Reply to: RE>>ASSY: PCMCIA Board Depanelizing Lucy: I cast a second vote for either in-line or off-line routing and a vote AGAINST scoring or shearing for PCMCIA boards for the following reasons: 1) PCMCIA cards are typically built with 0.020"-0.025" thick fabs. Scoring will NOT leave enough support for the reflow oven after pick/place. While it is true that scoring "works well for boards with straight edges" as Steve O'Hara stated, reducing a 0.020" thick board to 0.010" with scoring weakens the panel strength during reflow, unless a pallet or carrier is used for assembly. 2) Breakoff tabs MAY be necessary for the array of boards, especially if the board is densely populated with components close to the edge. Remember that the pick/place machines need >4mm of edge clearance for the conveyors that transport the panel through the assembly process. The breakoff tab can be ROUTED off as well, providing no residual material outside of the board profile. 3) Shearing machines CAN do the job also, as Emad Khan stated. However, if the panel contains multiple boards (e.g. 6-9 board images side-by-side) and uses breakoff tabs along the long axis for the conveyors, depaneling with a shear will require TWO mechanical setups to complete singulation of the lot, one for the tabs and another for singulation of the boards themselves. Routing does NOT have to be in-line, even though it would be more efficient. Off-line routers could be used to do the job without the expense of conveyor feed complexity, etc. Using a baseplate containing mechanical tooling pins for each board image (2 pins per board to prevent movement during routing), the ENTIRE panel can be routed in one continuous operation, resulting in a clean board profile without solder joint damage or board damage due to flexing. Sorry for the long-winded response, but this issue was near and dear to my heart while supporting the manufacture of 1.8" disk drive boards for a "small" disk drive company named Seagate! Bill Fabry Process/Quality Assurance Mgr. Truevision, Inc. [log in to unmask] (408) 566-4166 -------------------------------------- Date: 10/9/96 4:00 PM To: Bill Fabry From: STEVE_O\'HARA@HP-Vancouver-om2 Item Subject: ASSY: PCMCIA Board Depanelizing Try scoring. This works well with boards with straight edges. ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: ASSY: PCMCIA Board Depanelizing Author: Non-HP-lucyr ([log in to unmask]) at HP-Vancouver,shargw2 Date: 10/9/96 4:58 AM From: Lucy N. Rojao Process Engineering and Development--Power Business Unit ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Subject: ASSY: PCMCIA Board Depanelizing Thank you, Lucy N. Rojao Phone: (416) 448-5866 Internet:[log in to unmask] Celestica Inc. *** Forwarding note from EMADKHAN--TORVMFG1 10/02/96 12:31 *** To: LROJAO --TORVMFG1 *** Reply to note of 09/30/96 17:28 From: EMAD KHAN Subject: ASSY: PCMCIA Board Depanelizing Here you go Lucy...this might help: The most efficient depaneling techinque for PCMCIA cards is having an inline routing operation. The method can be extremely costly but yields great results with speed. Problems, however, can be incountered in panelizing PCMCIA cards. One may be restriced to three to six cards per panel due warpage issues. Normal inline routers can depanel 9 PCMCIA cards at a time. If the full capabilities of routing are not to be utilized then this might not warrant the costs involved. Break-off tabs are farely reasonable. You would have to experiment with how many you would need to ensure stability in your panelization. Break-off tabs also leave a rough finish in your product. Another concern of break-off tabs is the possibility of introducing solder defects when ripping a tab off (especially on thin cards). One must also not position them close to any egde component (ceramic components in particular). I would recommend a shearing machine for low to medium volume productions. Shearing can achieve quite tight tolerances with an excellent finish. Fixturing and the problem of edge components is a concern when implementing this type of process. Regards Emad O. Khan Power Products Paneling Engineer Depaneling Engineer (Site Support) Advanced Products Mechanical Assembly Engineer Process Engineering Department 110 (416) 448-4738 *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * *************************************************************************** ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by rainbow.truevision.com with SMTP;9 Oct 1996 15:47:43 U Received: from ipc.org by simon.ipc.org via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/940406.SGI) id RAA15676; Wed, 9 Oct 1996 17:27:28 -0700 Resent-Date: Wed, 9 Oct 1996 17:27:28 -0700 Received: by ipc.org (Smail3.1.28.1 #2) id m0vB67F-0000TUC; Wed, 9 Oct 96 16:24 CDT Resent-Sender: [log in to unmask] Old-Return-Path: <STEVE_O\[log in to unmask]> From: STEVE_O\[log in to unmask] X-Openmail-Hops: 1 Date: Wed, 9 Oct 96 13:41:54 -0700 Message-Id: <H000091204a206a1@MHS> In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: ASSY: PCMCIA Board Depanelizing To: [log in to unmask] Cc: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] Resent-Message-ID: <"Fe7Vy2.0.olB.-V1No"@ipc> Resent-From: [log in to unmask] X-Mailing-List: <[log in to unmask]> archive/latest/6778 X-Loop: [log in to unmask] Precedence: list Resent-Sender: [log in to unmask] *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * ***************************************************************************