Western Digital Corporation

Gordon A Harwood

Marvin A Schlimmer

Susan G Scanlon

Steven J Alfred

A disk drive includes an enclosure having a base, a spindle motor fixed to the base, a disk mounted on the spindle motor, a pivot bearing cartridge, and a head stack assembly. The pivot bearing cartridge includes a shaft fixed to the enclosure, and the head stack assembly is connected to the pivot bearing cartridge for rotation relative to the shaft. The head stack assembly includes a body portion having a bore which surrounds the pivot bearing cartridge, a plurality of actuator arms with each arm cantilevered from the body portion, and a coil portion. The coil portion is cantilevered from the body portion in an opposite direction from the plurality of arms and provides damping of vibrations induced in the head stack assembly. The coil portion includes a plastic portion having a thickness, and a coil embedded in the plastic portion. The plastic portion includes a plurality of openings where each opening extends through the entire thickness of the plastic portion. Each opening is also located inside the coil and is substantially elongated in the direction in which the coil portion is cantilevered.

Head stack assembly having a coil portion for damping vibrations which

An actuator coil for a disk drive is formed of materials and processed in a manner such that the amount of outgassing that occurs in normal operation of the disk drive is minimized. An insulative coating, such as polyurethane which is rated well above the normal operating temperature is first applied to drawn copper wire. Then, a polyamide bond coating was used to cover the insulative coating. Next, a lubricant having a low average molecular weight was selected. The resulting wire was then wound to form the actuator coil. The coil is then cured at a high temperature for an extended length of time to drive off solvents and allow the polymers to crosslink and stabilize.

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Rochester, MN, United States of America

Gordon A Harwood