Programming parts in PLCC or TQFP packages?

[Guest]

Hello all -

Been wanting to move up to the higher pin count (and larger program memory) 18FXXX parts. I have an elderly serial ICD and a WARP 13A programmer for my 16Fxxx (all DIP packages) projects, which is 95% protoboard level until the design is finished. I noticed that DIP adapters for PIC devices in PLCC and TQFP packages are quite expensive (something like US$125). After plunking down the cabbage for a new compiler as well as a DIP adapter for prototyping with these higher pin-count chips, it seems to be a rather expensive upgrade.

Anyone have an economical alternative to programming devices in these packages? Does someone sell some type of adapter that will plug into say the WARP DIP Ziff socket? Is it possible to roll your own?

Thanks very much!

[PCM programmer]

These packages are typically programmed in-circuit.
We use a Microchip ICD2 (with MPLAB) to do this.
The connections are shown in the upper right corner of this ICD2 poster:
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/51265c.pdf

See this thread for a complete explanation:
http://www.ccsinfo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19157

[rnielsen]

I've made my own adapters by getting a 40 pin DIP socket (or whatever pin count you need), mounting a ZIF socket (for the correct package you want to program) with some sort of stand-offs on it and then hand wiring the ZIF pins to the correct DIP socket pins. It really doesn't look all that pretty but it does the job.