Our surface mount line has been designed to provide the flexibility to handle both short run prototypes and high volume production. Our combination of a high speed 20 nozzle 'chip shooter' and a slower but very flexible single head machine allows us to optimise the throughput of the line to meet this wide variety of production requirements.

The key to quality SMT assembly is in the control of the processes involved and compensation for the minor variations in the underlying PCB substrate.

Our solder paste printer is equipped with a vision alignment system. This allows the operator to monitor and optimise the position of the print. For fine pitch work we use high quality laser cut stencils. Adjusting the apertures during front-end engineering carefully controls solder paste volume and release. For complex boards with both fine pitch and large power components we can design a stepped stencil.

For component alignment all our machines have a state of the art vision system with fiducial correction that allows the centering and rotation of a component to be measured and the 'nominal placement position' adjusted to ensure near perfect positioning. In addition, the vision system allows recognition of some component defects (e.g. missing ball on a BGA or bent QFP leads). The component can then be rejected and a new component fitted.

Our re-flow oven uses forced air circulation rather than infrared emitters. This provides an even distribution of heat with the precise thermal control required to successfully solder a wide range of component and laminate types. The re-flow profile is an important parameter for obtaining high quality solder joints. We regularly verify the profile using a thermal data logger that provides detailed time/temperature information for various key points on the design. Comparing this with the target profile we are able to adjust the oven to deliver optimum results.