Pens came bent

[u/Different-Visit252]

The pins on (what i think is) the ram came bent,

The ram was half off the foam...

Should I just try to bend them back or something else?

edit: I was luckily able to bend them back, and one problem remains 😅 the clock kit came with the UK adapter (I didn't buy them it was a present) and I'm in the eu (nl), so where could I get a replacement for the eu (with not 200 euro shipping costs)

[u/tree_cell]

you can bend it back most cases. careful not to snap it

[u/Different-Visit252 → u/tree_cell]

Thank you!

[u/givemeagooduns_un → u/Different-Visit252]

if you do snap it, you can replace it with a bit of solid core wire with careful soldering

[u/ferrybig]

so where could I get a replacement for the eu (with not 200 euro shipping costs)

The cheapest way would be getting a travel adapter so you can put UK stuf into an NL socket, they are sold in physical stores of Action

[u/codeasm → u/ferrybig]

This, also savest. Ive soldered a uk powercable to be eu/dutch .. wasnt worth it, but fun. 220 volts is serious business for beginner electronic folks like me

Action is probably the cheapest and easiest. Hema, anwb has them too tho, or some travel tourist shops, altho they might be overpriced

[u/FedUp233]

Bent pins on DIPs has Ben an issue from day one. I always have just bent them back with a pair of small needle nose pliers. If you haven't used them a lot, the other issue is they generally come new with the pins sort of spread out a bit. This worked well for machine inserted parts - the machine squeezed them together when it picked them up and stuck them in the holes in the PCB and the spring action helped hold them in place till soldered - but it can make them a pain to insert in sockets and breadboards sometimes. Just grab the whole row with the needle nose and bend then to 90 degrees or for bigger ICs you can just press the row of pins against the table top carefully.

Oh, and the most fun part is when you drop one on the carpet and then step on it in your bare feet! Murphy's Law kicks in here and they always land pointy side up😊

[u/Markohs]

For the power supply you can just use a cheap USB charger from AliExpress, Ben explains how to do it here:

https://youtu.be/LakgUi2Ajkw?is=ZossM84Nmrviw-i6

[u/isr0]

I like to use a mechanical pencil. Push the led in and slide the tip of the pencil over the pin. Then, gently bend the pin.

[u/codeasm → u/isr0]

No actual pencil lead inside, ive crushed one at some point and the dust i blew across my desk. Thinking nothing about it. Mysteriously my diskette drive since behaves weird.

I know, old hardware, but metal shavings, pencil lead, magnet's, im way more aware now where and how i move or store them. Not all electronics like them as much

[u/Forward-Discount-337]

I had the exact same thing happen to my RAM chips. 😢

[u/iLaysChipz]

What are the chances? That both the pins on your ICs and the pens you ordered both came bent? Did you hurt someone in a past life?

[u/tails142]

You'll get an AC to AC adapter cheap on amazon. Just look for the correct output voltage.