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I often buy ICs that come in clear plastic storage tubes like this:
There are plastic pins on either end that keep the ICs from sliding out. I'm sure you're all familiar with this..
Sometimes I can easily push the pins out with my fingers, but other times they are extremely difficult to get out. What's the easiest way to get the pins out?
Thanks for your help!
Just use side cutters, keep them open (no cutting involved) and rock the handles down. The angle on the cutting surface will provide the leverage needed.
I use a tack puller. Its quick and easy.
Pins like this are common in automotive paneling as well, and breaking one in those circles means you can't put your car back together.
Your local hardware store should carry various sizes.
I usually use a pair of needle nose pliers and push them out from the bottom wile twisting it back and forth (pulling them from the round top tends to break the pin.)
Or you can use a right angle needle nose pliers (or crimpers or klines/cutters, just be sure not to cut or break it,) to grab it from the top (but below the flat top, and pull or use them as leverage to pull the pin out.
Ball point pen with a cap. Put it on the underside, and give it a nice tap with the flat end something, or your palm.
For the ones that have a 'rounded' mushroom-top I use the wire stripper that I always carry with me, in other words: my teeth.
For the more challenging ones I use a pair of scissors to push it out from the bottom side.
