Printed Circuit Board Assembly

Printed circuit board assembly
Open University Press Robotics Series
Edited by
P.C. Davey CBE MA MIEE MBCS C.Eng
This series is designed to give undergraduate, graduate and practising

engineers access to this fast developing field and provide an understanding
of the essentials both of robot design and of the implementation of
complete robot systems for CIM and FMS. Individual titles are oriented
either towards industrial practice and current experience or towards those
areas where research is actively advancing to bring new robot systems and
capabilities into production.
The design and overall editorship of the series are due to Peter Davey,
Managing Director of Meta Machines Limited, Abingdon; Fellow of St
Cross College, Oxford University; and formerly Co-ordinator of the UK
Science and Engineering Research Council's Programme in Industrial
Robotics.
His wide ranging responsibilities and international involvement in
robotics research and development endow the series with unusual quality
and authority.
TITLES IN THE SERIES
Industrial Robot Applications
E. Appleton and D,J. Williams
Robotics: An Introduction
D. McCloy and M. Harris
Printed Circuit Board Assembly
P,J.W. Noble
Robots in Assembly
A. Redford and E. Lo
Robot Sensors and Transducers
R. Ruocco
Titles in preparation
Intelligent Robotics
M.H. Lee
Printed circuit board

assembly
- the complete works
PJ.W. Noble
HALSTED PRESS
John Wiley & Sons
New York - Toronto
and
OPEN UNIVERSITY PRESS
Milton Keynes
Open University Press

12 Cofferidge Close
Stony Stratford
Milton Keynes MK 11 lBY
First published 1989
Copyright CL 1989 P.J.W. Noble
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1989
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any form or by any means, without written permission from the
publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Noble P.J.W.
Printed circuit board assembly.
I. Electronic equipment. Printed circuit
boards. Making - Manuals
I. Title
621.381'74
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-6236-4
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-6234-0
e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-6234-0
Published in the U.S.A., Canada and Latin America by

Halsted Press, a Division of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Noble, P.J.W. (Peter J.W.)

Printed circuit board assembly: the complete works/P.J.W. Noble.
p. em - (Open University Press robotics series)
Includes index
1. Printed circuits - Design and construction. I. Title.
II. Series
TK 7868.P7N63 1988
88 - 15214
621.381'74 - dc 19
CIP
Contents
Series editor's preface

Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
vii
IX
Introduction
An outline of the printed circuit board assembly process, covering the elements of
board size, production quantities, types, etc. as well as giving an introduction to
the assembly process from design to finished board and the interactions in the
processes.
Chapter 2
Board design for assembly
16
Methods of design that will produce a good-quality design from the assembly
viewpoint, and series of points that could be considered as 'Do's and 'Don'ts'.
Chapter 3
Component specifications and their impact
30
The basic electrical specifications that are desired; also those specifications that
must be introduced for good pcb assembly, such as mechanical, etc. Machine
specifications and how they may differ from the international component
specifications.
Chapter 4
Planning the kitting
Essential in the process of pcb assembly, the kitting operation is producing the
constituent components at the right time, correctly, and ready for assembly.
44
vi
Chapter 5

Standards
58
The minefield of international standards has been met head on. A comprehensive
list of all international standards that relate to the assembly process is listed, from
component standards through soldering to final testing.
Chapter 6
Planning the production area
69
The essentials of the production set-up, including automatic, manual, etc., also
the automatic machine handling of components.
Chapter 7
Programming the machine
86
A guide to the various methods of machine programming and the alternatives

available.
Chapter 8
Inspection - is it really necessary?
95
The basic questions are asked, namely: 'Is inspection necessary after ACIT
Arguments are put forward to show that in many instances it is not necessary to
inspect at this stage, thus substantial savings can be made.
Chapter 9
Choosing the best machine
98
Despite this title, no recommendation is made, but a series of guidelines is

established to allow the potential user to carry out his own investigation, and
eventual decision.
Chapter 10
Manual, light-guided, semi-automatic and robotic assembly
117
An outline of the four methods of non-automatic assembly, with recommendations as to their use.
Chapter 11
Training of operations, programming and planning staff
127
An essential part of every assembly plant is correct training for all levels of staff.
Chapter 12
Cost considerations
133
Aimed at the financial deciders in the plant, as a guide to how to assess the
benefits of automation.
Chapter 13
Mass soldering technology
144
A guide to the various soldering techniques, etc. and a series of guidelines as to

how to use the equipment effectively.
Chapter 14
Surface-mount components
159
Chapter 15
Conclusions
166
Appendix 1
Glossary
168
Appendix 2
Standards
172
Index
202
Series editor's preface
Assembly of 'difficult' components onto printed circuit boards is emerging as an

important application area for small, fast industrial robots. For other robot tasks - for
example paint spraying or arc welding - the applications engineer can rely on a body of
published information representing decades of accumulated knowledge about the actual
process being automated. But for the process of assembly relatively little systematically
presented knowledge exists, mainly because so much manual assembly depends on
extremely subtle co-ordination of hand, eye and brain which is hard to represent directly in
engineering terms. As for the particular processes of electronic assembly, they have hardly
been covered at all in the literature. Yet the design of a good PCB automation system
depends crucially on the responsible engineer fully understanding every aspect of the
process he or she is automating, whether working for the electronics manufacturer, an
automation company, a research laboratory or a machine builder.
The author of this book has had extensive practical experience in all these roles: as a
source of great detail on most aspects of the electronic assembly process it will be of
unique value not only to the robot specialist but well beyond that to anyone needing to
understand how printed circuit boards are manufactured.
P.G. Davey
Acknowledgements
The author is indebted to many companies and individuals from within the pcb
assembly industry. The author has been working within and with the industry for many
years and over that period of time has made many friends, and feels it true to say no
enemies. In that time he has worked for a number of the companies mentioned and he is
pleased to say that he has remained on good terms with all of them. It is through the
goodwill that has been generated that a high level of co-operation has been received by
him from all the participating companies and individuals. In particular the author would
like to thank the following companies by name and in alphabetical order:
Ambotech Limited; Amistar; The Automation Group of Companies; Dynapert; Elite
Engineering; Prolec Limited; The Plessey Company Ltd; Stickland Electronics Ltd; Surface
Electronics Ltd; Teknis Limited; TDK; Universal Instruments Ltd; and Zevatron (Tony
Chapman Electronics Ltd), as well as the journal Electronic Production.
The author would also like to thank a number of individuals in the industry, particularly
two individuals, namely Roy Carr, of Roy Carr Limited who produced the draft for the
chapter on soldering, and Bill Mitchell who produced the draft for the chapter on
standards and electronic production.
In addition, the author thanks the following individuals from within the industry, not
necessarily in any particular order; they are: David Buckley, Peter Fenner, Tim Perfect,
Brian Atherton, David Johnson, John Stickland, Adrian Barnes, Andrew Clarke, Peter
Ashburner, Doug Every, David Tappin, Gordon McDonnell, Ken Carter, Paul Blundell,
Mike Judd, David Bishton, Bernard Parry, and many others who, I am afraid, will not
excuse me for apparently forgetting them by name.
Whilst acknowledging the co-operation and help both the individuals and the
companies have provided, I would like to say how difficult it has been to compile the
book, in view of the broad subject covered. During the writing of the book, from starting
out with the proverbial blank sheet of paper and to some degree a blank mind, it has
progressed over a period of months to the present stage, which the author feels at least is a
sta!"t on a major topic. I hope that in two or three years' time a further book can be
produced updating this issue which will incorporate more of the latest technology,
particularly the technology on surface-mounted components which in this volume is dealt
with in only one chapter, although it is mentioned in many of the others.
Should any individual or company feel that they have been either ignored or left out of
the book, the author would like to say that this is not deliberate in any way, shape or form;
it is simply that every company known to the author was approached at least three times
for information and help by direct letter, telephone, and by sending facsimile requests.
The vast majority of companies and individuals replied and the majority of those were
most helpful in providing not only photographs and information, but by being totally free
in allowing me to reproduce part of their work and texts as examples within the body of
the book. Inevitably one or two companies and individuals did not reply or respond in any
way and it is those companies and individuals which have to be left out, as it can only be
assumed they wish to have no part in the book, regrettable though that may be.
The author would also like to acknowledge the support of his family while writing this
book as it requires considerable concentration, and interruptions tended to be met with
less than polite response! Finally the author would like to thank Lynn Kilpatrick-Brown
for her sterling efforts in typing the manuscript and carrying out a number of subsequent
editing functions as the author's mind, concepts and considerations changed; and Mark
Noble for his photographs of those machines and equipment, etc. not provided by the
manufacturers. The author sincerely hopes that the book at least in part, if not in total will
be useful as a guide to the many ways of assembling pcbs and looks forward to receiving
comments, criticism (constructive), and help with future editions.
Peter J. W. Noble
Chapter 1
Introduction
The design, procurement and assembly, in fact the complete manufacturing process of
printed circuit boards, is one where there are many avenues open to the potential
manufacturer depending upon whether the final application is instrumentation, military,
consumer or any combination in between. The selection of assembly techniques, to say
nothing of the requirements placed on components and their handling - together with
cleaning and soldering systems - are such that a new, or even existing manufacturer has a
vast range of choices to make. Because of this I have written this book as an outline guide
to anyone involved in the printed circuit board industry. The book covers all printed
circuit board assembly operations, and is intended as a guide, so that those already
assembling printed circuit boards manually, for example, can choose a path which will
take them to full automation should they so wish.
The implications of this step are not always clearly understood by users before they
commit themselves to capital equipment. Therefore they may have taken the decision
without full consideration of the equipment in relation to all the other aspects of assembly
which include component procurement and specification - not only electrically, but also
mechanically. That includes the design of the printed circuit board, and its layout and
how it should relate not just to fundamental operation of the board, but also to the testing
and assembly.
1.1 Outline
In most industrialized countries the range of size, quantity, and components count can be
summed up as follows. The size of pcbs is typically 15 x 10em (Eurocard), can range up to
a huge 60 x 60 cm (rare!), down to perhaps as small as 1 x 2 cm. In the last case the
tendency is to assemble in biscuit form, i.e. several pcbs made as one panel, assembled as

Lead holes
--hl-f.,-- Copper/tin/lead
tracks
Base material (fibre glass. etc.)
Figure 1.1
Lead or via holes
~--f--r---- Top track
Bottom track
Base material
Figure 1.2
one panel, then either cut, or broken out, of the panel for final use. Quantities vary, but
assembly is typically in batches of 25- 50 boards. Exceptions, and extremes, are found,
from consumer electronics, where tens of thousands are made continuously, to military,
where one board may be required.
Component count averages 100 to 200 per board, but can range from one to the largest
seen by the author of over 2000 components - extremes being very rare. Printed circuit
boards are either basic single-sided, double-sided, or multilayer. These are illustrated
respectively in Figures 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3. For assembly purposes, in a survey of the UK,
USA and Japanese markets, typical batch sizes were given as 50 boards, repeated every
1-3 months.
With regard to automatic assembly machines there are choices to be made here
depending upon the type of printed circuit board being made. It is not simply the question
of quantity of boards, or even quality - it is a combination of these two factors, plus the
Introduction
Lead holes - or via holes
Top track
Centre track
Base material
Bottom track
Figure 1.3
need for flexibility for perhaps handling prototype and very small production runs- or for
handling some of the more demanding military applications. Perhaps the most
fundamental point of the whole exercise is the economic consideration; that is whether by
going to automatic techniques there is finally a saving to be made and what that saving is.
With the advent of the just-in-time philosophy (JIT) the savings are not made necessarily
by replacing operators with machines but by substantially reducing the stock and work in
progress figures of companies, and by the careful control of assembly operations by
reducing or even eliminating, the need for visually inspecting assembled printed circuit
boards. Quite often a company's decision to invest in automatic machinery is based on an
economic justification. More often than not it is based on the simplistic factor relating the
capital investment to what that equipment will save as a stand-alone unit, i.e. replacing
people with a machine. There are however many other economic benefits to automation
which are not easily identified and certainly not easily quantified. The chapter on the
economic justifications is intended to clarify the picture so that the reader may establish
the likely economic impact.
Whilst I have endeavoured to stay away from specifying any particular machine at any
stage of the assembly process, it is inevitable that some machines will be described more
fully than others. However, where this has happened I have attempted to redress the
balance by indicating the benefits or otherwise of other machines which are competitive in
the same area.
1.2 Basic considerations
When considering printed circuit board assembly it is always necessary to consider the
implications of one of the processes on any, or all, of the others. This is not always clear

Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
Manual
assembly
Goods inwards
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.4
when one is 'at the coal face' so to speak, of producing printed circuit boards to new
designs on a continuous basis. If we look at Figure 1.4, this simplified form shows the
process from the requirement through to goods outwards. In essence the requirement for
a new board will result in the design. This design has traditionally been concerned only
with the application, and the component layout, in order to achieve the required
electronic functions. Once this is achieved then one may procure components which will
come into stores, via goods inwards, which will include some element of inspection. From
goods inwards the components will go to kit preparation (which is necessary whatever
assembly techniques are eventually chosen). In this sequence of events I have chosen to
illustrate the kits then going to automatic assembly, followed by manual assembly of
those components which cannot be assembled automatically. After manual assembly I
have included inspection (which some companies require before soldering). Soldering is
followed by cleaning and then test; the output of this circle being completed, tested, good
Introduction
Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.5
printed circuit boards which meet the requirement set at the first stage of the exercise.
In this form of presentation it is a very simple exercise - on the face of it. However, those
experienced in the business will rapidly assume that there is more to it than this sequence
of events! What the book has attempted to do is to link this sequence together in such a
way as to demonstrate what decisions round the loop will influence activities both before
and after their position in the loop.
Thus, proceeding to Figure 1.5, we can see how design influences the subsequent
activities. The design of the printed circuit board, essentially the layout of the components
on the board in order to satisfy the requirement, will, of necessity determine the
components that are procured for that design. It will also influence (as a direct
consequence of deciding which components to use), the goods-inwards inspection
procedures, to ensure that the components thus procured are the correct ones for the
design. In order to assemble the board correctly, the design will influence the preparation

Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.6
of the kit. The design, however, does not necessarily influence either the methods of
assembly, rather the converse as we shall see later. However, design can influence
inspection, in that careful consideration to design may reduce the inspection requirement
substantially, and design inevitably will influence the testing in that the requirement for
design, test, and goods outwards are linked irrevocably. The design has very little
influence on either soldering or cleaning, other than to ensure that correct soldering
patterns are achieved underneath the board, in order to avoid difficulties while soldering.
This is a traditional view of design and will be well recognized by those involved in it.
Referring to Figure 1.6, we can see that procurement of components has a significant
range of influences, and it will be seen that one of those influences is back into design.
Clearly, if we are to establish an assembly process which satisfies the best requirements
of reliability and economics, it would be folly to allow the designer access to all the
components that are available in the world. Therefore it is sensible to restrict the number
Introduction
Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.7
of components available to the designer, and to control component procurement in such a

way as to produce a preferred list. This preferred list of components is not static, and must
always evolve, as some components go out of stock or become obsolete and others become
available to the designer. However, procuring components in itself then becomes a
management function which must influence design. The component procurement aspect
and the preferred list, must also influence the goods inwards and inspection, and kit
preparation. For reasons that become increasingly clear, component procurement will
influence the automatic assembly activity, and the manual assembly activity, in that
careful choice of components at that stage within the preferred list eases the task of
automatic and manual assembly management.
Examining the inspection of components within goods inwards, again it is clear that
goods-inward inspection is eased with a preferred list of components, and therefore
goods-inwards inspection (Figure 1.7) should have an influence into component

Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.8
procurement, and also into design, in order to make goods-inwards inspection more easily
managed. Goods-inwards inspection however, also has an influence forward into kit
preparation (with all forms of assembly), in that inspection at this stage will greatly
facilitate the forward functions, if controlled in such a way as to look not only for the
electrical and electronic parameters of the components, but also the mechanical
parameters, so that a high degree of insertion or assembly is achievable.
By the same token kit preparation shown on Figure 1.8 again has influence back into
component procurement and goods inwards. In the case of component procurement, kit
preparation is important and depends on the type of machines and the assembly
technique in use, in that the kit is dependent on the components that are produced for kit
preparation, and therefore has a direct influence forward into the assembly methods. The
components must include the delivery method at this stage, in that the kit preparation is
greatly eased ifthe delivery methods of the components are well controlled, in the form of
Introduction
Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.9
bandoliers, tubes, or other form of carrier.
In Figure 1.9 we then hit the nub of the procurement requirement for the whole
operation. Automatic assembly influences virtually every aspect of the printed circuit
board assembly process. The automatic assembly machine influences the design of the
board, in that it is desirable to use orthogonal axes for the components, and the polarity of
components in the design to improve assembly techniques. Depending on the type of
machine used, the dimensions of the components at the design stage are critical. The
automatic assembly machine does present a series of restrictions on components that can
be used, and therefore by referring those restrictions back into both component
procurement and therefore the preferred list already discussed, and thus into the design, a
much higher degree of automatic assembly can be achieved. Again, the restrictions on
machine handling of components imply that both goods inwards and kit preparation are
controlled to the specifications required by the machine, in order that maximum assembly
10

Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.10
reliability is achieved.
It is therefore possible by suitable choice of components and preferred lists to eliminate
manual assembly for all but the very difficult components (such as connectors and
transformers for example). By achieving sufficiently high assembly reliability by
controlling those aspects of the process before assembly, it may be economically desirable
to leave out inspection completely. Automatic assembly using cut and clinch methods or
placement methods on the board will have a direct influence on the solderability of the
components and the cleanliness of the board. Similarly, by controlling the automatic
assembly specifications and parameters, it should be simpler to test the board, bearing in
mind the considerations of grid dimensions and layouts as discussed later.
Figure 1.10 shows the manual assembly influences in the process. Looking forward,
manual assembly has to be controlled in such a way that inspection may become
unnecessary - and that manual assembly techniques must be sufficiently good and well
11
Introduction
Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.11
controlled not to inhibit soldering, cleaning, or testing to a level comparable with that
which is achieved using automatic assembly. Moving on to inspection (Figure 1.11), the
standard requirements of inspection are such that they have an influence back in to
manual assembly, automatic assembly and kit preparation. Indeed, if one can achieve a
high standard of kit preparation and assembly, because of the preferred list, we can
eliminate inspection totally from the process. This should be a goal in most assembly
operations.
Moving on to soldering, Figure 1.12 shows that soldering has an influence back into
many of the parameters of circuit assembly. Ifwe are going to achieve good soldering with
high reliability then the designer must bear this in mind during the layout. Components on
the preferred list must have a high degree of solderability, and goods inwards must check
for this parameter. Similarly, the soldering is influenced both by automatic and manual
assembly techniques and it should be borne in mind that most of the problems in soldering
12

Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
~----------------------;~ 3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.12
are not necessarily caused by the soldering machine, but by poor assembly of components,
poor bending and poor cropping, as well as poor solderability of both the component and
the printed circuit board. This is covered in detail later but it indicates the influence of
soldering into many of the other aspects of printed circuit board assembly.
In much the same way that soldering will influence a number of decisions made before
the process, so does cleaning (Figure 1.13), in that the cleaning process is enhanced
considerably if the components are to a high standard and a preferred specification.
Clearly, the soldering process has an influence on subsequent cleaning methods.
Figure 1.14 shows that the process of testing whether it be automatic testing, 'bed-ofnails' testing, or other, must have an influence back into the design, the goods-inwards
inspection, etc. in order to ensure that components meet the specifications prior to
assembly. Thus when the board arrives for testing there is a very high degree of
probability that the board has been assembled correctly. This implies not only goods
13
Introduction
Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.13
inwards, inspection and kit preparation, but also the automatic assembly and manual
assembly processes are to a high degree of reliability such that a failure at this stage is
probably component failure, rather than an assembly failure. The testing requirement
also has an influence back into cleaning in that a clean board going on to a bed-of-nails
tester provides a much better contact and therefore will produce a higher degree of test
reliability.
Reviewing all the processes from Figure 1.4 to Figure 1.14 shows the considerable
network of interactions between the different aspects of pcb manufacture starting with a
requirement and ending with a correctly tested board. If all these interactions were drawn
as one diagram it would be totally confusing, and there simply would not be a large
enough piece of paper in the book to enable all the different factors to be considered
simultaneously. Lessons to be learned from this idealized assembly sequence and the
various interactions perhaps can be summarized as follows:
14

Goods outwards
Requirement
Procure components
3 Goods inwards
Manual
assembly
Automatic
assembly
Figure 1.14
That the design team should be provided with constraints with regard to the
components they may use - generate a preferred component list.
2 The design team be given sufficient training and planning guide-lines in order to
facilitate automatic assembly, manual assembly, and the subsequent processes.
3 That a small committee be set up to produce a preferred list of components which
has to bear in mind the design criteria, the automatic assembly criteria, soldering
and inspection, and that this preferred list of components is mandatory on the
design team. Subsequently, the small committee should meet regularly to eliminate
components from the preferred list in a controlled way and to add those
components which the design team require, provided those new components have
passed the various tests which are required to ensure automatic assembly on the
machinery available, etc.
Introduction
15
4 Goods-inwards inspection should be enlarged to include the mechanical inspection

of the component, and the carrier system.
5 Component procurement, and goods-inwards inspection, should combine to
ensure component delivery from suppliers is in the form both desirable for automatic
assembly and kitting and does not change from supplier to supplier.
6 Kit preparation is critical to good automatic assembly, and should be a high
priority for management control, to ensure continuous availability of kits.
7 Decisions with regard to which automatic machines are chosen, should be
influenced not just by production engineering, but by all the factors in the idealized
assembly sequence, indicated in Figure 1.4. The same argument will also apply to
all capital investment to ensure that it meets the overall criteria of the assembly
sequence.
Perhaps the biggest difficulty for any printed circuit board assembly company which is
switching from a manual, semi-automatic, or light-guided system to automatic assembly,
is to answer a number of questions that generally recur in discussions with the machine
supplier. This book is designed to answer a great many of those questions, not perhaps in
detail as applied to one particular application, but as a guide to all applications, so that at
least the final decision is made based on a much clearer understanding of all the differences
that come into play on printed circuit board assembly.
Chapter 2
2.1 Application areas
The application at which the printed circuit board is aimed has a significant effect on its
design and layout. The impact of the application runs right through from layout and
design to the type of machine chosen for assembly and the soldering techniques used;
therefore from the outset it is important to establish which particular type of application
the board is headed for in your environment. The basic applications, and considerations,
are those of the consumer market, the communications market, the instrumentation
market and the military market - and what impact these then have on the space available
for the printed circuit board and the standards of assembly required.
Other applications will generally fall within one of the above headings, i.e. control
systems would fall into the instrumentation market without detracting from the basic
precepts. The different applications have substantially different impacts on design,
depending upon the detail consideration of that application. For example, in the
consumer field, questions of standards of assembly may be subject to the economics
involved on a very simple board with very high volume production and may not require
very high standards or indeed a very high reliability of assembly, as it is often cheaper to
throwaway faulty assemblies than test and re-work. Similarly, the design considerations
for these high volume units have got to be considered in the light of the cost of assembly
and the cost of the raw materials and components involved, rather than the ultimate
reliability of the end product.
Assembly cost in the military application, on the other hand, usually has slight
economic import, but very high levels of requirement with regard to the standard of the
components, the design, the standard of assembly, and in the administration of assembly,
such as traceability. The instrumentation market falls in between these two, in that the
standards have to be good, and reliability of the end product high, but cost still plays an
17
important part. The communication market is probably a cross between military and
instrumentation in terms of standards in that a high reliability is expected of product and
the cost is not of vital importance. In the days of personal mobile phones and other forms
of advanced portable communication it could even be considered that the communication
market might encompass the consumer market and the instrumentation market under
one heading where in the high volumes required for the consumer application there is also
a requirement for high reliability and high standards of product procurement and design.
Running through the above applications are considerations of space of the end
product, i.e. is it required to fit any particular environment (and here we might refer back
to personal phones for example), and in the case of the military in particular, standards to
which we are going to work? Military and other relevant standards are designated and
discussed in Chapter 4.
2.2 Basic considerations
Before going into layout and design considerations one should review the standard
assembly procedures and requirements, so that there is an understanding of the basis for
design before going into more detail. In essence there are two pcb assembly techniques:
the first of these is the use ofleaded components, the component falling into the categories
of axial, radial and dual in-line (DIL); there are other types of component such as
connectors, transformers and various passive devices, as well as high-power semiconductors with their own particular type of connection. Typical examples of the type of
component in general assembly are illustrated in Figure 2.1. For the emphasis on
automatic assembly we are really considering only the axial, radial and DIL type of
component. Although there are some machines capable of assembling all types, this is
usually a specialist area, and therefore will only be referred to in outline, under the section
considering robotic assembly techniques in Chapter lO.
Chapter 3, on component specifications and component procurement indicates the
various standard component sizes, shapes and dimensions together with a range of
tolerances applicable to components both as individual items and packaged in a form
ready to be placed on an assembly machine. When assembling leaded components
consideration has to be given to the preparation of the component prior to assembly
which in the case of all three components requires control over the leads, and particularly,
in the case of axial components requires those leads to be bent in such a way that the pitch
of the leads matches the pitch of the holes through which the leads should be placed. This
is illustrated in Figure 2.2 which shows a typical goal-post preform which, as the name
implies, is simply bending the leads at right angles on the correct pitch. There are other
types of preform usually employing ajoggle in the lead, which acts as a stand-off or strainrelief for the component body. This technique is not generally used for automatic
assembly - more for manual assembly and usually manual assembly of a type which is
now becoming obsolete.
When assembling new components into a board prior to soldering, the leads have to be
cropped to length or alternatively, cropped to a specific length, depending on the type of
soldering machine or technique to be used. Also, it is usually necessary to retain the
component in the board prior to soldering, because the board will need to be transferred
18
Typical axial component
A
Typical DIP (Dual In-line Package)
Typical radial component
Figure 2.1
- - - Pitch - - -- .
of holes
'Goal-post' preform
Figure 2.2
19
from the assembly machine to a soldering machine and, to increase the security of those
components, some form of retention is desirable. Various techniques for holding the
component on the board have been tried and are still in use, such as using a plastic coating
to hold the component in place. However, the most commonly used technique is to crop
and bend the leads simultaneously under the board in such a way that the component can
then not escape. A refinement of the lead-bending technique is to bend along the direction
of any track on the board, rather than bend the lead over a gap between tracks. By
bending the lead along the track this decreases the chance of shorts, etc. during the
soldering phase.
One alternative technique for retaining the components is to leave the leads long and
process the board through soldering, using what is termed a solder-cut-solder technique.
In this technique the board is processed through the soldering machine with long leads in
place (that is none of the leads are cropped). Care during the soldering operation has to be
taken to ensure that the surplus solder is removed from the leads in such a way that the
leads are isolated from one another correctly. After this process the leads are then cut with
a high-speed rotating blade just beneath the board to give a low height profile to the cut
leads. The board then proceeds over a second soldering system which melts the solder that
was retaining the components in place and cover the cut edge of the lead. This technique
has been and is still being used successfully by some companies, but the application tends
to be for the very high-volume end of the business as the capital investment in what is
effectively a dual soldering machine and cropping system in line is substantial.
The effect both of bending the leads and bending the leads along the axis of the tracks is
illustrated in Figures 2.3 and 2.4. Figure 2.3 demonstrates various angles of bend achieved
by different machines and different techniques, in some cases the lead is bent flat along the
surface of the board and in other cases only bent sufficiently to retain the component. The
detail here depends on the company's particular choice in assembly techniques it intends
to use, but the norm is for the lead to be bent at an angle of around 45 allowing a clean
soldering area of all sides of the leads, and ensuring that the lead is wetted throughout its
surface.
Component
~
Bent lead
Typical axial , with bent lead

