You seem to have the knack for building these
Note of caution to anyone who is using IC sockets with machined round contacts, like me:
Don't rely too much on proper contact, even though the socket pins have a gold plated insert. Especially if you align your IC pins with a
straightening tool.
So what's this all about? First of all, the straightening tool itself works great. As a matter of fact, it performs
too well... It aligns the pins so perfectly straight that ICs can almost be "dropped" into their sockets and only remarkably low pressure suffices to get the IC fully seated. Smooth as a hot knife through butter. This has made me suspicious about the socket's internal tiny
contact leaf quality. I was fiddling with a Rejuv last night, swapping some known good ICs back and forth when it suddenly stopped working. Only after firmly pressing down on one of the DIP chips, the Rejuv came back to life. This has led me to believe that the contact can be flawed when a perfectly straight IC pin is inserted right in the very center of the 4 contact leaves.
Admittedly, I am using fairly cheap sockets and I would imagine that the more expensive sockets from reputable manufacturers like Harwin, Mill-Max, Preci-dip etc. don't have any contact issues. Shape and diameter of the IC pins may be a factor too. All my 74-series ICs are from Texas Instruments and maybe their pins are thinner than others. Who knows.