"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
What pitch are the pins? Could you modify a pair of suitable pliers by
drilling a hole in them to act as a crimp to change the pins from square
to round?

That sounds like a good idea. Or at least mangling the pins with pliers
sufficiently might work. Pins are 1.14mm square on 4.2mm pitch.

For now I've soldered them by pushing in the pins as far as they'll go, then
putting solder paste in the other side of the hole. Heat the solder paste
and it surrounds the pin and drops through to the inaccessible component
side of the pad (paste has a lot more flux than solder wire, and is a bit
more mobile). Then fill up the hole with wire solder.

It's electrically good and isn't mechanically too bad. It'll probably do
the job until we can respin the boards.

Theo