Most visual board inspections involve moving the board through various small angles to catch the light and see into little nooks and crannies, and the feedback loop to control where and how to move the board is the inspector's hand to eye. If the board is held by a jig instead, the feedback loop is broken unless the inspector moves either the jig or him/herself to view the board - much more tiring and less ergonomic than handling just a board, unless your jig is robotic and can be minutely controlled with a joystick or similar. Rather an expensive solution! Perhaps you ought to put your inspectors on an exercise and fitness programme to build them up, and maybe give them a break doing something that uses a different set of muscles every couple of hours to relieve the strain. Or you could investigate wrist or arm supports. I have a handicapped nephew who has practically no muscle power. We found some forearm rests for him that swivel and pivot and clamp to the arms of his chair. These support the weight of his arms while he reaches out to pick things up or manipulate them. Your inspectors would then have support to reduce the strain and still have their feedback loop for efficient inspection. They offer a remarkable degree of movement in one plane, but that's probably all you really need. Any slight up or down movements to get proper focus can be achieved with the inspector's wrists. Good luck! Pete Duncan Mike Sewell <MikeSwll@AOL To: [log in to unmask] .COM> cc: (bcc: DUNCAN Peter/Asst Prin Engr/ST Aero/ST Group) Sent by: Subject: [TN] Inspection Jig/Support TechNet <[log in to unmask] ORG> 07/25/01 05:29 AM Please respond to "TechNet E-Mail Forum."; Please respond to MikeSwll I'm looking for a moveable/articulating jig to hold a PWB during visual inspection with a microscope. The issue is the board's weight over 9 - 10hr shift wearing down the inspector(s). Dunno if this is would be a counterbalanced arm/swivel ... curious to see if anyone has any thoughts or similar experiences. Thanks in advance, Mike Sewell --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet NOMAIL Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet NOMAIL Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------