Pace, Incorporated

Robert G Brown

William J Siegel

Louis A Abbagnaro

Robert S Quasney

William J Kautter

Charles M Cardno

Robert S Quasney, Sr

Anthony Qingzhong Tang

Charles H McDavid, Jr

James L Mason

Edward Faygenblat

A handheld low voltage machining tool with which any one or more of drilling, milling, and abrading operations can be safely performed even on densely populated, multilayer, circuit boards. Provisions are made for preventing electrical overstress by isolating the tip of the machining tool from the drive motor as well as for preventing abrupt starting of the tool which can cause jerking, jumping or skipping of the tool off of the target. Still further, dynamic braking of the tool bit is achieved, both upon release of an operator actuated control switch and due to a selected conductive layer being reached. For the latter effect, a probe is provided by which a low voltage can be delivered to a component or conductor on the board, and circuitry detects grounding of this voltage by contact with the grounded bit of the machining tool.

Handheld low voltage machining tool

A tweezer-type heating device for installation and removal device of electronic components with respect to a substrate, such as for SMC installation and through hole installation or removal. More specifically, a handheld tweezer-type heating device is provided in which a wide variety of different sized (and shaped) tips can be used with a high degree of accuracy in terms of thermo/mechanical contact. Tolerances in the parts of the handpiece, the assembly, the heaters and the tips that may bring the bottom edges of the tips out of their alignment plane are very easily corrected with an adjustable hinge which, by loosening of a screw and sliding the parts with respect to each other, allows proper alignment to be achieved. Still further, a thumb screw is provided at the back of the handpiece to allow the gap between the tips to be slightly opened or closed. This is useful in accommodating tolerances in the components. Also, it allows the operator to slip-fit the tips over the component and make proper thermo/mechanical contact with little or no squeezing of the handpiece, thereby minimizing the chance of mechanically damaging the component or its leads by squeezing too hard, or causing damage to adjacent components. A plate-like alignment tool with projecting tab portions that engages in an edge slot of the tip elements and contacts other surfaces of the tip elements, as well, enables simultaneous aligning of the tip elements axially, laterally and rotationally with respect to each other and the mounting units.

Tweezer handpiece for installation and removal of electronic components

Apparatus for soldering and desoldering an electronic component to or from a printed circuit board includes an alignment station and a soldering/desoldering station. The printed circuit board is mounted upon an adjusable X-Y table which can be indexed between the alignment station and the soldering/desoldering station. To align an electronic component with respect to th PCB, a vacuum pickup device is operated at the alignment station to pickup and support the component within an optical field of view above the PCB and the X-Y table is adjusted in X, Y and .theta. directions with respect to the component. Upon alignment of the component, the pickup device is lowered to temporarily adhere the component to the PCB by an adhesive flux. Thereafter, the X-Y table is indexed to a preset position below a hot air soldering nozzle and the component soldered in a known manner. A rotary device for shearing a defective electronic device from a PCB is also attached to the bottom of the soldering/desoldering nozzle.

Apparatus for removal and installing electronic components with respect

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing and installing surface mounted devices (SMD's) with respect to a substrate such as a printed circuit board (PCB).

An in-line solder extractor and a tubular heating assembly for use therewith having a tubular tip disposed within the tubular heating assembly a hollow handle, the heater assembly being mounted with respect to the forward portion of the handle a solder collection chamber disposed within the handle, and forward and rearward seals for sealing the forward and rearward ends. The heater assembly includes a tubular sleeve; a tubular heating element support member mounted within the tubular sleeve and extending rearwardly of the tubular sleeve, a heating element disposed along heating element support member; and a hollow, cylindrical, seal mounting member coaxially mounted on the tubular heating element support member for mounting the forward seal of the solder collection chamber and for spacing the seal from the tubular sleeve and the tubular heating support member so that the rearward portion tubular heating support member may be raised to at least solder melting temperature to lessen the possibility of the solder clogging the support member while, at the same time, the seal is exposed to a temperature less than the last-mentioned temperature to thus promote the longevity thereof.

In-line solder extractor and heater assembly for use therewith

A X-Y table is disclosed having a table rotatably mounted on a base for movement in the X-Y and .theta. directions. The device includes fine adjustments in both X and Y directions and a quick shear mechanism with means for automatically returning the table to its original position after the quick shear procedure. The table may be used as a stand above unit or particularly for use in installing and removing components from printed circuit boards.

X-Y table with .theta. rotation

A mounting structure is disclosed including two pairs of spaced apart parallel rails with a longitudinal slot separating each of the pair. A trackway is formed under each pair of rails and a slider is slidable in the trackway and may be connected to a third rail orthogonally mounted on the pairs of rails, by means of a bolt passing through the slider and engaging a nut in a T-shaped slot in the third rail.

Growing community of inventors

Annapolis, MD, United States of America

Robert G Brown