for retention (outwards bend).
PCB
Typical axial , with lead

bent flat to board
(outwards bend)
Typical axial , with lead

at 45, inwards
Figure 2.3
20
Component is
positioned for
insertion and
preformed to
pitch
Wo
~ ~
~
c:::::::::::::J c:::J
Cut and clinch

mechanism
moves up
Component is
inserted; lead
wires cut to
length
Moving
knife
Fixed
knife
Lead wires
are clinched
Figure 2.4
The other major category of component type is the leadless, or surface mounted,
component which, as the name implies, has no leads for either retention or contact and is
mounted on the surface of the printed circuit board and soldered in situ. Figure 2.5
illustrates different types of surface-mounted component assembled on to a printed circuit
board.
Surface-mounted components are retained on the board prior to soldering in a number
of ways; however, all the methods effectively boil down to the use of a glue, in order to
create adhesion between the component and printed circuit board. The glue can be
deposited in a number of ways either in one operation by using screen printing techniques,
or depositing on the board just prior to the application of the component, and the author
is aware of one technique for coating the component prior to placing it on the board. A
second class of adhesion prior to soldering is the use of solder paste which acts as a glue to
hold the component in place, and then by heating techniques is converted to solder to
21

Through-hole components
>~f?n ~
Boam
Surface mount components
nt
/1-"-,-,,_ac_e_m_ou-1
11
.... 1
~----.,y....--:?--'
Board
L...-_......._ _ _........_ _ _
ff
Axial
through-hole
c~:::~:~~:l e
Surface mount (both sides)
51
Figure 2.5
form the contact between the component and the track. When designing a board these
various constraints and requirements should be borne in mind, particularly the bending of
leads and the adhesion of components to the pcb.
2.3 Layout techniques

With printed circuit boards, whether they be single-layer or multi-layer, it is always
possible to achieve a layout using manual methods, i.e. the designer or draughtsman
creates the printed circuit board interconnection pattern, using tapes and translucent
backing. This, however, has a number of significant disadvantages which apply to any
form of printed circuit board application. Even when using a grid and laying-out the
circuit either x 2 or x 4 it inevitably leads to mechanical and positional errors. These may
be minor at this stage, but when the eventual printed circuit board is produced in its final
form these errors can multiply, particularly if one is considering step and repeat methods
for assembly. The use of computer-aided design (CAD) systems is becoming much more
commonplace. The latest forms of CAD systems have allowed for development of
techniques which introduce a substantial element of self-checking into the layout. It is not
the intention of this book to discuss the merits of different types of CAD system, merely to
indicate the end result that the CAD system should produce in order that the
manufacturer can have the best product for his use. Thus I have chosen to describe one
form of CAD system which is used widely throughout the printed circuit board industry.
This is a system which is to a large degree self-checking, in that the final printed circuit
22
board layout is guaranteed to follow the block diagram or circuit diagram that the
designer produces; it does not however necessarily produce point-to-point full wiring
layout. The system actually produces a complete bird's-nest interconnect based on the
logic diagram. This is then manipulated by the operator or programmer until a
satisfactory printed circuit board layout is achieved within the mechanical constraints
required by the system. The final result is a manipulation of the bird's-nest - but the
human operator is vital in placing components correctly for best electronic and
interconnection effect. The final result is also guaranteed to follow the original
block/circuit diagram.
The mechanical layout of printed circuit boards and the choice of grid, etc. should take
account of the processes following after the manufacture of the bare board. After the bare
board is made the processes may include bare board testing, for those companies who test
their boards prior to assembly. It includes automatic component insertion or possibly
manual or semi-automatic insertion (or indeed in some companies a combination of all
three), and then finally it includes the cleaning, soldering, and testing of the board
assembly.
In many cases the printed circuit board shape and layout is not controlled by the
designer of the electronics of the board, but by the mechanical constraints of the final
product. In the majority of cases the board will be rectangular but in some applications
boards can be peculiar shapes to fit handsets, to fit into mechanical devices, and may also
include a flexible printed circuit board. In all these cases early consideration has to be
given to the assembly of the printed circuit board. Occasionally it is not possible, due to
constraints of space, to satisfy all the needs of the assembly operation, but it should be
borne in mind that cost can rise dramatically when difficulties are encountered during
assembly, created by poor printed circuit board layout.
First we should consider the choice of grid. The norm in the industry for many years,
indeed decades, has been a grid of 0.1 in., and this for virtually any application is ideal.
It is suitable for bare board testing using multi-probe apparatus, it is suitable for
automatic component insertion, and subsequently suitable for the handling through
cleaning and soldering, and final testing which again may include a vacuum-based, multiprobe system. The fundamental 0.1 in. has not been chosen by accident for printed
circuit board grids; it is a circumstance forced on the board designer by the designer of the
integrated circuit package or transistor package which, despite metrication in practically
every other industry, is still on a 0.1 in. grid (dual in-line packages of 0.1 in grid being the
best known example). Thus it is sensible to choose a 0.1 in. grid. However, it should be
borne in mind that this is not necessarily possible with some high-density boards. If it is
necessary to decrease the grid spacing it is again sensible to do so in sub multiples of 0.1,
automatic component insertion either to 0.05 in. or 0.025 in., but the restrictions on (ACI)
machines and test systems should be considered.
The first of these is for the multi-probe test systems which have been designed to cope
with a 0.1 in. grid. Probes, and their holders in vacuum fixtures, have been designed
specifically with that restriction in mind. It is of course possible to get probes operating on
smaller grids but the cost will rise rapidly and the reliability of the test system will decrease
due to the more demanding engineering requirements. A way round the test problem is of
course to use test points on a 0.1 in. grid, with via holes set off-grid, then the restrictions on
the testing and automatic component insertion largely disappear.
23
However, this does introduce problems with some ACI machines which use vision
systems to sense the holes prior to the insertion of the component. In all the vision systems
currently in use there is no aspect of pattern recognition; thus two holes appearing
separated only by a 0.05 in. grid may confuse the system, and the result is either an attempt
to insert through the via hole, or, alternatively a failure of the system to see which hole is
which, and therefore the machine stops and awaits operator intervention. However, once
again the designers have attempted to get round this problem by allowing for a box search
around where the hole is expected to be. If the target hole has two holes either side of it on
a 0.05 in. grid then it is almost certain that the vision system will fail and thus ACI
becomes impossible without operator intervention. It is recommended that for ACI
machines with built-in vision systems which greatly enhance their usefulness to the vast
majority of printed circuit board assemblers, then circuit design layout should bear in
mind that via holes or other holes close to holes for insertion ofleads of components can
cause potential problems. It would be sensible to check which machine one has in mind for
ACI and therefore relate the design restrictions back to that machine.
There are of course some machines that do not use vision systems; this presents another
type of problem to the printed circuit board manufacturer. Those machines which do not
use vision systems usually have a very tight specification on the location of the insertion
holes - as the machine is operating blind, this is an obvious consequence. It also can imply
that the holes for ACI need to be larger in diameter than for manual insertion, or with
vision systems, and this can have an effect on both skyline and the finished quality of the
board. It is certainly recommended that designers adhere to a 0.1 in. grid wherever
possible for insertion machines, and locate via holes and other holes that might interfere
with reliable insertion at places where they do not interfere optically with the holes which
are the target for any vision system.
Depending upon the type of machine to be specified one also has to consider the system
for holding the board in position. Reproduced below are the considerations recommended by Universal Instruments extracted from their design guidelines which shows
exactly the methods and systems that they use for holding down the printed circuit board.
Most manufacturers have similar systems employing two holes for location and some
form of clamping mechanism and the designer of the board should be aware of the
limitations of the various systems, before proceeding.
2.4 Workboard holder considerations

2.4.1 Board openings
Board openings, or windows, must be positioned so that all components to be inserted are
located within the insertable area of the insertion machine. Maximum insertable area
begins at machine zero, located a defined distance from the lower left table reference
bushing, and proceeds in a positive X and Y direction from that point.
When designing workboard holder openings, it is desirable to support the printed
circuit board as much as possible with at least 0.125 in. (3.18 mm) or workboard holder
surface extending beneath the board at all support areas. Supporting the board at all four
24
corners is preferable; larger boards may require additional support near the middle of
long sides.
A certain amount of edge clearance is required to make room for cut and clinch
operations when inserting components close to the edge of the board. Where manual
board loading and unloading is used, additional 'finger room' should be provided at the
right and left sides of the windows to allow easy loading and unloading of the printed
circuit board.
The acceptable distance between the edge of the board opening and an insertion varies
with the type of component, machine, insertion head, and cut and clinch unit. In each
chapter of these design guidelines, there is a paragraph on uninsertable area for the
specific type of component involved. Refer to the chapter which applies to the specific
component type to be inserted to determine its uninsertable area. In general, printed
circuit designs requiring components inserted close to locating references and board edges
may result in loss of automatic insertion of these components due to board support
requirements.
2.4.2 Locating methods
Locating hole, 'V' notches, slots or other accurate surfaces may be used for locating the
printed circuit board on the work board holder for insertion. Regardless of the method
used, it is required that two locations be utilized, and that the distance between them be
the maximum permitted by the length of the board. The same locating references from
which all the holes are drilled or punched should be employed for this purpose.
Pins through two locating holes are the most common and preferred locating method;
they may be mounted directly into the workboard holder or into inserts which are
mounted on to the workboard holder. Inserts allow insertions to be made closer to the
locating references than do work board holder-mounted locating techniques, as well as to
provide necessary support in a relatively limited support area (see Figure 2.6).
2.4.3 Hold-down devices
Hold-down devices are used to maintain board position during table movement and
component insertion. The most common of these are clamp assemblies which must be
positioned manually, during board load and unload or spring stops which use springloaded plungers to apply pressure to the edges of the board to hold it in position. Both are
shown in Figure 2.6. Hold-down devices are mounted at any place where the board is
supported and, most advantageously, at opposite sides of the printed circuit board near
the locating pins.
2.4.4 Rotary workboard holder design
Rotary workboard holders usually have one, two, or four board openings. These
locations are usually arranged in a symmetrical pattern about the centre of the workboard
holder to allow component insertion in both 0 and 90 axial positions (Figure 2.7). For
manually loaded machines, 'finger room' for board loading and unloading should be
provided in both the X and Yaxes if the workboard holder is to be rotated.
25

Workboard holder hardware
Clamp
Printed wiring board
Spring stop
Insert
Workboard
holder
Figure 2.6
Four window, two axes insertion
1== =====1"'= ='"
III = =111
I II = =111
=== :- === 111==111
I II = = 11 1
111= =111
11 1==111
-------
Stop
cylinder
--
-------------
II I I 1111 11111 II II
II II 1111 11111 II "
...J-------
L..-_ _
~--- Rotary
disk
Figure 2.7
2.5 Layout considerations

