When I order ICs from larger retailers, they are delivered in a plastic housing that prevents the pins from becoming bent during shipping. With a chip included, they look like this:
I would like to buy more of these so that I can store and ship some ICs I have that didn't come with one, however I am having no luck finding any for sale so I must be using the wrong search terms.
I have looked for chip/ic + carrier, housing, packing, storage, etc. but not found anything remotely like this. I've tried the same retailers that sell the chips as well as places like eBay but I can't find anything at all.
What do retailers call these items when they are up for sale?
Best Answer
I would Like to answer your question with an alternative image which would solve your problem.
These are called IC tubes/ Anti-static tubes for Dual In-line Package (DIP) ICs. This is actually the handy alternative for shipment or storage of DIP ICs without causing damage to pins such as bending or breaking. You can find it on amazon or some other e-commercial sites in your country depending on their availability. Here's the one link from amazon https://www.amazon.com/MULTICOMP-030-0012-TUBE-0-6-280MM/dp/B011O94IEE#feature-bullets-btf
I used these in my labs. We had the bulk of OPAMP (741), 555 timer ICs for many participants in a workshop. These tubes were very handy to deal with.