Tuesday, October 23, 2007

SMT Machines Amaze me...

With coverage on the two Plant tours below (Kingmax and Gigabyte) I thought it was worth sharing more information on Surface-mount technology (SMT) machinery such as the Fuji machine pictured to the right. For high volume products with many components (chips, capacitors, resistors, etc.) SMTs are generally a sound investment, as can be seen by their speed (0.068 Seconds per Component aka 40,000 cph) and precision (Placing Accuracy:+/- 0.0039 in. aka +/-0.1mm). As if the speed and precision weren't enough, surface mount components (SMCs) are generally smaller than their leaded counterparts, so the overall PCB and therefore the entire electronic device can be made smaller.


In order to utilize Surface mount technology, surface mount components must be purchased. An SMT component is usually smaller than its leaded counterpart because it has no leads or smaller leads. It may have short pins or leads of various styles, flat contacts, a matrix of balls (BGAs), or terminations on the body of the component (passives). The part shown in the picture on the left has 112 pins on it. To do this as a standard DIP, the part would be nearly 7 inches in length! That is just too big. With SMT, this part is a little under 1 square inch.


So on to the videos..... I have never seen a SMT machine operate in person, but I would equate the fastest machines of the bunch as essentially being component gatling guns!


Gigabyte Mainboard Factory




Fuji pick and place


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