Elite Feeder Solutions, a supplier of specialist feeders, displayed its innovative range of specialized feeders at the SMT Hybrid Packaging show.
Traceability has been essential in the electronics industry for many years, especially for safety-related products where manufacturers need to trace each component that is included in their final products. This means that each component gets a unique “name” in terms of a numbering system.
There are several solutions available to enable marking, like label cells, laser cells, manual application of labels. Label and laser cells need a relatively high investment, furthermore, one disadvantage of a laser cell is that not all products can be lasered. Manual application of labels is not possible for high-volume productions and even for small companies. It is recommended to apply the labels automatically to get the necessary placement accuracy; furthermore, manual placement is quite cost-intensive. The easiest and cheapest way of marking a product automatically is the application of a label with a label feeder. The feeder can be integrated in the pick-and-place machine and the label will be simply placed like a standard component – precisely and in line speed.
Why Slimline Label Feeder? The existing label feeders in the market have a width of about 60 mm and more. If customers have to place big labels, this is still a good solution. However, the space on PCBs is extremely limited and most manufacturers are using very small labels, less than 9×9 mm, very often even 4×4 mm or smaller. In these cases, it is waste of space in the feeder bank to use a 60 mm wide label feeder if the job can be done as well with a much smaller feeder. The new Slimline Label Feeder is only 30 mm wide and, therefore, needs only one slot in the pick-and-place system, saving both space and cost for the manufacturer.
Additionally, it provides users with several interesting features:
- Very small parts and labels: It can feed labels and parts down to 3×3 mm.
- Teach-In function: The label length can easily and quickly be taught and adjusted.
- Counter: The feeder counts the transported labels.
- Adjustable failure indicator: The user defines after how many undetected labels the feeder should change over to the error mode.
- Selectable Trigger: Alternatively by light sensor, manually or by the pick-and-place machine.
- Adjustable speed: The transport speed is freely selectable.
- Integrated Waste Box: The empty liner material is collected in a waste box and removed easily without stopping the pick-and-place machine.
- Compatibility: Compatible with most pick-and-place systems.
It’s not only for labels – the label feeder is also an ideal solution for the automatic application of odd components. If these parts are delivered in one row on a liner, in many cases it is possible to feed them with a label feeder – very simple in the pick-and-place machine. In this way, a special part can become a standard part and there is no need for an expensive special machine. There have already been several projects with the application of special parts like humidity sensors, spacers, kapton dots and other functional parts.
The Slimline Label Feeder can be used for all labels or special parts with a minimum size of 3×3 mm, maximum label length of 25 mm and maximum liner width of 15 mm.
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