Feeder Calibration

First the platitudes:

"Recommendations for your a good feeder maintenance program include the following:

1. Talk to the equipment manufacturer of your P&P equipment. Find out if they have any feeder calibration tools. Most of them do. Some even offer some very advanced vision-based calibration systems.

2. Create a feeder maintenance program. Review your equipment manufacturers manuals for proper maintenance.

3. Always have enough spare feeders to rotate through your inventory. This adds extra cost, but this cost will be eliminated by increased efficiency.

4. If you can have spare parts made locally by a machine shop, this will greatly reduce your replacement costs. However, ensure that your machine shop can provide identical parts! Incorrect parts will only cause more problems.

Understanding the importance of feeders should never be forgotten. Maintaining the functionality of your feeders will directly impact your efficiency and your company's bottom line." [M Porter]

Second, when picking tiny components, feeder calibration is essential. Check for pocket alignment and backlash.

Third, alternate sources for your calibration thingamajig are: * Automated Equipment Services 888-833-3484 http://www.smtsupport.com/services/html/serv_frm_options.htm * Hover Davis http://www.hoverdavis.com/HDpages1/setupindex.html

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John, Tenryu/Amistar/i-Pulse made stainless replicas of feeder tape for various pitches and feeder widths. Part # for 0402 is "MT-0802" ( 8mm wide x 2mm pitch ). Standard 8mm wide tape is " MT-0804". If you can't get any of these, spend an hour on your favourite cad package and draw some up, the dimensions can be obtained from any component suppliers spec sheet - your stencil manufacturer can make them for you. Instead of a component pocket you put in a round fiducial mark that can be read by your camera/beam sensor. Have them made out of 0.004" shim and around 300mm long so you can actually index them through the feeder. They will of course fit any machine that takes reels. Grab youself a "Golden Feeder", make sure that you have it adjusted so that it is in a central position, i.e. equal amount of + and - y adjustment, and away you go. Simple and cheap. As Dave says you can also get parts at your local machine shop, though springs can be tricky. Good luck.

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John,

Fuji also has a cheaper feeder jig other than the DT-651 or DT-5. Contact Joel at Fuji America Corporation in the parts department for more information. The training department has one in their area for feeder maintenance training.

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