When designing a single printed circuit board it is clearly a great advantage to create a
layout which will be optimum for both the final product and for rapid reliable insertion
26
and high percentage test passes first time. There are a number of features in the layout of
the board which should be borne in mind irrespective of the machine. Below are
highlighted a number of the areas which designers should be aware of:
Ensuring that any holes used for reference, either for bare-board testing, final
testing or ACI are located accurately with respect to the holes used for component
insertion. These reference holes are used throughout the assembly process, and
therefore it is sensible to locate them on the same grid and drill at the same time, so
that registration between machine and printed circuit board is held to the best
tolerance possible.
In the case of soldering, cleaning, and ACI machines it is sensible not to place
components near the edge of the board, as this can cause problems with fingers on
machines contacting the component. With ACI machines the bend mechanism
beneath the board and the placement mechanism can interfere with the platen
which of necessity must hold the board in place, and in the case of large components
they can come outside the limits of the printed circuit board which makes for an
untidy appearance apart from possibly creating mechanical problems in use. It is
wise to leave perhaps 0.2 in. around the edge of any board.
From the point of view of the circuit operation it is wise not to route tracks under
components or route tracks in such a way that testing an operation on a circuit can
cause problems. This, of course, relates to the electronic design of the circuit rather
than its mechanical usefulness and assembly. But bearing in mind that automatic
component insertion machines place components without reference to any of the
tracks, it is possible to place components over tracks and then find on final test a
fault because a track has open-circuited or short-circuited underneath a component
and thus cannot be seen. This, of course, applies only to those boards which are not
tested before assembly. A way to circumvent this problem is to provide test pads on
the board so that track continuity can be tested from one side of the component to
the other; but this seems an unnecessary addition if it can be avoided altogether.
Check that the hole sizes are appropriate to the lead diameter and the assembly
methods being chosen. Depending upon the type of ACI machine, a different
tolerance may be required between the lead diameter and the hole diameter. Some
machines can operate down to an annulus of 0.04in. and others require rather
more; thus it would be wise to establish which type of machine is to be used for
assembly before committing to the hole diameter. It is not necessarily sensible to
increase hole size simply for automatic assembly; doing so has the knock-on effect
that bend mechanisms which rely on bending the lead against the side of the hole
become less efficient.
Check component sizes and the capability of the machinery to handle those
components. In many cases a component can be second sourced by one of a
different mechanical size or shape; therefore once again check back from the ACI
requirement to the circuit design and layout in order to choose optimum mechanical
configurations for the component. Examples of this include avoiding the use of
0.4 in. pitch DIL components (which are in any case rare, and therefore many ACI
machines are unable to handle them). Often an equivalent in 0.6 in. or 0.3 in. pitch is
available.
27
Similarly with transistors - three-legged transistors are often available bandoliered in radial form which gives the three leads an in-line configuration on 0.1 in.
pitch; if this is the case then radial assembly machines will often be able to insert
these transistors automatically. The traditional layout of transistor leads such as the
TO 92 are often un-insertable by ACI machines other than very specialist machines,
which inevitably will increase cost.
The use of dual in-lines for resistor packs also eliminates the need to consider an
ACI machine handling single in-line resistors packs - which is another option
available to the designer. If an ACI machine handles dual in-lines then it is possible
to put down virtually all types of resistor pack. If an ACI machine does not handle
single in-lines then the penalty may be that these require manual or semi-automatic
insertion - an extra process.
A table is attached showing the various alternatives and preferred arrangements
without referring to any particular ACI machine. What the user will have to do is go
back to his ACI machine specification and then create a 'preferred list' of
components. The other mechanical considerations with components include the
height of the component above the board, and also the lead diameter, as most
machines have a maximum lead diameter capability.
6 When considering the layout of the board one also has to consider solder-mask
requirements, although this is dealt with in Chapter 13. When designing the layout
one should bear in mind that the solder-mask not only has an impact on the
soldering function, but also on the test function, and the bare-board test function.
One should therefore be careful in considering solder-mask design and layout so as
not to create insulation areas over test pads for example! In addition there is the
layout of the screen ident for the components, and it is wise if possible to identify the
component by its number outside the area which the component will occupy when
the board is assembled. This serves a number of purposes. One of these is in field
service, where the field service engineer may need to be able to refer to a particular
component from the circuit diagram or vice versa. Another is for the identification
of components for inspection and test purposes, and of course the identification of
components for rework should this be required. It is nearly always vital to include
component idents on the board design because most ACI machines will require
some form of component ident in order to digitize that component and locate it on
the board. The component ident often forms the link between the component type
and its location on the board. Although ACI machines will operate without this it
does form a vital link when checking boards or when machines stop and indicate on
the screen why they have stopped. The operator can then rapidly refer back to the
component ident on the board and see why the machine has stopped.
7 Depending upon the application it may be necessary to have an earthplane on the
solder side of the board. The design and layout of this earthplane should be
considered in conjunction with the soldering operation, as a large earthplane could
effect the soldering operation such that adjacent components downstream from the
earthplane may not be soldered properly due to a change in local temperature, or
local conditions, caused by a sudden excess requirement for solder and flux.
Although this is dealt with under the soldering section it is wise to consider it at the
design stage.
28
The manufacture of bare printed circuit boards is carried out in several ways depending
on the required end result. It is not the purpose of this book to go into that manufacturing
technique - suffice it to say that in the Appendices there is further information available
on screen printing and companies related to screen printing and processing of printed
circuit boards, as well as reference to the printed circuit board association and all the
standards.
When considering the various points made above one should add the tolerances within
the production of printed circuit boards which might help the designer to understand
some of the problems involved with, for example, hole position. If one refers to the
specifications of ACI machines, hole position tolerance for these machines is anything
from 0.002 in. to 0.02 in. - a rather staggering variation of 10 to 1. Those machines with
vision correction systems are clearly much more likely to allow a larger tolerance than
those without. Factually, the production of printed circuit boards for most uses will result
in the positional tolerance of a component hole being held within 0.003-0.004in. from
its true position.
Although this is the norm there are many areas in which this becomes difficult or
impossible. Bearing in mind that the datum hole should be drilled at the same time as the
component holes and that there are probably two datum holes in order to give the printed
circuit board orthogonal stability, then the tolerances begin to add up. The reasons for the
tolerance are: drill wander when the boards are drilled in a stack, the drill can wander off
its normal axis by the time the drill has reached the bottom of the stack of boards; also
changing drill sizes from one to another can add a further tolerance. Always assuming
that the drilling machine is perfect (and despite one's enthusiasm to believe all machines
are perfect, that it not the case), the drilling machine table and the machine spindle both
have operating tolerances, which can in many cases be as much as 0.002 in. from where
they are expected to be. Thus the general result from a normally specified high-quality
printed circuit board is in the region of 0.003 to 0.004in.
This is always assuming that the board has been designed using CAD and has been
programmed under grid control. If the board has been laid out manually and then
digitized without reference to grid, of course these errors can rapidly escalate. For ACI
applications where the requirement is to control the hole accurately without the use of
vision systems it is clear that this drilling tolerance has to be added to the ACI machine
tolerance so that the 0.004 in. may now become 0.006 in. and thus the tolerance of lead
diameter to hole diameter starts to escalate. Once the hole diameter escalates, then the pad
diameter (to give good soldering) also has to increase, and this might have a knock-on
effect in reducing the component density on a board.
Referring back to the question of pad diameter relative to hole diameter, one also has to
bear in mind that there are tolerances on the film and production of the masters for
printed circuit boards and these have to be allowed for. Most CAD Systems will allow for
what might be described as 'normal' pads and therefore the designer using CAD will have
no problem. It is only when the design requirement compresses the component density so
that pad diameter, grid size, etc. comes under pressure that the limitations of the assembly
process must be borne in mind when considering the design.
In order to clarify some of the aspects of printed circuit board manufacture a table is
included in order to illustrate the various parts of the process.
When one considers surface mount technology then the problem becomes multiplied in
29
Figure 2.8 Part of a typical printed circuit board

terms of errors but of course the requirement for hole tolerances disappears as a truly
surface mount technology (smt) product has no requirement for holes at all, other than
via holes. However, with the advent of mixed technology (that is insertion and surface
mount (sm) placement) then we run into a situation where the tolerance requirements for
insertion are such that have been described above, but the placement grids can come down
as low as 0.01 in. The pitch of grids used in surface mount products is typically between
four and ten times finer. Typically, lead centres, instead of being 0.1 in., are 0.05 or
0.025 in. and, with the enthusiasm of component manufacturers to diversify as much as
possible, there are other standards as well. It is therefore necessary for the designer of
mixed technology products to be aware of the limitations of all assembly machines as they
relate to sm as well as insertion.
Rather than go into all the details at this stage which would tend to confuse and cloud
the issue, the reader is referred to the chapter covering automatic component insertion
machines and clarify that situation, then to Chapter 14 on sm technology and then
produce an intermediate technology specification for his requirement before setting out
with the design.
The need to use sm components is being driven by the need to make high-density boards
for such applications as communications, military and space and so on, and not so much
for economic reasons. At the time of preparation of the data for this book, statements
have been emerging from some companies indicating that the advance into smt has indeed
slowed down rather than accelerated because of the problems of testing sm boards.
Figure 2.8 shows a typical well-designed pcb during the process of assembly. It
illustrates virtually all types of component - axial, radial, DIL, connectors, switches, edge
connectors, and a device with a heatsink.
Chapter 3
Component specifications and
their impact
Component specifications are generally assumed to be a matter of electrical and electronic

