Head suspension having a near dimple motion limiter

Abstract

A head suspension for supporting a head slider over a disk surface within a rigid disk drive includes a load beam with a flexure at a distal end of the load beam. The head suspension includes a motion limiter for restricting the range of motion of the flexure relative to the load beam. Toward this end, the motion limiter of the present invention includes a hook formed by bending a cantilever arm of the flexure to position a hook tip of the hook substantially over a load point of the suspension. The motion limiter constrains the load beam between the hook tip and the flexure in order to limit vertical displacement of the flexure relative to the load beam, as can occur through deflections caused by a shock load, through excessive pitch and roll motion of the flexure, or through operational movement of the head suspension assembly within the disk drive. The point contact of the hook tip substantially at the load point of the head suspension results in maximum gimbal freedom and minimum twist and distortion due to motion of the flexure. The motion limiter of the present invention is formed after a precursor structure of the load beam and co-planar flexure is formed, thereby eliminating the need for interleaving of the flexure with the load beam to achieve the desired hook positioning.