PIC programmer with ZIF socket

Just a quick shared post - I work a lot with the 18F2455, 18F4550 and 16F628A series of PIC microcontrollers (if you really want to know why, I'll post reasons later!). I usually have a dedicated breadboard made up with the programming pins mapped to a 5-pin header, that works with my PICKit2 Clone iCP01 programmer (from piccircuit.com).



I recently ran out of breadboards and had to dismantle my programming board and immediately regretted it! I can never remember which wires go where, so I made up a ZIF-based PIC programmer. This board has been tested with and works with the chip mentioned above, but will probably work with a whole load more as lots of PICs share the same pinouts for programming data, voltage and clock lines:

Zif Pic Programmer
Print at 100% no scaling in landscape orientation to create your own press-n-peel transfer to make this PIC programmer


Note the yellow bars at the bottom - these are wires connecting two pads/vias.



Below the ZIF socket is a 5-pin header to connect the PIC programmer to.
At the top of the socket is a three-pin header, onto which you should place a jumper, to connect either of the outer-most pins to the central pin. This is how to change between 18F and 16F microchips. (the 18F position is marked on the board).



To program a PIC microcontroller, place it into the ZIF socket ensuring that pin1 is always in the top-left hand corner.