Those darn chips are so small... what are you using to test them?
Breakout boards, make your own test rig, use copper tape.
Thanks. His technique is interesting. I bought some SOIC(1.27mm) breakout board that bring the chip pins out to a more useable standard 0.1 inch spacing.... but it's still a devil of a thing to solder. His idea might work better. Hopefully I haven't cooked too many of these poor chips! LOL
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There are many vids and instructions out there how to solder SMD.
One way, you can actually solder with a large tip, just drag it over the pins with some solder excess. You remove solder bridges by dragging the iron again over the pins, but now with the tip cleaned. It's easier if you solder 2 diagonal pins first.
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I use these boards: SMT Breakout PCB for SOIC-8, MSOP-8 or TSSOP-8 - 6 Pack! : ID 1212 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits
Just solder them on as messy as you like and then clean them up with desoldering wick. It will pull all the excess solder off the pins but still leave it soldered underneath.
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Many thanks to those of you who provided suggestions. I got the chip onto a breakout board with some header pins. Still no luck getting anything useful out of it. Then my son made a comment how "it's probably something simple...". LOL It helps when you actually have power and ground connected to it! #facepalm Works great now!
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