PnP tape for custom part

[BretMan]

Hello,

I have a very small custom wire formed part which is intended for medium to large production runs. The manufacturing process concept is to utilize a pick and place machine to place this tiny flat formed wire onto another part which is plastic. Maintaining the orientation of these parts is very important.

I don't know much about PnP machines so far but as I understand it there's a tape feeder that contains the parts which the suction tip lifts off the tape and places it onto the desired part. Is this correct?

How is the part (say my wire form) adhered to the tape, which is then rolled in a spool? And, if it's adhered to the tape, how can just the suction of the tip pick up the wire form off the tape? Is there a link to a description of how the tape, part and tip interact?

Thanks.

Bret

Miami,FL USA

 

[itsmoked]

I've never seen "adhered tape". I only see tape components that are in non-sticky plastic cups formed in plastic ribbon with indexing holes down one side, covered with tape. The PnP peels the tape off the ribbon, exposing the component, sitting correctly oriented in its little cup. The vacuum pick-up snatches it out of cup knowing it's correctly oriented.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[BretMan]

Oookay. That makes sense. Which now leads me to these questions:

1- Inside the plastic cups, is there something to keep the component in precise position or are they just generally loose and only oriented such as top, bottom, left side, right side? I need to keep the wire form in precise position so when the tip picks it up, they'll be on the tip precisely, which then precisely places it.
2- Are the components put inside the cups automatically or is it done manually too?
3- Are the tapes and reels usually re-used for the same purpose?

Bret

Miami,FL USA

 

[mcgyvr]

1-Most (if not all) PnP machines have machine vision (up looking and down looking cameras) and after the part is picked it is moved over the up looking camera and the software will then detect the orientation of the part and rotate the head to ensure proper placement.

2-both manual (lower volume) and automatic (higher volume). You can even use tubed parts and a vibratory table in the PnP machine will shake the parts out of the tube or you can even have tray fed parts (microprocessors,etc..) (just an open tray with multiple dividers).

3-Most of the time the reels are just disposed of after use.

 

[BretMan]

That clarifies a lot. I had the impression the reel tapes were expensive so recycling them back into the production cycle made economic sense. But maybe that was for a custom made tape or some other issue.

I've learned a lot. I think I can take it from here. Thanks very much for your help.

Bret

Miami,FL USA