Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

David Wuester, Sr

Jambunathan Vangal-Ramamurthy

Dean Albert Tarrant

Michael Steven Quam

Reza Ray Mehr

Disclosed is low aspect ratio screw finder for receipt and optimal alignment of a screw. The screw finder may be used in conjunction with a complete screw bit assembly including a screw insertion assembly and a driver. The screw finder includes a screw guide, a screw guide sleeve, and a retraction mechanism. The screw guide is coupled to the screw guide sleeve for movement relative to the screw guide sleeve and provides a surface to abut against the screw to maintain the screw in an optimal orientation for movement from the tube into a bottom portion of the screw insertion assembly. The retraction mechanism retracts the screw guide towards the screw guide sleeve to allow the screw to enter the bottom portion of the screw insertion assembly and to allow the driver to extend through the bottom portion of the screw insertion assembly to engage the head of the screw.

Low aspect ratio screw finder for receipt of a screw for disk drive assembly

Disclosed is a gripper for use with a disk clamp end effecter in a disk drive manufacturing process used for mounting a disk clamp to a disk in the manufacturing of a disk drive. The gripper comprises: a disk gripper housing, a lip seal gripper mounted to the disk gripper housing, and a vacuum channel. The lip seal gripper includes an upper portion that fits into the disk gripper housing and a lower portion that has a surface. The surface is configured to extend around the disk clamp to press against the disk clamp. The vacuum channel extends from the upper portion of the lip seal gripper to the lower portion of the lip seal gripper to provide a vacuum to the lip seal gripper such that the surface of the lip seal gripper is gripped by the vacuum to the surface of the disk clamp around the disk clamp.

Apparatus and method to grip a disk clamp of a disk drive

A floating head couples a screwdriver to a screw finder. The floating head includes a screwdriver attachment assembly that attaches to a screwdriver for driving a first rotation member (FRM). The floating head includes a screw finder attachment assembly that attaches to a bit of a screw finder such that driving a second rotation member (SRM) drives the bit. The floating head includes a ball shaft having a first end portion (EP) engaged in a first socket of the FRM and a second EP engaged in a second socket of the SRM. When the FRM is driven by the screwdriver, the ball shaft translates rotation of the FRM to the SRM. When the FRM and the SRM are displaced relative to one another, the ball shaft tilts such that the first EP maintains engagement with the first socket and the second EP maintains engagement with the second socket.

Systems and methods for coupling screwdrivers to screw finders

A screwdriver is disclosed comprising a base, a carriage moveably coupled to the base, an actuator operable to move the carriage relative to the base, and a slider comprising an attached screw bit, wherein the slider is coupled to the base through the carriage and the slider is moveably coupled to the carriage such that the slider and attached screw bit move together relative to the carriage. The screwdriver further comprises a position detector operable to detect a position of the slider relative to the carriage. In one embodiment, the carriage is moved relative to the base to move the screw towards the work surface. After the screw contacts the work surface, the carriage is moved further relative to the base causing the slider to move relative to the carriage, and the movement of the slider relative to the carriage is detected using the position detector.

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Chandler, AZ, United States of America

David Wuester, Sr