Sunday, June 22, 2008

DIY right-angle headers

I often find the need to stick headers on my microcontroller projects, and I've come to prefer right-angle headers, as opposed to the traditional straight header, due to their unobtrusive, low-profile.  Since right-angle headers are usually in low-supply, here's a couple of ways to make or acquire them from parts you probably have lying around.  (The peripheral in the pictures is the LIS3LV02DQ 3-axis accelerometer)


We start with two pieces of straight header


We want the result to look something like this


Place the two straight headers at a right-angle, and tack solder each set of pins


Now, slide off the connecting plastic from one side.  The pins may twist from side-to-side, don't worry.


The result should look something like this


Complete soldering pins to PCB.  (I use a piece of scrap perf-board to make sure the pins point straight up)


The completed result.


Another angle.

Or...


Salvage headers from an old sound-card (Thanks, Purdue Surplus!)


Carefully, pull off the plastic connector


Apply a bit of flux to the pin pad


"Push" the pins through with a soldering iron


Flip the board over, and continue extracting the pins


Go make something!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LIKE this DIY idea! I've never thought of it!!
Thanks for the nice photos and the technique!!

Dev Iker said...

geophone.py link no longer works.
good post :)

theory meets application.