performance but with the use of ACI systems the mechanical considerations become
perhaps even more important. In the previous chapter we touched on the various
preferred components for ACI, but even with the preferred components situation there is
still a need to control the mechanical specifications to a very high degree if one is to
achieve an ACI insertion reliability in excess of 99 per cent, which is what is generally
required by the industry. There are a number of well-known sources of specifications on
components supply and these are listed in Chapter 5. However, practically every
manufacturer of ACI machines uses the specifications as the source material for their own
procurement specification. Thus one is in the situation where although the component
may meet an international or national specification, it may not be totally suitable for ACI
because of some detail difference. This detail difference can be as little as the allowable
bend on a OIL package lead for example.
The bulk of this chapter is therefore devoted to drawings of components. The reason
for adopting this approach is that it allows the end user to make a choice based on
component requirements rather than choose a machine and then discover that one has
substantially to alter component sourcing requirements or handling. On the other hand,
for every ACI machine built, one of the critical aspects of component supply is not just a
mechanical component itself but also how that component is delivered, and how it is
handled prior to, during and after delivery. One of the classic problems of the ACI
industry is the handling of bandoliers of either radial or axial components. Often these
bandoliers are stacked in such a way that the bandolier is partly crushed, causing
hundreds if not thousands of component leads to be bent out of tolerance, and therefore
causing considerable problems for the ACI machine user. The handling of components
through the process from the original manufacture to being located on the ACI machine is
of critical importance. (The management of kitting is handled in Chapter 4.) It should be
31
borne in mind that it is critical to control goods inwards and stores in such a way that
components are not damaged mechanically, although they may be perfect electrically at
all times. Typical examples of damaged bandoliers, poor stacking, etc. are shown by
illustration in this chapter; also shown are correct methods of storage and stacking to
control those components.
The user should be aware that the success of ACI operation is perhaps less controlled by
the machine itself, which in the present era has produced a very high standard of reliable
insertion, but more so by the control of the component supply, the handling of
components, and their marshalling around the ACI machine. Standards are discussed
elsewhere, but in the case of certain military requirements it may be required that the end
product be built in such a way, and controlled administratively such that every
component on the printed circuit board in that equipment is traceable back to the original
point of manufacture. It is axiomatic that with military equipment the numbers are not
high and therefore one might be procuring as little as say five or ten resistors for a specific
production batch. Clearly it is hardly likely that they will come on bandoliers ifthere are
only five or ten resistors and they will be delivered loose, or cut from a bandolier. It is then
necessary to handle those individual components through to the machine and on to the
board in a very controlled way.
The specifications for these components mechanically, although important, are
perhaps less critical, as they will be handled by operators prior to marshalling on to the
machine. It does however, present a particular problem in kitting and in the management
of information around any ACI machine, and the whole process may completely
eliminate some ACI machines for handling loose components in this way.
The standards of component presentation are covered in Chapter 5, but the unwary or
inexperienced user should perhaps be guided in a way that he can examine the
specification of any proposed machine, so as to highlight the differences between the
international specifications and the acceptable specifications of the various machines
available for component assembly. One of the problems on addressing this situation in a
book is that component specifications and machine specifications are continually
changing and being updated and therefore, rather than create a situation which may be
misleading in future, the author proposes to outline some of the areas which might be
critical to an assembly machine. This should enable a prospective user to examine the
machine specification in the light of his particular requirement.
Taking the components in the three main categories of DIL, axials, and radials it is
perhaps simplest to start with the DIL packaged component which covers a fairly wide
range. First of all we should summarize all those components which may be considered to
be DIL configuration. There are the DIL plastic packages for integrated circuits and these
range from 4-pin, 0.3 in. pitch devices, up to 64-pin, 0.9 in. pitch with practically every
variation in between. The popular ranges are 6, 8, 14, 16,22,24 and 28-pin, 0.3 in., and 24,
36 and 40-pin, 0.6in. In addition to the popular range there are also 0.4 in. and 0.9in.
pitch devices. These are devices which are packaged by plastic moulding techniques, and
therefore the body of the device is usually fairly well controlled, but there are variations
between manufacturers.
Among the variations are the lead configurations, and the pin 1 ident method, which is
anything from a pip protruding from the surface to a dent in the surface, as well as other
methods which are illustrated in the figures. Why one mentions the pip and the dent is
32
because some handling techniques may actually not be able to maintain a high reliability
of component transfer, as these pips and dents can lodge in channels of handling
equipment. Also, with plastic mouldings there is the flash around the moulding which
effectively creates an artificial ledge. In the application for which the component is
designed this is no problem, but when handling components which are butting up to one
another in channels the two ledges can overlap, and the method of handling the DIL
component is then critically important because if one is holding back the second
component in the sequence by pressing its top to a channel, or alternatively pressing it
down on to a channel, then it is possible for the plastic flash overlaps to lock, thus
preventing the release of the component which is required into the system. So the handling
of the DIL plastic device has to be considered in the light of these aberrations from the
norm.
Another problem of plastic DIL packages is that the thickness can vary by substantial
amounts. This thickness variation again has little or no impact on an assembled board,
but can impact the handling of the component through the system feeding the insertion
head, and can also create problems at the insertion head itself. The variation in thickness
can exceed 100 per cent of the nominal and therefore some form of pliable insertion head
would be recommended if the variation in component thickness is not to create problems.
This problem relates to the profile of the lead configuration in that some DIL leads are
tapered so that the component is pushed down into a position where the tapering of a lead
prevents the lead being pushed any further, and thus effectively produces a stand-off.
There are some components (rare) which create the stand-off by having a step in the lead.
This is not to be encouraged as most insertion heads have the profile of the tapered lead as
part of their insertion lead straightening process, and the stepped lead might jam in such
circumstances.
The other forms ofDIL package are such that some of these problems do not occur but
are exchanged for others. The ceramic package - which is effectively a ceramic sandwich
with the component as the filling - has a number of problems related to both component
handling and insertion. It is possible for the two outer layers to slide relative to one other
during the manufacturing process. This has the same effect as the flash in the plastic
device, in that pressing a component on to a runner to preverit it moving may lock the next
component in place and therefore prevent its release. The lead configuration in ceramic
devices can be similar to the DIL plastic device in that they protrude from the ceramic
horizontally and are bent into the configuration for insertion, or they can be side-brazed.
With the side-brazed lead, a metal lead is added to the ceramic chip such that it is at right
angles to the horizontal of the ceramic and therefore effectively presents a box structure
(when viewed from the end).
Again this is quite acceptable for the normal pcb but it is possible that this ceramic and
metal combination is wider than can be handled by either the component feed system or
by the insertion head, this latter being perhaps the more serious effect. Many insertion
heads rely on the leads being sprung apart prior to placement in the insertion head, and
therefore the natural spring ofthe leads is the mechanism which retains the component in
the head prior to insertion. The insertion process then combs the leads to the 0.1 in. pitch
lengthwise and at the same time pulls the leads into the 0.3 in. pitch across the package,
thus ensuring accurate and reliable insertion. If the lead is not already on 0.3 in. pitch
because it is not splayed in any way, then ideally the insertion equipment should splay the
33
legs in order that the component is retained in the head prior to insertion, the head then
reforming the leads back to the correct pitch.
Another variation of the DIL component is the socket, and needless to say this comes in
several variations as well. Many companies have chosen to use the round pin socket which
is not in any way preformable; indeed one does not need to preform the socket as most are
designed for direct insertion without any further manipulation. The round pin socket is
probably the most reliable in terms of mechanical configuration of the components
available to ACI. However, it does present one or two additional problems in that the
width to the component is wider than a component DIL, and therefore the insertion head
has to be designed to cope with that problem. This is usually a relatively straightforward
exercise, but does require that the ACI machine is configured for handling such sockets.
Investigation shows that practically every manufacturer of round pin sockets adheres
to tight controllable mechanical tolerances. The unwary user of ACI should however take
note of the question oflead pliability. In the case of all ACI machines the component leads
are usually bent after insertion to retain them on the board. This is referred to as bending
or clinching. Many of the original round pin sockets available were made of a hard brass
material and therefore on bending would break - this is obviously unacceptable. A
number of companies have now offered DIL sockets of the round pin variety where the
leads are made of soft material which is malleable, and therefore able to be handled by
most ACI machines. The result, however, is that one has to ensure careful component
handling in the kit prior to placement on the machine, because if the leads are bendable by
the machine, then they are bendable by any handling equipment, and therefore there is a
greater chance of damage to a component prior to insertion.
The other type of DIL socket is the flat pin socket, where the socket for the i.c. leg and
the leads through the board are formed from a flat metal material. Thus the lead which is to
be introduced into the hole in the board has a flat profile, and is similar to the leads ofDIL
components. This can present a problem, because the body being wider than 0.3 or 0.6 in.
pitch, it is often impossible to control the lead position accurately enough. Therefore one
has to ensure that the ACI machine chosen (if flat pin sockets are in use) can handle such
sockets in a way which allows the leads to be controlled prior to insertion.
A variation on this theme is the socket (fortunately now rare) with a flat profile at right
angles to the norm of i.c. devices. This allows the bend to take place on a different axis.
Therefore it is not possible to preform the leads in a splayed configuration prior to
controlled insertion, and it is necessary to control the leads in the longitudinal axis of the
package prior to insertion. This would require a particularly tricky head design and the
author does not know of a suitable ACI machine for such components.
When one comes to axial components, there appears to be little that can go wrong;
however close examination of the specifications is still required. It is relatively
straightforward to deal with such matters as body diameter, body length, wire diameter,
pitch and range of pitch, accuracy of pitch of leads, but it becomes more difficult when
handling bandoliers. If one examines the axial bandolier specifications for component
insertion machines that are internationally accepted, then quite often the drawing of the
bandolier and the dimensions that are attached to it bear little or no relationship to one
another. This is illustrated in Figure 3.1. Here it is quite clear that a vast range of bend of
the lead within the bandolier is tolerated if one looks at the picture or drawing; if however
one looks at the dimension then it is far less than the drawing indicates. This is clearly
34
done in order to facilitate the diagrammatic representation of the tolerance in lead bend
allowable. Regrettably, what it also does, is to lead the unwary user into believing that a
severely mangled component on a bandolier will be successfully handled by the machine,
but this is far from the truth.
The normal tolerance on a bandolier is of the order of 1 mm or 0.04 in. - which is
roughly the same as the diameter of the wire of a component, i.e. the tolerance in position
of the body, relative to the end of the wire is only the same order as the diameter. This is a
very small tolerance, when one considers the poor handling that bandoliers quite often
receive en route from component manufacture to the ACI machine, and the author is at
pains to point out that handling of the component at this stage is critical to the success of
the machinery involved. After the handling, care must be taken with bandoliers and
ammo pack devices, and perhaps this is the most critical of all the component handling
requirements prior to machine insertion.
When one comes to radial components, then another range of problems emerges
related to the particular type of component under consideration. Many radial components are little more than a blob with legs and this can give rise to problems in a number
of areas. Perhaps foremost among these is the wide tolerance in lead spacing of such
components. Tolerance can be as high as 0.25 mm or 0.01 in. in the lead spacing. How this
can be an agreed specification, when the tolerance on hole position is usually an order of
magnitude tighter, is a mystery to the author. Indeed the author would go so far as to say
that where components are made to such extreme tolerances, the need to pull the leads
back to the required pitch would put such a strain on the components, that there would be
some doubt as to the reliability of that component in use in the pcb, even assuming one
could assemble it in the first place.
Of course, the joggle in the leads which is often used in radial components to provide a
stand-off for the body can tend to facilitate the lead bending and reduce the strain on the
component, but this in turn then gives rise to difficulties in defining the horizontal plane of
the component. Quite often the joggle is on such a diameter that one of the joggles will
disappear into the hole when pushed and its counterpart will not, thus tilting the
component on to one side. In some cases the joggle is used deliberately as a clip-in
preform, but as far as the author is aware no automatic component insertion machine uses
the clip-in preform as part of its assembly sequence. Thus users should be looking for a
preform which provides a precise horizontal definition of component as well as good
tolerance of pitch and the author would suggest that a pitch tolerance of no more than
0.1 mm or 0.004in. would be acceptable.
Typical component specifications are defined in Chapter 5 and can be obtained from a
number of sources. Typical specifications of components and their handling are shown in
Figures 3.1 to 3.8. As can be seen the degree of specification required is substantially more
than would ever be considered necessary for manual assembly. But a human operator
carrying out assembly can correct for a lot of the errors in component handling. The
penalty of course is potential damage to the component, a vastly slower rate of assembly,
and probably misinterpretation of the ultimate requirement. Component procurement
specifications in this are based on the lEA Standard RS 296D and other Standards and
show what is typical for the industry. If the components meet these specifications it is
probable that all automatic machines will handle them adequately.
35

I+-- - - - - Note 2 - - - - - . j
~B
- r-J+-+_-
Notes 3 & 4
--t-
_I
Notes 3 & 4
L
Note 16
Note 6
_I--_ _----!_Note 1
II~E~'
E2
Note 7
Note 11
Figure 3.1
3.1 Axial lead components on tape

Notes to Figures 3.1 and 3.6
NOTE:
These notes and dimensions are based on lEA Standard RS-296-D.
Component leads
I Leads shall not be bent beyond 1.2mm (0.047 in.) from their nominal position when measured from the
leading edge of the component lead at the inside tape edge and at the lead egress from the component.
2 The 'B' (Figure 3.1) dimension shall be governed by the overall length of the taped component. The distance
between the flanges shall be I.Smm (0.OS9in.) to 8mm (0.3ISin.) greater than the overall component.
3 Lead ends shall not extend beyond the tape more than a maximum of 1.6mm (0.063 in.).
4 Each component lead shall be sandwiched between tapes for a minimum of 3.2mm (0.126in.).
Orientation
5 All polarized components must be oriented in one direction.

Reeling
6 Exposed adhesive shall be no greater than 0.8mm (0.031 in.) maximum.

7 Component leads shall be positioned perpendicularly between pairs of Smm (O.l97in.) to 6.3Smm
(0.2S0in.)0.4mm (0.016in.) tape and held without any relative motion to the tape.
8 Reels shall be disposable metal, chipboard, plastic or equivalent.
36
9 A minimum 300mm (12in.) leader shall be provided at each end of the reel.
10 Protection between layers of components shall be provided for the length necessary to prevent component
damage and lead distortion. All materials used for lead taping, reeling and packing shall not cause
deterioration of the component or lead solderability.
II The window, which is equal to the maximum component c1ean-Iead-to-c1ean-Iead length, shall be centred
between lead tapes such that the difference between EI and E2 does not exceed 1.4mm (0.055 in.).
12 Inside tape minimum dimension 52.4mm (2.062in.).
13 Outside tape maximum dimension 64.00mm (2.52 in.).
14 Components shall be centred within tape to 2mm (O.OSOin).
IS Adequate protection must be provided to prevent physical damage to both reel and components during
shipment and storage.
16 Cumulative pitch tolerance 'A' shall not exceed 1.5mm (0.059in.) over six consecutive components.
Axial lead components - machine handling

Figure 3.2 shows component tolerances for axial leaded components after loading into boxes. All components
falling within these tolerances as a maximum pass through the machine and into the board. Any component
bending at this stage, which is within the lead pitch of that component, may affect component centring and
appearance.
3.2 Radial lead components on tape

Notes to Figures 3_3, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6
NOTE:
These notes and dimensions are based on lEA Standard RS-46S for auto insert radial components
Dimension
(inJ
Symbol
Description
(mm)
M
G
E
T
J
H
D
F
Sprocket hole diameter

Length from seating plane
Sprocket hole location
Deflection at top of component
Height above seating plane
Lead protrusion
Sprocket hole pitch
Centre of seating plane location
4.00
16.00
9.00
2.00
IS.OO
0.00
12.70
6.35
Component lead spacing
N
A
Overall tape thickness

Carrier tape width
Adhesive tape border

(adhesive tape must not overlap
edge of carrier tape or sprocket
holes)
Deflection at top of component
Cylindrical body diameter
Body offset from centre line
Rectangular body width
Rectangular body length
Height, component top to board
Lead diameter
V
W
X
Y
Z
2.50
5.00
0.157
0.63
0.354
O.OS
0.71
0.00
0.50
0.25
0.1
0.2
0.90
IS.OO
0.035
0.71
6.30
0.25
1.00
S.OO
4.50
S.OO
11.00
IS.OO
0.70
0.08
0.315
0.177
0.315
0.433
0.71
0.02S
Tolerance
(mm)
(inJ
0.30
1.00
1.00
Max.
Max.
See Note I
O.l5
1.00
See Note I
0.012
0.040
0.040
0.6-0.2
See Note I
Max.
+ 1.00
-0.5
Max.
0.03
0.006
0.040
+0.040
-0.02
1.00
0.040
1.00
1.00
5.00
0.37
0.040
0.040
0.018
O.oI5
DIM.
DIM.
DIM.
(mm)
(in)
2.75
0.108
2.75
0.108
10.0
0.394
5.0
0.197
1.75
0.069
ref.
Figure 3.2
37
G
E
H-t-_-+-_u
D ,
,-L-,
Figure 3.3
+
N
Figure 3.4
N,ote 6 ,
G
G
Rectangular
body
Cylindrical
body
Figure 3.5
Figure 3.6
Lead
joggle
40

I
-------A--------
Figure 3.7
Reel dimensions (Figure 3.7)

Dimensions
Symbol
Description
(mm)
(in J
A
B
Outer diameter
Width
Hub recess diameter
Hole diameter
Recess
Core diameter
76
30
3.0 to 14.2
1.2 to 2.0
1.12 to 3.4
0.54 to 1.5
0.37 minimum
1.4 to 4.0
C
D
E
F
to 360
to 50
28.6 to 86
13.8 to 38.1
9.5 minimum
35 to 102
41
3.3 General guidelines for radial components on tape for
automatic insertion
Component datum (seating plane)

For consistent insertion the component must have a well-defined datum (seating-plane) both for accurate leadpreparation and for subsequent insertion. This datum can be either the bottom of the component body or
alternatively, a swaged ridge on each lead of sufficient diameter to give a similar effect.
In general, the use ofjoggled leads is acceptable as a datum only provided the joggles are small-radius, squareshouldered, symmetrical in form and locate firmly on the top surface of the pcb without noticeable deformation
of the leads or tendency to spring back. Asymmetric or badly defined joggles give poor vertica1location in the
gripper prior to cropping, causing the cropped leads to be asymmetrical and erratic in length. This makes
subsequent handling and insertion imprecise.
The length of lead exposed between the tape should be observed when selecting components.
Carrier-tape
It is preferable that the adhesive hold-down should be of the narrow pattern which covers the leads from near the
component edge of the carrier-tape to a point short of the central perforations. This minimizes the amount of
adhesive and makes cleaning the tape crop-blades less frequent.
Lead-pitch and tolerance

