They look nice and chunky in the picture, I should be able to solder that no problem.
Unfortunately, they are only 3mm square.
Oops.
I was thinking I'd use ordinary network cable wire (solid core) soldered (carefully! and through a magnifying glass) to each land to make legs, which could then be arranged to drop into a DIP chip holder... any better ideas? I'm a bit concerned about cooking the chip, should I go for a mega hot tip to reduce heating times, or a low temp to avoid exceeding the max data sheet temp (260 C)?
I've ordered some 175oC solder paste, and some thin wire.... I will either try with the heat gun (to solder all leads at the same time), or the iron for a very brief moment, hopefully the low melting temp + my smallest bit will be good enough.
Agree about the breakout boards, I'm too cheapskate to buy them.
AdeV:
Agree about the breakout boards, I'm too cheapskate to buy them.
Personally, my time is worth something. I wouldn't want to spend 2-3 hours trying to solder to a chip that I might ultimately burn up. Factor in time and frustatio, you'll find that breakout boards can be an awesome value.