Create A Chip Clip?

[gudenau]

I have a couple of nearly identicle accessories for an old game console, one of which I bricked. I was wondering if I could make a chip clip for the flash chips in order to read and write them in circuit. There is very little active circuitry on the board other than the flash, so hopefully it wont be a problem. I have access to a 3D printer if that is required.

The chip is question is a 29LE010 from SST.

[james_s]

I'm sure with enough dedication you could make something, but how much is your time worth? Test clips are already widely available for any package that is feasible to make one for, they're not even all that expensive.

I wasn't able to find a datasheet for the 29LE010 but if you post a picture of it I can tell you what package it is. 

[gudenau]

I'm sure with enough dedication you could make something, but how much is your time worth? Test clips are already widely available for any package that is feasible to make one for, they're not even all that expensive.

I wasn't able to find a datasheet for the 29LE010 but if you post a picture of it I can tell you what package it is.

It is a 32 lead PLCC, from what I saw it is like 50$ for a clip.

[Armadillo]

Reliability is the key, I would advise against making one yourself, it's too..... time consuming and precision of art.
Even for commercial clips, I have doubts, it depends on neighbouring components obstruction, solders works etc..
About US50.

[DaJMasta]

Do you have a hot air gun?  If you have a gun and a PLCC attachment for it (directs the air at the 4 sides), it should be fairly simple to remove the chip, and you can buy PLCC sockets pretty cheaply.

[gudenau]

Do you have a hot air gun?  If you have a gun and a PLCC attachment for it (directs the air at the 4 sides), it should be fairly simple to remove the chip, and you can buy PLCC sockets pretty cheaply.

I have neither unfortunately.

How bad might it be to tack wires to the top of the leads?

[james_s]

Yeah they're not cheap, although sometimes you might get lucky on ebay, I've gotten a few assorted test clips reasonably inexpensively.

You could tack wires if you're really patient. Do you have a heat gun like the sort used for stripping paint and thawing pipes and such? I've used those to desolder parts in a pinch. If you put some aluminum foil around the chip to shield the other parts you can melt the solder and carefully pop the chip off, then install a socket in its place.

[gudenau]

Yeah they're not cheap, although sometimes you might get lucky on ebay, I've gotten a few assorted test clips reasonably inexpensively.

You could tack wires if you're really patient. Do you have a heat gun like the sort used for stripping paint and thawing pipes and such? I've used those to desolder parts in a pinch. If you put some aluminum foil around the chip to shield the other parts you can melt the solder and carefully pop the chip off, then install a socket in its place.

Not at all, I think I have a blow torch used for pipes though.

[DaJMasta]

Blow torch on a chip you want to save is probably not the best choice 


Anyways, attaching wires to the pins is viable, but very time consuming and potentially difficult to diagnose a problem if one is attached oddly or something on the board interferes with reading it through the programmer.  Do you have any logic analyzer test clips?  You can get cheap variants off ebay and you'd probably need quite a few, but something with a little smt sized micro grabber on the end could do the trick, though attaching them all to the chip would take a couple minutes.

I think the test clip was the right idea, and yeah $50 for something to use on one project is a bit of a price.... but it's really the right tool for the job if you're trying to access them in circuit.  If you just want the data on the chips, the best approach is to probably desolder and read from a socket, but again that requires equipment.  If it's any help, you can get a decent cheap hot air station for around the same price as the clip.

[Armadillo]

The key words were "various identical.....", so I supposed the intention was to port NOT "one" but the various identical ones including the bricked one with the clips..... desoldering etc... will not meet the needs or does it?. 

[amyk]

You may be able to hack a PLCC socket (which are cheap) into a clip, by essentially putting it onto the chip upside-down.

[gudenau]

The key words were "various identical.....", so I supposed the intention was to port NOT "one" but the various identical ones including the bricked one with the clips..... desoldering etc... will not meet the needs or does it?. 

I have one bricked one and two working, so I might need to dump one to fix the other.

You may be able to hack a PLCC socket (which are cheap) into a clip, by essentially putting it onto the chip upside-down.

Interesting idea.

Thanks for all the input, I would just desolder the chips if I was decent at soldering. Best way to read and write to any flash chips I'm sure.

[CJay]

If there's nothing else on the board apart from some passives that'd suggest the main function is as a ROM cartridge, can you trace back the chip to an edge connector and possibly use that?

I'm always a little leery of removing a working flash chip or soldering to them if it's the only copy I have.

[gudenau]

If there's nothing else on the board apart from some passives that'd suggest the main function is as a ROM cartridge, can you trace back the chip to an edge connector and possibly use that?

I'm always a little leery of removing a working flash chip or soldering to them if it's the only copy I have.

It's firmware that tells a logic chip what to do, it's either rebaged or custom. I could check if any lines connect to the card however.