The nominal component lead pitch is either 0.100 or 0.200 in. Using components as defined above (Component
datum), consistent insertion can be obtained with the following combinations oflead diameter, hole size and
lead-pitch tolerance.
Lead diameter (mm)
Hole diameter (mm)
Lead pitch tolerance (mm)
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.8
0.9
1.0
0.8
0.9
1.0
-0.2,
-0.2,
-0.2,
-0.2,
-0.2,
-0.2,
+0.4
+0.5
+0.6
0.3
+0.4
+0.5
(a) The lead-pitch must be within tolerance from the seating plane to the top edge of the carrier tape.
(b) Components shall not be bent beyond 1.5 mm from their nominal position measured at the top centre of the
body.
(c) Leads shall not protrude beyond the bottom of the tape, H=O), and preferably should be <0.
(d) Carrier tape width W shall be 18mm+ I, -0.5mm.
(e) Sprocket hole pitch D shall be 12.70.15mm. Cumulative pitch errors shall not exceed 1.0mm over 20
pitches.
(f) Sprocket hole diameter M shall be 4.00.3mm.
(g) No adhesive shall be exposed.
(h) The combined carrier and adhesive tape thicknesses shall not exceed 0.9mm.
Other factors to be considered include body symmetry to leads in both planes, symmetry between top and
bottom of body and coating run-down, all of which may affect the insertion process to some degree.
Cootainer
I The taped components shall be loaded in a reel (Figures 3.6 and 3.7).
42
2 Protection between layers of components shall be provided for the length necessary to prevent component
damage and lead distortion. All materials used for lead taping, container and packing shall not cause
deterioration of the component or lead solderability (Note 2, Figure 3.6).
3 Quantity of parts shall be controlled so that the taped components and final cover do not extend beyond the
smallest open container dimension.
Notes to DIP for automatic insertion

(a) Dimensions: 0.3in. DIP for automatic insertion (Figure 3.8)
Plastic
Max.
Ceramic
Min.
Max.
Min.
Dim.
(inJ
(mm)
(inJ
(mm)
(inJ
(mm)
A
B
1.250
0.311
0.090
0.075
0.280
0.180
0.400
0.060
0.022
0.070
0.190
0.025
0.287
0.014
0.116
31.8
7.90
2.29
1.91
7.11
4.57
10.16
1.52
0.56
1.78
4.83
0.64
7.30
0.36
2.95
0.39
0.291
0.110
10.0
7.4
2.79
0.320
8.10
0.280
7.11
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
M
N
P
Q
0.080
2.031
0.015
0.030
0.120
0.38
0.76
3.05
0.008
0.20
(inJ
(mm)
0.260
6.60
Dimensions for ceramic DIP are identical to plastic DIP except where shown.
(b) Dimensions: 0.6in. DIP for automatic insertion

Plastic
Max.
Ceramic
Max.
Min.
Min.
Dim.
(in.)
(mm)
(inJ
(mm)
(inJ
(mm)
A
B
2.050
0.611
0.090
0.075
0.580
0.180
0.700
0.060
0.022
0.070
0.190
0.025
52.07
15.51
2.29
1.91
14.73
4.57
17.78
1.52
0.56
1.78
4.83
0.64
1.120
0.591
0.110
28.45
15.01
0.39
0.62
15.75
0.58
14.73
0.080
2.03
0.015
0.030
0.120
0.38
0.76
3.05
0.014
0.166
0.36
2.95
0.287
0.008
7.30
0.20
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
M
N
P
Q
Dimensions for ceramic DIP are identical to plastic DIP except where shown.
(inJ
(mm)
0.560
14.22
Side brazed ceramic

A--~I
Figure 3.8
43
Chapter 4
One of the most critical aspects of controlling the assembly of printed circuit boards from
the point of view of the investment, is to minimize the time that components are in store.
The longer they are in store the more it costs for the total investment in the stock, and the
interest on the money tied up. Equally, very careful control over goods inwards means
that the components when they arrive at the machine, will not only be a complete kit, but
also a complete kit of usable components, capable of giving a high reliability of insertion.
So often one sees, even in established assembly operations, damaged components,
damaged bandoliers and damaged delivery systems, all of which detract substantially
from the automatic component assembly operation and have a financial knock-on effect
throughout the assembly process.
It is thus axiomatic that the control of kitting from goods inwards to the machine,
should aim for a very high standard of administration and mechanical handling. It is not
the purpose of this book to go into the alternative mechanical handling systems for
components at this stage; it is more important to consider the implications of the routing
of components from goods inwards through to the machine. This routing will depend very
much on the type of ACI machine chosen, as different machines have different component
loading requirements. Perhaps we might deal at this point with the different forms of
machine type available and their different loading characteristics.
4.1 Machine type, alternative systems
Type 1: Individual machine for each component
(i.e. one machine for radial, one for DIL, one for axial, etc.)
(a) (i) Axial:

(ii)
Bandoliers only
Cassettes or boxes only
(iii)
(iv)
(b) (i) Radial:
(ii)
(iii)
(c) (i) DIL
(ii) (& sockets):
(iii)
45
Mixed delivery
Re-bandoliered in sequence.
Bandoliers only
Cassettes or loose fed
Mixed delivery
Direct from delivery carrier tubes
From carriers loaded otT-line
Mixed delivery
Type 2: Single machine for all families

(i.e. one machine handles all types of component at one time - axial, radial and
DIL)
(a) (i)
(ii)
(iii)
(b) (i)
(ii)
(iii)
(c) (i)
(ii)
(iii)
Axial:
Radial:
DIL:
(& sockets):
From bandoliers
From boxes or cassettes
Mixed
Bandoliers only
Cassettes or loose fed
Mixed delivery
Direct from delivery carrier tubes
From carriers loaded otT-line
Mixed delivery
We can see from the above table that the ditTerent machines may have ditTerent loading
requirements, and that some machines have alternative loading requirements within
themselves.
For example, the Type 1 style of machine has (for axial components), the alternative of
taking bandoliers direct, or of loading the components into boxes or cassettes. These
cassettes are then loaded on to the machine either instead of, or as well as, the bandoliers.
Some systems (axial- re-bandoliered in sequence) require that components are etTectively
re-bandoliered. That is, the axial bandoliers are loaded on to a machine known as a
sequencer. This sequencer then cuts the component from its original bandolier, sequences
it into a delivery system and then re-bandoliers the components, so that the ACI machine
(for axial components) is loaded with a single bandolier with the correct assembly
sequence. Such a machine is illustrated in Figure 4.1.
Other machines have similar, or other characteristics depending on the type of use
envisaged. It is relatively important that the decision between ACI machines should take
into account the user requirement for component assembly in terms of numbers of
ditTerent components, numbers of ditTerent boards, frequency of change of that board,
and to another board. Figure 4.1 shows a relatively straightforward path for the
component from goods inwards through to the machine. A previous chapter has dealt
with the requirements of that component in terms of design decision and ordering
decision; it is assumed that these are now being carried out correctly, bearing in mind the
company and machine requirements, and that the goods arrive against an order based on
those criteria. The first aspect one should bear in mind is that the handling of those
components, whether on bandoliers (or other delivery means) should be treated carefully,
46

Rejects
Rework
Rework
To shipping
Figure 4.1
Simplified assembly path
so that no damage occurs from the goods arriving onwards. Inspection should not only
establish the electrical parameters of the products and the part numbers to ensure that the
component delivered is what was ordered, but to also categorize the delivery system of the
component. That is whether the components are loose, in tubes, in bandoliers, or some
other form of delivery method, and that the delivery system was what was ordered, and
that the components delivered by that system are mechanically correct according to the
chosen specification.
Having inspected the component and its delivery system, it can then go either into a
temporary store or straight into a pre-kitting stage, or even straight on to the ACI
machine. A choice now exists at pre-kitting between two alternative paths. The
fundamental choice lies between pre-kitting in general terms or pre-kitting for a specific
product, or printed circuit board. The former is clearly an easier control system for stores
in that all components as they arrive can be pre-kitted into their storage containers or
devices that the machine will ultimately use for the assembly delivery system. The
alternative is to kit specifically for a batch of boards. This presents problems since it is
difficult to handle a small number of resistors on a bandolier (and particularly a direct
bandolier feed). Thus it may be more sensible to use the former kitting technique and to
use a machine which allows the programmer to choose the location of the component in
the machine and to use what is termed as fixed kit allocation (i.e. that all the IK resistors
are always in Box 4 for example and all the i.c. SN7474 are always in Tube B; thus the only
change from board to board is the assembly sequence and the assembly programme
itself).
When one considers a particular environment it is crucial when establishing which
machine and which procedure to adopt, to build into the thinking the possibility of part
shortages. If one wants to engender mirth in a discussion of assembly methods, one only
47
has to comment that the assembly operation is always perfect because one can assume
that there are no shortages! There are nearly always shortages in every kit in virtually
every company, apart from possibly the very largest, who are manufacturing high-volume
products. Shortages therefore become a critical part of the thinking process in that they
should be prevented well before the stage where the board has to be assembled. It is
essential that the purchasing company makes it quite clear to the supplier that all
components should be delivered on the date requested. The author is well aware that this
is an easy statement to make and a difficult one to achieve; but it is only really achievable
when there is a close relationship of a professional nature between the supplier and the
user. This principle is also true when one considers the need for controlling not only the
component values but the mechanical delivery methods and standards. Even so, because
of shortages it may be necessary to institute a storage stage before pre-kitting to ensure
that all the components required for a particular printed circuit board are complete in the
kit before the assembly is required.
Having established the general principles which cover the various forms of kit and
kitting process, perhaps we should look at the three main components, and the different
methods of handling these components from delivery to machine.
4.2 Axial components

First let us take axial components (probably the highest volume usage in most companies,
covering components from wire links to resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc.). The path is
from goods inwards, straight to inspection. Inspection then monitors for the electrical
and electronic parameters and standards, the mechanical standards of the component,
and perhaps more importantly the delivery method of the component. With axial
components they can be delivered in loose form, in bandolier form on reels or bandoliered
in ammo pack form, with the latter two being largely identical from the point of view of
handling subsequent to this stage, but different in storage requirements. The author
would suggest that the company should demand from its supplier a single standard of
supply such as bandolier only for the bulk of its components and should tolerate loose
components for very small numbers only. Similarly the company should specify reel
bandolier or ammo pack bandolier only, not a mixture of both. The only reason for
suggesting this is that the mixture ofthe two creates problems in storage, rather than at the
machine level.
The most vulnerable form of delivery is for loose components where leads are very
easily bent and where tangles of components occur. Components usually have to be
handled by hand from this stage on. This can give rise to a number of problems, not the
least of which is confusing component type with component type, and manual damage to
the component prior to it arriving at the machine.
After the inspection stage the components can go either into store or to a pre-kitting
stage. In the case of storage, the correct storage procedure should be adopted depending
upon the type of component and the type of delivery system. Certainly with bandoliers
they should be held with their rotational axis horizontal rather than vertical. Quite often
one sees bandoliers lying on their side in a stack; the cheeks of the reel will then compress,
bending the leads of the component and destroying any chance of high reliability
48
Figure 4.2
Ambotech Box Loader (courtesy of Ambotech)
insertion. The correct storage methods should also be adopted for cartridge or ammopack
delivery and even more care should be taken with loose components to ensure there is no
mechanical damage. Components should then go to pre-kitting.
The requirement for pre-kitting will depend on the mechanism chosen by the user
company as to whether they do general pre-kitting or kit specifically for a printed circuit
board type. In either case with axial components they are either going to be placed on a
sequencing machine (such as the Universal Sequencer), which will cut the components out
of their delivery tape and resequence them for use on the axial component insertion
machine, or to take the component out of tape and crop to the correct length into suitable
magazines or boxes. The two best-known types of component insertion machine with this
latter type of handling are the Amistar and Ambotech machines. In the case of both there
is a machine available which cuts the component from the bandolier and places it into the
cassette or box. Both machines are illustrated in Figure 4.2. The boxes or cassettes can
then be stored safely without further risk of damage to the component. In both cases loose
components can also be fed into these boxes.
Planning the kilting
Figure 4.3
Figure 4.4
49
Damaged axial components due to bad handling of the bandolier reel
Damaged axial components due to bad handling of ammopack bandolier
50
Figure 4.5 The Ambotech Robin with loose and bandolier feed for axial compounds
Because of the storage protection offered by this type of process it could be argued that
immediately after inspection, components are pre-kitted into these boxes or cassettes not
simply for the benefit of having them available for the machine, but in order to pre-empt
the problems of component damage (Figures 4.3 and 4.4 show such damage) as there is
little chance of damage once the components are in their cassettes or boxes. The third and
perhaps simplest method of kit preparation is to use the bandolier as it is delivered and
place it straight on the machine. This method is available in virtually all axial machines
and is illustrated in Figure 4.5. In the case of bandoliers or boxes the kit can then be placed
on the machine in either of the configurations chosen, i.e. specific to a printed circuit
board, or specific to a machine with the programme choosing the correct component
during assembly.
4.3 Radial components

With radial components the delivery path is very similar. After goods inwards, inspection
will establish whether the component is correct electrically and mechanically, and that its
delivery method is acceptable. In a number of instances loose radial components are not
acceptable to machines for automatic assembly, the only acceptable delivery method
being on tape, either in reel form or ammopack form. Figures 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8 show
Figure 4.6
Figure 4.7
Radial capacitors on bandolier reel
Radial formed axial resistors on bandolier ammopack
51
52
Figure 4.8
Radial transistors on bandolier reel
examples. The same arguments with regard to careful handling of reels and ammopacks
apply to radial, as to axial components. After the inspection stage the components and
their handling mechanism can be stored ready for direct placement on the machine in
much the same way as axial bandoliers.
4.3.1 Dual in-line components

