.:madworm:.'s photos with the keyword: pogo-pin

It is still fiddly work, but works so much nicer than the "drill 6 tiny and straight holes in a block of hard wood method". Now any square spacer block of the right height will do.

Used to fight the fiddliness of tiny parts.

Of course I knew that.

It broke off at a weak spot while cleaning the board a bit too vigorously. The reason for the weakness is that the brass tube was compressed in one spot (around its circumference) to keep the steel tip from slipping out. In an ideal world these pogo-pins should be mounted in such a way that the weak spot doesn't see and sideways force. Adding a sleeve might be advisable, or putting the whole thing into a suitable bore. I added a blog of solder.

It works rather nicely. The holes in the circuit board provide alignment of the pins.

If I had a precision lathe, I would try to make a sleeve to cover the weak spot. Solder will have to do the job for now.