Upside Down PLCC Adapter/Reader

  • Nominations will close March 25th. If you'd like to join the board and influence how TinkerDifferent runs in the next year, put your name in now!
  • Hey Guest, MARCHintosh 2026 is upon us. Check out community projects, join GlobalTalk, and have fun!

trag

Tinkerer
Oct 25, 2021
305
151
43
I only have one example of the Rev. 3 6880M and I didn't want to risk corrupting the Flash contents by desoldering it, if possible.

I noticed that a PLCC socket will fit over a PLCC chip, while it's still soldered to its host board. The chip will just be upside-down in the socket.

So I made these Upside Down PLCC-32 to DIP-32 Adapters. The intent is to read the contents of the ubiquitous PLCC-32 chips carrying card firmware without removing them from the host boards. I don't know how well reading in-circuit will work, if at all, but I figured it's worth a try. Plus it gave me an excuse to make some more PCBs. That's just good fun.

And as long as I was doing one for the 6880M, I did a couple more for the various orientations in which one might find the PLCC chip. Gives one options to avoid physical interference from other components.

If reading the chips in circuit works, then these should work with the TL866II+. Of course powering the Flash may power interfering circuits on the host board....

IMG_0404[1].JPG


IMG_0409[1].JPG
 
  • Like
Reactions: cy384 and eric

spudgunjake

New Tinkerer
Nov 22, 2025
1
0
1
Hi All, any idea where I can get one of these, saves me time desoldering the chip

All the best John.

PS Great Idea.