How to form leads of through-hole components?

[Bambur]

What's the way to form leads of resistors or diodes for example? When I look at assembled PCB's the leads are all round and nice looking. How do they do that?

[hacklordsniper]

There is a tool for it. You can find it on ebay for ~2$ or even cheaper from china

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lead-Forming-Tool-Model-801-/260849384740?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbbd5bd24

[david77]

Or just use flat nose pliers, like this http://www.goldschmiedebedarf.de/images/4490-541.jpg

[hacklordsniper]

Or just use flat nose pliers, like this http://www.goldschmiedebedarf.de/images/4490-541.jpg

If you want equal bends on all components used then you must use the lead bending tool

[david77]

And soon you'll find that not all bends you want can be performed with the special tool and you will go back to the pliers .
A bit of practice should suffice to become good at bending leads with the pliers.

Of course the lead bending thingy does have it's place if you need to bend a whole bunch of 0,33W resistors, for example.

[hacklordsniper]

And soon you'll find that not all bends you want can be performed with the special tool and you will go back to the pliers .
A bit of practice should suffice to become good at bending leads with the pliers.

Of course the lead bending thingy does have it's place if you need to bend a whole bunch of 0,33W resistors, for example.

I can bend anything with the tool i have, but i will not complain pliers are needed especially for larger components or components which cannot be bended on it (TO220 as an example)

[Bored@Work]

For medium amounts of components to bend you use a manually operated Cutbend  http://www.griptech.com/c/tapedaxial/

After that it is automatic machines, ultimately feeding a THT place machine.

[sonicj]

i use a set of cheapo mini round nose pliers from the local craft store.
-sj

[hacklordsniper]

For medium amounts of components to bend you use a manually operated Cutbend  http://www.griptech.com/c/tapedaxial/

That is sweet, but quite expensive

[metalphreak]

Most local electronics places should sell those plastic lead formers.

http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=T1495 $2.20 at altronics Why buy off ebay and wait forever.

[Flavour Flave]

If you're in the EU here's a cheap bending tool £0.99 and free P&P.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170716401207?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

[hacklordsniper]

Most local electronics places should sell those plastic lead formers.

http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=T1495 $2.20 at altronics Why buy off ebay and wait forever.

Its true that most of the shops should have it, but for us in this part of the world ebay is only shop 

[ciccio]

I use this tool, model PR2, made in Italy by Elcontrol Enery http://www.elcontrol-energy.net/prodotti/index.asp?mylang=EN&random=706.
See the attached PDF.
You can adjust the distance of the bent legs by directly measuring the distance of holes on the PCB.
You can have symmetrical or asymmetrical position of the component's body.
It's fast and very reliable (mine is more than 25 years old).
Out of topic: this Company designed, I believe in the 70's,  model PS4: a wire stripper and cutter that was copied by many  Chinese cloners, but they carried the cloners to court and they won!
The only difference between the original one and  the clones is that the original works flawlessly,  the clones don't...

EDIT : I've found another tool very similar to the one I recommend:
http://www.hmcelectronics.com/product/HMC-Electronics/N300?refer=topseller
but, for what I understand, it will not ply the leads automatically: you must  ply them with your fingers...

[Zad]

Needle pliers, grab the lead next to the body, and push the leg down. Repeat at the other side. That way there is no stress on the body of the component and you get a nice compact bend. If the hole spacing is farther apart you just do it farther towards the body of the pliers.

[hacklordsniper]

Needle pliers, grab the lead next to the body, and push the leg down. Repeat at the other side. That way there is no stress on the body of the component and you get a nice compact bend. If the hole spacing is farther apart you just do it farther towards the body of the pliers.

And what kind of stress does the tool for forming leads that pilers dont do?