Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

International Business Machines Corporation

Takao Kidachi

Tatsushi Yoshida

Tadaaki Tomiyama

Tatsumi Tsuchiya

Yoshio Uematsu

Yukihiro Nakamura

Hiromi Ishikawa Ishikawa

Hiroyoshi Yokome

Hisashi Ohyama

Surya Narayan Pattanaik

Yasuhiro Mita

Tatsumi Tuchiya

A method of assembling a head gimbal assembly. The method comprises a series of steps which include: stacking a base plate, a load beam, and a flexure to form a three-layered stacked series with at least a bottom layer being a base plate series; joining portions of the load beam to the base plate, and the flexure to the load beam in the three-layered stacked series to make a suspension section; attaching a slider to the flexure in the suspension section to make a head gimbal assembly; load-bending a hinge portion formed in the head gimbal assembly; and heating the hinge portion in order to adjust a bending load on the hinge portion at a predetermined bending angle to a predetermined value.

Method of assembling a head gimbal assembly

A base plate and load beam for an HG assembly are formed in series, stacked, and transferred by a transfer system in the form of the stacked-layer series to undergo the necessary assembly processes such as layer joining, slider attachment, and electrical connections between the terminals thereon. When uncompleted HG assemblies are transferred for each of the manufacturing processes, the uncompleted HG assembly is mounted on the assembly jig such as a tray or a block for transference. For this reason, assembling jigs, the number of which is at least equal to the number of the uncompleted HG assemblies remaining at the respective assembly processes would be needed. Accordingly, the efficiency of work space is reduced, and a rise in manufacturing cost is brought about by the need for the assembling jigs.

Transfer system for assembling a head gimbal assembly

A base plate and load beam for an HG assembly are formed in series, stacked, and transferred by a transfer system in the form of the stacked-layer series to undergo the necessary assembly processes such as layer joining, slider attachment, and electrical connections between the terminals thereon. The base plate structure comprises a band portion having conveying holes and positioning holes formed at a predetermined pith respectively in a longitudinal direction. A plurality of the base plates are disposed via connecting portions integrally formed at a predetermined pitch at edges on one side of the band portion.

Base plate structure, transfer system, and method and apparatus for assembling a head gimbal assembly

Apparatus for assembling a head gimbal assembly

A capillary tube for a solder ball connection device connects a first connection surface of a pad to a second connection surface of a pad with a solder ball. The first connection surface is formed at a slider held by a slider holder in a disk unit. The second connection surface is formed at an end of a lead wired to the slider holder. The capillary tube has a ball regulator with a substantially conic, hollow portion. The solder ball regulator has an opening at its top that opens to the tip of the hollow portion. The center axes of the hollow portion and the opening are common. The solder ball regulator also has a pair of projections along the center axis around the opening, where the projections face each other with the center axis therebetween. The projections regulate the movement of the solder ball. The tip of the hollow portion is tapered when viewed from a line connecting the pair of projections and the extreme tips of the tapered tip portions.

Solder ball connection device and capillary tube thereof

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Yamato, Japan

Takao Kidachi