I have never soldered a PLCC SMT socket onto a PCB before and would like some advice.
Seems common to break (cut) the base out of the socket and then use a soldering iron either just pin by pin, or drag soldering. Not sure how 'correct' breaking the base out is.
How would everyone on here approach it? Might it be possible to use solder paste and hot air and leave the base in?
Here is the socket and pads:
I usually cut out the plastic in the center, then use a fine tip. I assume you use the socket for a prototype and not for actual production.
These are rather painful to solder no matter how you do it. Paste + hot air is probably how you are supposed to solder it with no reflow oven. It will be tricky to heat all pads somewhat evenly though.
Otherwise it is perfectly possible to hand solder it and that's how I do it personally. Just use a small tip. For SMD work, I particularly like those with a bent conical tip. If you are skilled and using such a tip, these are possible to solder without melting any plastic.
If that proves too hard, you could indeed cut off the plastic plate at the bottom, which I suppose is mainly there to make sure that the walls of the socket remain straight during the plastic molding of the component itself.
Yet another option is to solder the PLCC component directly onto the PCB and skip the socket. This gives the best and most reliable connection, but then the component is obviously stuck there.
I’d be inclined to heat the PCB from below so you’ll avoid melting the plastic. Solder paste would be preferable but you could tin the pads with an iron and then reflow the socket onto the solder
I would try to use a PLCC52 socket from Seltronics
http://www.seltronics.de/wb267/
Translation
Version A (left) Angled SMT connectors with a large soldering surface ensure high pull-off forces. The mating side is for PLCC sockets in JEDEC packages.
Version B (right) For soldering to circuit boards using SMT technology. The pins on the soldering side are flat.
Technical specifications:
Contact pin: Thermally cracked brass, 0.2 μm gold-plated
Insulator: Glass-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic polyester, self-extinguishing according to UL 94 V-0
Mating cycles: > 500
Operating voltage: 100 VRMS
Test voltage: > 600 VRMS
Contact to contact insulation resistance: > 50 GΩ
Current carrying capacity: 3 A per contact
Temperature range: -55 to +125°C Soldering resistance: 260°C, 10 sec. 215°C, 2 min.