In the case of D IL components, whether they be passive or active components, much the
same path is applicable to both, with the exception of the electrical parameter tests. After
goods inwards the components are inspected for electrical correctness and mechanical
correctness. In the case of sockets, the mechanical correctness of the component is vital in
that the two versions of socket generally available (round pin or flat pin), have quite
different handling characteristics for ACI machines and therefore it is essential to ensure
that the correct socket is delivered at this stage. Alternatively, of course, the choice of the
correct ACI machine at an earlier stage will allow a choice between flat pin, round pin, or
(in some instances) both types of socket. After inspecting the components and the delivery
system (which generally speaking is a plastic tube designed to handle these types of
component) they can then be stored.
53
In some instances there may be a necessity for some form of pre-processing of the
components, such as lead straightening, in order to ensure that components delivered to
the ACI machine will not have single leads on DILs bent underneath the body. It may also
be necessary to test the component parameters; and possibly even crop the lead to ensure
that the depth of the lead below the board is controlled. In all cases of component preprocessing, the processed component can then be kitted in an appropriate carrier tube.
One distinct advantage of pre-processing is that the user then has control over the tubes
on the machine and with this control a higher reliability of component delivery can be
achieved. After pre-processing, the components may either be stored or loaded into the
machine. Perhaps one complication of machine choice is that in most instances of
machine cited in this book, each type of component is handled by a separate machine. A
single machine for all component types can be a considerable advantage in terms of time
and printed circuit board handling; but it does provide an extra constraint on stores and
kitting in that the kit to be produced for any printed circuit board or assembly operation
must include all the types of components and they must all be available at the same time.
It is not technically possible on some machines to assemble a shortage kit, to go back at
a later date to insert those components not available at the earlier stage. The reason for
this is caused essentially by 'footprint', i.e. space required by the component handling unit
or placement head outside the area occupied by the component. With a bare assembly
thereis no problem because the programming sequence takes care of any footprinting
difficulties. However, with a board which is partly assembled footprinting becomes either
a problem or impossible, because a component already placed may inhibit the placement
of a component that should perhaps have been inserted earlier in the sequence. This
limitation (if it should be considered a limitation) therefore imposes a constraint on the
stores and kitting to produce a complete kit on demand, and not run the risk of a shortage
of assembly.
There is of course a rider to this in that if the ACI assembly is followed by manual
assembly of other components such as transformers, connectors etc., that it is possible (if
unwise) to assemble shortages at this stage, using either semi-automatic or manual
systems. It is important when considering what method should be used for your assembly
to bear in mind limitations on storage space, investment available for storage, and control
of components and the techniques already in use. The author would strongly recommend
going into the kitting and procurement area in great detail, so that the final operation
established is as controllable as possible. Should the user lose control of stores and goods
inwards, the knock-on effect into poor assembly, and effect of shortages into machine
utilisation, and into the capital invested can be very significant indeed, and may fully
outweigh the apparent savings of using this system. On the other hand the correct control
of the kitting area for goods inwards through to the machine, coupled to a sensible
geographic presentation of equipment and stores can introduce substantial savings far
outweighing the initial cost of carrying out the work to change from existing manual
techniques to automatic techniques. Figure 4.9 shows a performing machine - with
adjustable crop and bend pitches using reel feed - ideal for preparing kits for manual
assembly.
54
Figure 4.9
An axial component preforming machine (courtesy of Elite Engineering)
55
4.4 Just in time

The whole question of 'just in time' or JIT philosophy revolves around the accurate
control of components for purchase through to assembly on the machine. This can be
broken down into the need to work closely with supplier (as has already been mentioned);
the need to reorganize the geography of the stores and the assembly operation; and of
paramount importance, the need to control the kitting operation from inspection to
machine, such that no component is held in stores or kitting for any period in excess of one
to two days. The author is aware that this sounds like an ideal picture, but if it can be
achieved then the assembler of printed circuit boards is in an economic position to turn his
product out ofthe door in the same month that the components have arrived. The financial
impact of this is discussed in a later chapter; even without doing the necessary arithmetic it
should be clear to the reader the advantages of such an achievement. In effect, one may
consider the pcb assembly to be an added value distributor!
The just in time or JIT philosophy is one which is growing in increasing favour
with many pcb assemblers. The glib phrase really describes the situation which allows a
company to minimize its stock and work in progress to the extent perhaps to where the
stock and work in progress figure represents the amount which is going to be shipped in
the same month. Therefore at the end of the financial year there appears only a very low
investment in stock and work in progress. In financial terms this has the impact that the
investment tied up in stock and work in progress is relatively small, and therefore the cash
flow benefits significantly. If the stock and work in progress figure is small, then the cashflow implications are such that JIT philosophy will pay for itself purely on savings in
cash flow and stock investment.
The problem comes however in having to establish a management structure both
internally and externally to the assembly operation which allows the JIT philosophy to be
carried out in an ideal way. In an ideal world the components are ordered for delivery on a
specific day - maybe even a specific time on a specific day - and at the appointed hour
these components arrive and are immediately passed through inspection and into kitting,
so they emerge from kitting within a few hours. These kits are placed on the machine and the
boards assembled, soldered, and tested and are therefore ready for either shipping or
application within perhaps five working days of their arrival in the factory.
If the control is such that deliveries of all components are held to a time period from the
first of the month to say the twentieth of the month - after which no deliveries are allowed
- then shipments will follow ten days after that at the most, i.e. from the tenth of the
month to the thirtieth of the month. This means that all components delivered are shipped
as finished goods, within the same accounting frame. However, it also means that the
machine(s) carrying out assembly will have little or nothing to do on the first two or three
days of every month, and therefore the philosophy requires adjustment, to allow a
continuous operation of machines from month end to month beginning. Clearly the
shorter the time that the components are in the factory, the easier is this transition. For
example, if the total time taken is only three days then quite often that three days will be
part of a weekend or a shut-down time and therefore the overlap from one month to the
next can be minimized to perhaps a day or two of stock and work in progress.
The achievement of this ideal goal requires a considerable effort on the behalf of
management and planning in order to control all the activities so that they happen at the
56
time planned. The author has already alluded to a situation where the components must
arrive at the designated time. This can be achieved only with a clear and very close
relationship between user and supplier. The user and supplier must meet at high level and
must agree the basic principles of the JIT delivery requirement. This should include
various clauses not only related to the delivery of the component on time, but also that
there shall be no shortages, and that the components will be delivered always in the same
carrier or carrier system that has been agreed; and that the components are always
delivered to the same package and outline configurations.
Clearly the more complex the user's requirements of components the more difficult this
is to achieve, and indeed it could be argued that the many components used on several
boards should be delivered in any case in bulk for use over a period of time. The financial
impact of this may not be very great if the components are for example resistors, or
decoupling capacitors, as the total value of.these components is relatively low. However,
it is still necessary that many of the most costly components including i.c.s, and some of
the mechanical components such as connectors, etc. should be controlled on a JIT
philosophy basis. Therefore the author would suggest, in companies attempting to move
towards a JIT philosophy, that the preferred components list already referred to in a
previous chapter is separated into two lists. The first of these lists would be the cheap,
high-volume common usage components, which can be delivered on a regular basis for a
wide number of pcb assemblies. The second list would be the high-value components
which would require the 'jit' philosophy in order to achieve the economic advantages of
that approach.
The author is not aware of any company that operates this technique as yet, but it seems
reasonably clear that by taking this approach the best of both worlds may be achievable.
Assuming that the components are delivered on time to the correct location to the correct
standard, then it is necessary for those components to be inspected, kitted, etc. in the ways
already described. Clearly therefore the flow of components through inspection, and
kitting, has got to be controlled in such a way that no massive overloads or peaks occur, in
either area. Therefore, it is necessary that component delivery, inspection and kitting
match machine assembly rates, so that none of the processes before assembly end up
either with a blockage or an over-demand requirement for short periods.
The implication is that decisions made on procurement must reflect the assembly
requirement, and it is almost certain that components should be delivered daily, rather
than in massive quantities for consumption over a period of time. The implication of this
to the component distributor is such that the distributor has to be very aware of the needs
of the user.
4.5
JIT conclusion
It cannot be over-emphasized that the relationships between supplier and user are very
important to the success of any management system. Clearly the management of JIT
philosophy internally to the company has to be understood by every member of staff and
that has to include operators, inspectors, managers, buyers, etc. - no-one in the functional
area should be excluded from being involved with the JIT philosophy. The author would
57
suggest that it is not good enough simply to expect people to perform tasks which may be
alien to the normal management system, in order to achieve the JIT philosophy, without a
real exposition of those functions and the needs for those functions within the company.
The training of staff should be an iterative process with the end goal clear to everybody
and with everybody being involved in developing the management and control of the
process. The author has listed below some of the benefits of the JIT philosophy and some
of the implications, so that the reader may be aware of what is required in a management
structure.
4.5.1 JIT philosophy requirements and advantages
Advantages
Accurate financial control
Minimal investment in SWIP
Reduced storage area
Requirements
Delivery control
Accurate planning
Precise management
Trained staff
In the author's view the tendency is a gentle drift towards the JIT philosophy, having a
knock-on effect into the design of the types of machine that are being bought, and also
into the philosophy of kitting. The emphasis is shifting towards machines where the
majority - if not all- the kit is held on the machine all the time and the programme selects
the particular components required for the job in question. This approach implies a shift
to the automatic sequencing of components on the assembly machine rather than presequencing and this is mentioned in Chapter 9 on choice of ACI machine.
Chapter 5
Standards
Following a general introduction to the principles of standardization and the way in

which standards are referred to on documents, together with a resume of international,
UK and other national standards organizations, this chapter is devoted specifically to
standards for production of electronics equipment, with emphasis on cost-effective
quality and reliability. Extensive tabulated listing of standards and specifications are also
included in Appendix 2.
Throughout, the theme is: 'Correct use of standards promotes consistent quality,
reliability of product and economic production' - a target that all manufacturers should
endeavour to achieve.
5.1 Why standards?
The general principles of standardization are set out clearly in Part 1 of the British
Standards Institution publication BS 0: A Standard for Standards, which defines a
standard as a technical specification or other document available to the public, drawn up
with the co-operation and consensus of general approval of all interests affected by it,
based on the consolidated results of science, technology and experience, aimed at the
promotion of optimum community benefits and approved by a body recognized on the
national, regional or international level. It is not to be confused with a regulation which is
a binding document containing legislative, regulatory or administrative rules, and which
is adopted and published by an authority legally vested with the necessary power.
The aims of standardization are straightforward and logical. By providing technical
criteria accepted by consensus, standards promote consistent quality and economic
production, simplify manufacture and encourage interchangeability. They rationalize
processes and methods of operation, making communication and the exchange of goods
Standards
59
and services easier, and their use gives confidence to manufacturers and to users alike.
Standards promote economy through variety reduction, and provide for quality of goods
and services, by defining those features and characteristics that govern their ability to
satisfy given needs. Economic advantages of standardization are described fully in BS
Document PD 6470.
A further factor that has to be considered is safety, where the setting of standards of
safety implies the definition of what is acceptable as a reasonable level of risk in the
foreseeable use, or even misuse, of a product, process or service.
There is no law that states that standards must be used, but for the reasons stated
above, it is in the interests of any manufacturer to employ them to the full. Above all,
standards should be wanted because they rely on the willingness of all parties concerned
to reach voluntary agreement for one or more stated purposes, and their application relies
on the voluntary commitment required in their preparation being extended to their use.
Having said that there is no law governing the use of standards, once standards or parts
of standards have been invoked in contracts they become legally binding on the
contracting parties. However, as stated in BS 0: Part 1, no British Standard can purport to
include all the necessary provisions of a contract, and the usefulness of standards for
contract specifications depends on how well their scope covers the needs of the
contracting parties. Some of the specifications that British Standards may include are
defined in BS 4778.
5.2 Referring to standards

Many users of standards experience difficulty in understanding the way in which these
should be referred to on documents, drawings, etc. As defined in BS 0: Part 1, there are
three distinct methods of reference to standards: strict reference, updated reference and
general reference:
Strict reference. This means reference to standards by exact identification. Here a specific
standard is designated in such a way that later revisions of the standard will not be
applied unless the user's drawing or document is modified. The standard is usually
designated by its number and date.
Updated reference. Here, a specific standard is designated in such a way that later revisions
will be applied without the need for the user's drawing or document to be changed. The
standard is usually designated only by its number.
General reference. Here, a reference is made in a general way to present or future
standards. This normally means that the relevant drawing or document includes a
general clause so that the present or future standards in a specific field are regarded as
meeting the aim of the drawing/document. This form of reference is often used in tender
documents, etc. to present an indication of the standards envisaged without being overspecific.
According to BS 0: Part 1, strict reference to standards (exact identification) is the method

normally followed in the UK, where regulations made under a number of Acts of
Parliament invoke more than 300 British Standards. The Department of Trade booklet
60
Guidelines for Government Representatives on Standards Committees covers this aspect of

standardization and others related to Government policies and responsibilities.
However, there are many equipment manufacturers who prefer to identify standards
on drawings and other documents by the 'updated reference' method. This implies that
these documents will always refer to the latest issue of the standard, without the need for
the manufacturers to alter their documentation each time a new issue of, or amendment
to, a standard is issued. This works if the equipment manufacturer really knows what he is
doing and if he has good established lines of communication between the design
department, through production control, to the shop floor, but it can be a dangerous
practice, particularly when parts and assemblies are also being manufactured on site to
'strict reference' standards.
With bought-out components and parts, however, the situation is slightly different.
Component manufacturers generally produce to the latest issue of a standard. If, for
example, the latest issue of a standard for a particular range of capacitors is dated 1983, it
would be totally irrational and, indeed, uneconomic for that manufacturer to continue to
produce and hold stocks of capacitors manufactured to the previous, and now obsolete,
issue. For this reason, it is logical for the equipment manufacturer's buying department to
specify bought-out components by the 'updated reference' method on their order forms.
5.3 Types of standard

