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Leader tape on partial reels

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KRC

#40763

Leader tape on partial reels | 30 March, 2006

Pardon my ignorance on this subject but I gotta ask...

When the SMT guys load partial reels, I'm told that they have to waste a few components in the process. It seemed obvious to me that there should be a kind of tape that can be added to the end of the reel to act as a leader thereby eliminating the need for this wasteful practice. All I could find on the WWW was something from Sierra electronics:

http://www.tapesplice.com/SMD_Tape_Extenders_Leader_Tape.htm

Has anyone ever used such a product? Do you know of other similar products? Does this even work?

Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

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RDR

#40764

Leader tape on partial reels | 30 March, 2006

They work okay, better than no leader tape. Of course to attach you may throw a couple of parts away as well. What you really need to do is discontinue buying strips.

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KRC

#40766

Leader tape on partial reels | 30 March, 2006

We're not buying stips, they're whole reels at first. But because of things like discrete order sizes, or proto builds, or otherwise low-volume production, we're stuck with leftovers.

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#40767

Leader tape on partial reels | 30 March, 2006

The cover tape that seals the parts into the reels on our feeders always uncovers a few parts (up to ten 0805 parts) before the part can be picked. So removing a partial reel always results in the loss of a few parts. Putting a partial reel back on the feeder can be done carefully so that no parts are lost. 0805 parts usually cost very little and the loss of a few parts don't matter compared to the cost of the operator to change the reel.

Regards,

Bert

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#40768

Leader tape on partial reels | 30 March, 2006

Maybe the issue is how the feeders are being unloaded. The operators should leave enough covertape to reload the reel onto a feeder without component waste. If the issue is some parts are exposed in the feeder then you will most likely loose those parts. I have seen in some cases where the operators would tape the cover over the already exposed parts. This is pretty cumbersome and it adds time to the process of unloading and the next loading as well.

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#40769

Leader tape on partial reels | 30 March, 2006

This will depend on the feeder design. Some feeders cause a loss of several components when removing a reel from a feeder. If yours do not, the operator should be able to leave enough tape and mylar cover tape for this reel to be put back onto a feeder without loosing any components. Jerry

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RDR

#40770

Leader tape on partial reels | 30 March, 2006

I agree with greg, after a teardown there should be leader tape left for the next load. Are your operators tearing it off at the end of the carrier tape?

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PWH

#40773

Leader tape on partial reels | 30 March, 2006

We've had poor luck with leaders - inefficient, not cost effective for the price of the parts usually. In my opinion, your best bet is to over-issue parts to a scrap # that works for you (all feeders are different as are machine scrap rates). This works pretty well for us. Of course we are exact issue on expensive/big stuff, but the small passives we have found an over-issue rate that seems to work well for us based on package size. We also use cover tape extenders to minimize the tape that needs to be pulled back. Advice on this - get samples. Some companies supply extenders that have weak glue - they come off easialy, especially if you set up a machine and have to let it sit for some time.

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#40785

Leader tape on partial reels | 31 March, 2006

KRC, Let me guess. You're in the materials organanization at your company and you're judged by such metrics as "inventory accuracy" and "# of turns", and you're thinking that those sacrifial chip components are what causes your inventory accuracy to be at 97% and not 99...

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GS

#40790

Leader tape on partial reels | 31 March, 2006

I think this can be of help when dialing with setting up feeders for product prototyping, where often we have to dial with a short quantity of components (often pieces of carrier tape w/o tape and cover leader) just enough to run (if lucky) those few PWA prototype.

Regards.....GS

This message was posted via the Electronics Forum @

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#40791

Leader tape on partial reels | 31 March, 2006

97% to 99%? I've heard of one company that managed that but only after a big six sigma project. And they had minimal stock anyways.

I think if everyone picked 100 components to cycle count, that the average accuracy would be around 80% . That is to say that if the ERP says you have 8,973 0805 1 K resistors and you check you find that you have 8,973 of them.

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Cristina

#40845

Leader tape on partial reels | 5 April, 2006

The leader tape from Sierra works good for us. But if you have to work only with small strips and you can't affort to lose any parts think of moving them into waffle packs. It depends though if your machine has a tray for that.

Regards, Cristina

This message was posted via the Electronics Forum @

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ted nguyen

#40945

Leader tape on partial reels | 12 April, 2006

Don't know if this applies to you, but here's my 2 cents. We just pick up what parts from that reel that falls off with mylar take and tape it right to the reel. That way, you can use it for rework or whenever you need spare parts. As for the tear down, just make sure the operator knows to leave enough tape and paper for next time.

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QTEK Manufacturing Ltd. www.qtek.com

#41054

Leader tape on partial reels | 19 April, 2006

QTEK Manufacturing Ltd. provide a solution to the above problem, QTEK Cover Tape Extender adds an extra 380mm to cover the tape of component reels. It saves components being wasted or discard when strating a new tape through a feeder, and enables the use of tapes in full reels or short sections, without component loss. QTEK Cover Tape Extenders have a strong adhesive bond between extender piece and original tape, thereby ensuring they will not separate even after prolonged time under tension.

For more information please visit http://www.qtek.com or feel free to contact me directly at kdebarra@qtek.com.

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Tapesplice.com

#41432

Leader tape on partial reels | 9 May, 2006

Sierra Electronics can provide leader tape samples to any one that want to test. We can provide enough for testing at NO cost. We also have a Tape Splicer loan program that allows you to test ALL our Tape Splicing Products and lets you make the decision if they work or not for your application. The Leader Tapes or Tape Extenders are primarily used in the binning department for all the partial reels they have in inventory. The jobs are usually set up on the feeders in the afternoon to run in the following morning. The Tape Extenders are also use when you have one large reel and need to split the reel to run on 3 different production lines.

Please contact us for your trial kit or free samples at http://www.tapesplice.com or send us an email at office@tapesplice.com

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SMT_CNC

#41443

Leader tape on partial reels | 9 May, 2006

It is a very simple practice to leave a leader when breaking down a setup. This way the next time you're going to use the reel there is about a foot of cover tape to use. Seems to work in our SMT production area. Max.

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