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Elite Feeder Solutions, the leading supplier of specialist feeders, today announced that it will display its innovative range of specialized feeders at the upcoming SMT/Hybrid/Packaging show, scheduled to take place May 16-18 at the Messe in Nuremberg, Germany. The feeders will be located in pb tec’s booth in Hall 4A, stand 140.
Traceability has been essential in the electronics industry for many years, especially for safety-related products where manufacturers need to trace each component that is included in their final products. This means that each component gets a unique “name” in terms of a numbering system.
There are several solutions available to enable marking, like label cells, laser cells, manual application of labels. Label and laser cells need a relatively high investment, furthermore, one disadvantage of a laser cell is that not all products can be lasered. Manual application of labels is not possible for high-volume productions and even for small companies it is recommended to apply the labels automatically to get the necessary placement accuracy, furthermore, manual placement is quite cost-intensive. The easiest and cheapest way of marking a product automatically is the application of a label with a label feeder. The feeder can be integrated in the pick-and-place machine and the label will be simply placed like a standard component – precisely and in line speed.
Why Slimline Label Feeder? The existing label feeders in the market have a width of about 60 mm and more. If customers have to place big labels, this is still a good solution. But meanwhile the space on PCBs is extremely limited and most manufacturers are using very small labels, less than 9x9 mm, very often even 4x4 mm or smaller. In these cases, it is waste of space in the feeder bank to use a 60 mm wide label feeder if the job can be done as well with a much smaller feeder. The new Slimline Label Feeder from Elite is only 30 mm wide and, therefore, needs only one slot in the pick-and-place system, saving both space and cost for the manufacturer.
Additionally, the Slimline Label Feeder provides users with several interesting features:
- Very small parts and labels: The Slimline Label Feeder can feed labels and parts down to 3x3 mm
- Teach-In function: The label length can easily and quickly be taught and adjusted
- Counter: The feeder counts the transported labels
- Adjustable failure indicator: The user defines after how many undetected labels the feeder should change over to the error mode.
- Selectable Trigger: Alternatively by light sensor, manually or by the pick-and-place machine.
- Adjustable speed: The transport speed is freely selectable.
- Integrated Waste Box: The empty liner material is collected in a waste box and removed easily without stopping the pick-and-place machine.
- Compatibility: Compatible with most pick-and-place systems
It’s not only for labels – the label feeder is also an ideal solution for the automatic application of odd components. If these parts are delivered in one row on a liner, in many cases it is possible to feed them with a label feeder – very simple in the pick-and-place machine. In this way, a special part can become a standard part and there is no need for an expensive special machine. There have already been several projects with the application of special parts like humidity sensors, spacers, Kapton dots and other functional parts.
The Slimline Label Feeder can be used for all labels or special parts with a minimum size of 3x3 mm, maximum label length of 25 mm and maximum liner width of 15 mm.
About Elite Feeder Solutions
Elite Feeder solutions are a British company based in Reading UK. Our products are special feeders for the surface mount technology (SMT), as well as the robotic handling industry. The SMT feeders are compatible with Fuji, Juki, Panasonic and ASM Siplace placement systems with further versions for other placement manufacturers being developed. For robotic handling, we will be releasing a range of various size Pocket Feeders allowing various applications within the automated manufacturing process.
