics and it's hard to find anything but SMT these days.

[mattthegamer463]

Glad you'll find it useful :)