can't you just get a flat glass block and roll the IC so the leads are wrapped tightly to the chip body?
Nope, they'll just fold flat at the point where the lead steps down to the narrow section unless you have something to form them around. The chip I measured would short the opposing pins together if they folded flat.
My idea was along the lines of macegr's. I visited our machine shop for ideas and left with a mandrel for a .300 wide DIP that forms the leads bent about half the radius that macegr did by hand as shown in the previous post. It works great for forming the leads, but the resulting lead seems long, not sure what it will be like once I solder it.
I may try to splay the leads out, gull-wing style, and see how big the footprint will be.
thanks guys, keep the ideas coming.
-j