Re: My dad once ground down the edge of a SIP memory chip
Way back in the dark ages, IC's were mostly dual-in-line (DIL) and generally mounted on sockets for easy maintenance. The fault on this circuit board was traced to a failed 741 Op Amp, which was in an 8-pin DIL package. We had some spare 741's, but they were all in 14-pin packages. According to the data sheet, the 14-pin device had exactly the same pinout as the 8-pin one, but with extra unused pins at both ends. We needed to get the board working again quickly and the 14-pin device was too long to fit in the available space even if we cut the extra pins off. My colleague Danny Goldburg thought for a few moments. Then he took the chip to the workshop and carefully applied a hacksaw to it, reasoning that the die itself was probably at the centre of the package, well away from the unused pins. He was correct, and within a few minutes the board was working again with the replacement "8-pin" 741. (I should add that we later replaced it with a "proper" 8-pin chip when could get hold of some)
Afterwards I asked Danny how he thought up the idea of fixing something by chopping the end off it. His reply: "Well, being Jewish, that would obviously occur to me".
Biting the hand that feeds IT
