CompuServe Messages

John, In principle I agree with your remarks. I had used th tool correctly, but no pulling, rocking, pushing, etc. worked. After many tries the tip of one end of the tweezer broke. I then broke off the other end and re-bent the remaining ends to make it usable. Still no luck. That chip seemed like it was "cemented" in place! I was very careful in using the jeweler's screwdriver to gently pry at each corner a little at a time until the chip loosened. Then the tweezers finished the job. I did not damage the socket nor did I damage the chip. I probably was "lucky", but part of that was also from being careful not to overdo the job and cause damage. Not necessarily the best or preferred approach, but in the pinch it worked. The chip puller is badly designed for its task. A better puller would have been one designed along the lines of a wine bottle cork puller. It would use the socket as a base to provide resistence against a central piece which could be levered up with a screw type mechanism. This would make the extraction relatively easy and safe. Those tweezers are an accident waiting to happen and could do aas much damage as a poorly applied screwdriver.