[Elecraft] Bending component leads

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

The idea is to avoid any undue pressure on the attachment of the lead to the
part - especially with glass diodes. 

I've always simply bent the lead, making sure it was free to take up its own
natural radius that depends upon the stiffness of the lead. I hold the body
in one hand and push the end of the lead with my other hand. I've never lost
one yet doing that, but others report they have broken glass diodes unless
they carefully support the lead with needle nose pliers where it exits the
body of the part. 

It sounds like what you are doing is similar to get a tighter bend. The lead
forms a lever with your thumbnail at the fulcrum, working against the body
of the part as you bend it. It will increase the strain on the part
somewhat, depending upon how close to the part you put your thumbnail and
how much force is needed to bend the lead. I don't know that it'd be enough
to break a diode. On the rare occasion when my method didn't produce a tight
enough bend to fit the holes in the PCB, I've squeezed the bent leads near
the body of the part gently to make the radius of each bend smaller. I'd
suspect that puts the same sort of strain on the diode that your method
using a thumbnail does. 

Have you ever broken a diode that way?

I haven't....yet, Hi!

Ron AC7AC 

 -----Original Message-----
What's wrong with simply holding the diode body
between thumb and forefinger and bending the lead
against your thumbnail? 
de Joe, aa4nn