A simple 3d-printable transistor “can opener”
If you are following my work, you can sometimes see pictures and clips about me opening up old chips and transistors and inspect their silicon die under a high-magnification light optical microscope.
So far, I have been decapping the transistors either with a huge side cutter or with a jeweller’s saw. The first method is ugly and “too brute force” and the the second method is tedious. So, I wanted to come up with a better method. Some months ago, I built a small gadget that was inspired by the pipe cutter used by plumbers, but it was wobbly and it did not work as I expected. Then I put the idea aside and worked on other things. Then recently, I accidentally encountered a “can opener” from Thorlabs that is used for diodes in TO cans. Unfortunately, Thorlab’s tool is extremely expensive, it is around $190 after taxes.
So I decided to design my own tool. I used one of my pliers as a template for the dimensions then I drew the tool in Fusion 360 in about an hour. Then, I printed it in about 4 hours. I assembled it and the results looked promising. I noticed that the handles flex a bit when I apply force on the pliers, so I went back to Fusion 360 and adjusted the dimensions of the tool a bit. I added some extra curvatures to the body of the tool and I made it a bit thicker for more strength and a better grip. The results and some more details are shown in the gallery below.
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