February 19, 2018 – Z-AXIS has added a new robotic soldering system to its electronics design and contract manufacturing facility near Rochester, NY. The new $42,000 Apollo Seiko J-CAT Stellar automated soldering system expands Z-AXIS’ capabilities for selective soldering of printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies.
“We chose the robotic system because it enables a much more controlled and repeatable process than can be achieved with the selective soldering fountain typically used by mid-sized contract manufacturers for this type of work,” said Michael Allen, President of Z-AXIS. “An additional benefit is the ability to quickly alternate between different customer projects, including changing from our standard lead-free solder to leaded solder upon request.”
Selective soldering is typically used after the majority of a board’s components, usually surface mount technology (SMT), have been automatically placed and soldered in a reflow oven. Then selected components – such as SMT components that cannot be subjected to the heat of the reflow oven, through-hole components, or cables – are added using a selective soldering process.
With the robotic system, the soldering iron heats only the connections to be soldered, rather than the entire board.
Programmable for Process Repeatability, Flexible Manufacturing
The Apollo Seiko is fully programmable using a PC interface, an interactive teaching pendant, or both. Parameters for each solder joint include the position of the soldering iron in four axes, time and temperature for joint pre-heating, solder feed speed, solder volume, dwell time, and iron retraction time. The XYZ position is repeatable to +/- 0.01 mm. Solder volume is controllable to 0.1 mm of solder wire.
The optimized program for each board design is stored, providing repeatability and traceability over the entire production run.
Z AXIS manufacturing engineers added sensors that allow the robot to identify different board designs in production at Z-AXIS, and automatically retrieve and run their program for that design. This innovation allows Z-AXIS to run multiple customer jobs simultaneously with zero change-over time.
Hot-Bar Soldering System Further Enhances Soldering Capabilities
In related news, the company also recently added a hot-bar (or thermode) reflow solder system for selective soldering of flex printed circuit (FPC) connectors to printed circuit boards. This provides fast, reliable and controllable process for soldering multiple close-spaced solder joints on the FPC.
About Z-AXIS
Z-AXIS, Inc. provides quality design, prototyping and manufacturing services for complex electronic products and electromechanical assemblies. The company offers fast design turnaround, competitive NRE charges, rapid production and low freight costs from its ISO 9001:2008 certified design and manufacturing facility near Rochester, NY. The company also designs, manufactures and sells commercial, industrial and medical power supplies under its BEAR Power Supplies brand.
Visit the company’s Manufacturing Services page for more information about Z-AXIS electronics design and contract manufacturing services in the USA.