Diode carrier/mount for PCB?

[GW4FRX]

In the amplifier I'm currently restoring, one channel PCB is pretty well as built but the other has been the target of a poor-quality repair. There are two BAX16 and two 1N4003 diodes on each board and on the as-built one these are supported in little plastic carriers. On the "repaired" one these are missing.

It's a bit anal and won't make a ha'porth of difference to the end result but it would be nice to restore the second board to its as-built state. However I can't find any diode carriers/mounts/holders/call-them-what-you-will anywhere despite combing all the usual suppliers. Does anyone have an idea where they might be found?

[McMurdo]

RS do component carriers, do a search for Bivar Discrete Socket.

[GW4FRX]

That looks very useful, thank you -- I hadn't thought to search for 'sockets' in this context. Unfortunately there's nothing suitable for DO-35-style small diodes. The attached pic shows a BAX16 at lower centre supported on the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Someone somewhere must stock the things...

[AC/HL]

It's a while since I saw anything like that. Unless someone comes up with a donor PCB, the short term answer may be to make each board the same by rearranging them. I can picture the item, but pennies count nowadays.

[Herald1360]

You could make something very similar from 0.1" header strip by pulling the pins out of a suitable length. Under the diode it should look very plausible.

[GeoffK]

The diode lead can be wound round a 3mm screwdriver shaft to make a loop, this raises it off the board and help as a heatsink. There is a damaged resistor between the electrolytic caps.

[Argus25]

Recently I saw some very similar black plastic carriers which are used on small sized crystals to bend the leads outward so they can be soldered surface mount. If the mods don't mind here is a link that shows these types of carriers on some xtals:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-Crysta...QAAOSwaA5WiROy

[GW4FRX]

Originally Posted by GeoffK

The diode lead can be wound round a 3mm screwdriver shaft to make a loop, this raises it off the board and help as a heatsink. There is a damaged resistor between the electrolytic caps.

Not to mention a missing BAX16, the wrong diodes between rails and 0V and a couple of remarkably bad choices for replacement transistors. This so-called "repair" was executed by one of the more illustrious names in the industry as well...

Good thought about the loop and it would look in period too.

[daviddeakin]

What is the diode carrier for, exactly?

To ease the need for accuracy in component placing machines?

[GW4FRX]

Probably not in 1970 though, and the PCBs in this amplifier are definitely hand-built.

I've only ever seen diode carriers hitherto in military avionics of the era and don't know why they were specified for such. Apparently Farnell were still selling them in the late 1980s.

[ricard]

At least at the beginning of the 60s Philips used to mount all components on a large flexible plastic sheet before mounting on the PCB. Or, actually I don't know what it is for, once the board has been assembled I don't think it has a purpose. I've always assuming that the plastic was to hold the components in place while the board was wave soldered, i.e. the components might have been mounted by hand, but the actual soldering process was done by a machine.

What I was thinking about was that even if when manually mounting the boards, having components in carriers might have made production easier as whoever is mounting them wouldn't have to sit and bend the component legs. Actually, going back to Philips, they used to use a yellow 'socket' for their axial capacitors when mounted vertically. I don't know if capacitors were ever sold this way or it was part of some pre-processing during production.