In Britain there are three standardization authorities to be considered for design,
production, assembly, materials, processes, testing, etc. of electronic/electrical equipment
and components. These are The British Standards Institution (BS, CP and PD
publications), The International Electrotechnical Commission (1EC) - on which the BSI
is a major force, The Joint European Standards Institution (CEN/CENELEC), and
Ministry of Defence Standards (DEF-STAN publications), each of which will be
described in more detail later. In addition, the major authorities, e.g. United Kingdom
Atomic Energy Authority, Central Electricity Generating Board, British Broadcasting
Corporation, Independent Broadcasting Authority, etc., together with many manufacturing companies/groups have compiled their own internal standards - based
generally on BS, IEC, DEF-STAN, etc. but embodying specific requirements such as, for
example, particular assembly procedures, methods of test, finishes, etc., - to which
contractors and suppliers have to conform.
Countries with a strong manufacturing base also have their own national standardization authorities but, a large number - e.g. West Germany (DIN), France (UTE and NF),
Netherlands (NEN), Italy (CEI), Sweden (SEN and SS), and many others worldwide - are
represented on International Electrotechnical Commission committees and working
parties, and have adopted, or are in the process of adopting, the IEC system of standardseven Japan follows closely the BS 9000 scheme.
As will be explained later, this increasing move towards full international standardization helps considerably those manufacturers producing electronics goods for the general
export market. However, problems could arise when manufacturing products for export
to a particular country or for a particular overseas customer who, in addition to, or
instead oflEC, may invoke their own national standards, either as a general requirement
Standards
61
for the import of goods into their country or, in the case of individual companies, in their
written contract. Each case has to be considered on its merits and national standards
checked against BS or IEC publications for conformation. Perhaps the biggest problem of
all in this area is the USA. We have all heard of MIL specs (the US military standards)'the almighty MIL' as they are often called - which, despite the title, seem to get in
everywhere, industrial as well as military, and which gained a strong international
foothold in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. One possible pointer to the success of 'MIL',
particularly in the UK, was the apparent inability in the 1950s, '60s, and early '70s, of
British component manufacturers to meet the demands of equipment manufacturers for a
broad range of quality products - hence the incredible growth of component distribution
during that period.
All that apart, MIL specifications are a force to be reckoned with when exporting to the
USA, either in general terms or on a contractual basis when supplying to individual
customers. The light at the end of the tunnel is that US companies are now looking more
kindly at equipment and components conforming to BS, IEC and DEF-STAN. This is
particularly so in the case of military equipment where UK manufacturers have achieved
notable successes.
Something worth mentioning at this stage is 'DOD'. These initials replace MIL on
specifications covering metric items, of which more later.
MIL is not the only authority to worry about in the USA. There are IPC (Institute of
Printed Circuits) standards; EIA (Electronic Industries Association) standards also
covering printed circuits in addition to printed circuit board-related connectors and
automatic insertion; ANSI (American National Standards Institute), although these are
usually ANSI/IPC or ANSI/EIA documents; and NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) who are very strong on standards for racks, cabinets and
enclosures, and standards for industrial control systems.
5.4 Summary of UK and international standards organizations

The British Standards Institution ( BSl) - this is the nationally recognized organization for
preparing standards which are used in all UK industries and technologies. Founded in
1901, BSI was the first national standards body in the world, and over 80 countries now
have similar organizations, most of which are members of the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Standards Organization (ISO). BSI
represents the views of British Industry in discussions on standards in these and other
international bodies and in CEN/CENELEC, the Joint European Standards Institution,
which work towards harmonization of standards requirements. Publications, and their
prefixes, include: the general series of British Standards (BS); the harmonized system of
quality assessment for electronic components (BS/CECC); Codes of Practice (CP);
Published Documents (PD); and Handbooks.
The BS 9000 system provides a comprehensive and reliable structure for specification
and appraisal of electronic components and their manufacturers, and for the assessment
offacilities of component distribution and test laboratories. The system was established in
1966, from which was evolved the CECC (CENELEC Electronic Components Committee) and the IECQA (IEC Quality Assurance System for Electronic Components). The BS
9000 System is being replaced progressively by the harmonized European System
62
(CECC), and CECC will ultimately give way to the IEC system. Currently, components
are available in the BS 9000 and the CECC system. See BSI's PD 9004: BS 9000, CECC
and IECQA UK Administrative Guide.
The services offered by BSI include quality assurance, certification and assessment,
test-house facilities, factory inspection, information (library, enquiry service and
database section), and 'Technical Help to Exporters'. The last mentioned is a unique and
extremely valuable export advisory service which exists to give guidance to British
companies seeking to sell their products abroad. Its main purpose is to identify the
technical requirements or regulations which apply to the client's product which is to be
sold abroad, to supply these documents, translated if necessary, and also to give advice on
interpreting the requirements. It is available to all UK manufacturers, irrespective of
whether or not they are subscribing members of BSI.
Also, the publications of the international standards organisations and of the national
standards bodies in overseas countries can be purchased through BSI Sales Department.
Some are held in their library, but it is not possible to stock every overseas standard or
international publication that is asked for.
UK Defence Standards ( DEF-STAN) - defence specifications for electronic and electrical
components date back to the 1939-45 war when the need arose for a supply of guaranteed
components for military applications. Specification prefixes included DEF, CV and
CAN, and those readers long enough in the tooth will remember with love and affection
the old 'Blue Book' - the Qualified Products List - which detailed components under the
then familiar 'Z' numbers, a system which perpetuated for a number of decades, and was
gradually superseded by the BS 9000 system.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognized that standards and quality control could
contribute significantly to improved reliability, interchangeability and maintainability of
defence equipment. Increasingly, there is also recognition among all involved in public
purchasing, and among industry in general, of the crucial importance of quality and
standards in enhancing industry's international competitiveness. This message was set
out clearly in the White Paper Standards, Quality and International Competitiveness
published in July 1982. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the
Government and the British Standards Institution following in November 1982: the
Government gave a commitment to increase its use of British Standards in procurement
and legislation, and for its part, BSI undertook to publish standards suitable for such
purposes.
In the defence field, these initiatives have given impetus to, among others, two lines of
action, the results of which will increasingly be reflected in the Index ofDefence Standards.
Wherever possible, the MOD, through the Directorate of Standardization, now offers
draft Defence Standards to BSI for publication as British Standards. Only when necessary
will separate Defence Standards be published. Secondly, recognizing the criticism by
industry that its large portfolio of local standards and specifications can be confusing,
MOD, through the Directorate of Standardization, is systematically reducing this
proliferation.
A glance through the latest issue of DEF-STAN 00-00 (Part 3): Section 4/1 Defence
Standards Index will show that the majority of Defence Standards for electronic
components now conform to the BS 9000 and/or BS CECC systems.
Standards
63
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) - the organization responsible for

international standardization in the electronics and electrical fields. Founded in 1906, it is
currently composed of 42 National Committees that collectively represent some 80 per
cent of the world's population. These National Committees are fully representative of all
electrotechnical interests in their respective countries. The work of the IEC is carried out
by technical committees and their sub-committees, each responsible for developing
standards for a well-defined sector of technology. At 1 January 1985,204 such committees
were in existence spanning virtually all electrotechnical sectors. With one exception, all
standards and publications have the prefix 'IEC', the exception being the IECQ quality
assessment system for electronic components which bear the prefix 'QC'.
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) - founded in 1973
from the union of CENEL (European Committee for Co-ordination of Electrical
Standardization) and CENELCOM (The Common Market equivalent ofCENEL), and
comprises national electrotechnical committees of EEC and EFTA countries. It prepares
European standards for identical publication nationally and also harmonization
documents as the basis of technical equivalent standards. CECC is the CENELEC
Electronic Components Committee, a European system to facilitate international trade
by harmonization of specification and quality assessment procedures for electronic
components, and by the granting of an internationally recognized mark and/or certificate
of conformity. It was founded in 1970 and comprises national electrotechnical
committees of 11 West European countries, and has approximately 20 active working
groups.
Other international organizations concerned with standards include:

CEE - International Commission for Conformity certification of Electrical Equipment.
Founded in 1946, it comprises national electrotechnical committees of 23 European
countries.
ARSO - African Regional Organization for Standardization. Founded in 1977 under the
auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
ASMO - Arab Organization for Standardization and Metrology. Founded in 1965 to
serve as a specialized technical body for the League of Arab States.
CMEA - Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Founded in 1949 to promote coordination between the USSR and East European national standards bodies.
COPANT - Pan-American Standards Commission. Founded in 1961 and comprises
national standard bodies of the USA and 11 Latin-American countries.
PASC - Pacific Area Standards Congress. Founded in 1973 to help Pacific countries
participate in international standards activities.
USA Military Standards and Specifications - all equipment purchased by the US
Department of Defense must withstand more severe environmental and operating
conditions than equipment designed for industrial or consumer markets, military
components and equipment must meet requirements such as reliability, interchangeability, replacement, ability to withstand extremes of temperature and humidity,
vibration and shock, ease of operation and any others outlined in the contracts for such
equipment. Over a period of years, the various military services have established
64
standardization groups that have issued standards applicable to the individual services or
the Department of Defense. These include:
Military Specifications ( MS) - developed by the technical facilities of the Departments of
the Army, Navy and Air Force, covering details of every item that enters into the design
and construction of electronic equipment.
Military Standards (MIL) - developed by the same facilities as for 'MS', they establish
standardization for codes, designations, drawing practices, electronic circuits, form
factors, procedures, revision methods, symbols, test methods and types and definition,
in order to provide uniformity in electronic equipment design, nomenclature and
appearance.
Military Standard Specification (MIL-STD) - these are particular requirements specified
by the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Metric Standardization (DOD) - the symbol 'DOD' replaces the symbol 'MIL' in new and
revized specifications and standards covering 'hard metric' or 'hard converted' items,
and other distinctly metric documents. For example, DOD-D-IOOB identifies Drawings, Engineering and Associated Lists, and was listed originally as MIL-D-IOOB.
Military Qualified Products Lists (QP L) - these lists have been established for materials
and the products tested, and approved by the Department of Defense and its subdivisions.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - is composed of more than a hundred
engineering, technical and trade associations and societies as well as government
representatives. Although it does not write any standards, it acts as a co-ordinating
agency in promoting uniform standards that are nationally acceptable.
Electronic Industries Association (EIA) - a USA national association of electronics
manufacturers which issues engineering standards that are helpful in producing
interchangeable components within the industry.
National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) - a USA national organization
comprising representation from manufacturers, users and national engineering societies.
Standards generated by NEMA are used by the electrical and electronics industries to
provide guidelines for the manufacture and proper application of reliable products and
equipment, and to promote the benefits of repetitive manufacturing and widespread
product availability. The NEMA standard most likely to be encountered in the UK is ICS
6 Enclosures for Industrial Control and Systems, which covers subjects such as type
designations, materials, operating mechanisms, applications and ventilated and nonventilated enclosures for hazardous and non-hazardous locations. This is, in fact, part of
a series ICS 1 to ICS 6 covering the area of industrial control systems and enclosures.
Because ICS 1 General Standards for Industrial Control and Systems applies as a general
standard and ICS 6 applies to enclosures for control and systems apparatus, these two
standards should be used in conjunction with each of the other product standards.
Standards
65
5.5 Which standard for production?

To use the phraseology and the well-known radio 'Professor' of old, 'It all depends on what
you mean by production.'
If you are a subcontractor employed by an equipment manufacturer - whether you are
actually fabricating parts or assembling and wiring from parts supplied - then the
standards relating to those parts or assemblies (types of components, manufacturing
processes, assembly techniques, etc.) will be defined clearly on the contractual documentation (or should be), but you are still concerned with the quality of the finished parts or
assemblies.
If you are a full-blown equipment manufacturer with comprehensive production
facilities, then you become involved with the whole range of delights or headaches
(depending on your point of view or sense of humour) such as quality control, reliability,
sampling procedures and plans, production planning, environmental testing (although
this can be placed in the hands of an approved test house, you will still need to have
knowledge of the environmental conditions under which your equipment will be
operating), production measurement and calibration, inspection procedures and,
possibly, the operation of 'clean areas'. No doubt, you will carry out your own printed
circuit board assembly and have your own printed circuit board production facility. You
will need to package your equipment, so you will also be concerned with racking, cabinets,
card racks, enclosures, etc.
If you are doing the job properly, then you will already be aware of the wide range of
standards and guidance notes that exist, but for the uninitiated - or those who have
forgotten - Table 5.1 lists the principal publications in these areas. American, West German
and French documents, in addition to British and international, have been included as
these are the standards most likely to be encountered when manufacturing for specific
export markets. This does not mean that British and lEe standards are not generally
accepted universally, but customers in some countries may demand conformance in
certain areas to their own national standards.
Yet another area of concern to the equipment manufacturer will be the recommendations, either from the component supplier or the relevant component specification, on
component mounting and handling - hence the inclusion of the principal component
mounting standards in the accompanying Tables 5.3-5.14. This knowledge is essential to
prevent damage to components during storage, assembly, soldering, etc. While on this
subject, there is still a tendency among some equipment manufacturers to 're-invent the
wheel', i.e. to fully test components that are already produced in accordance with, and
approved to the relevant national or international standards. These components have
already been subjected to stringent test procedures by the component manufacturers to
meet these specifications, so to carry out further testing - other than the usual goodsinwards inspection for condition of goods on receipt - is an utter waste of time and
money, and you could be doing more harm than good.
5.6 Cost-effective quality and reliability

The aim of any reputable manufacturer is to produce quality goods that are reliable in
66
service, and at a competitive market price - in other words, cost-effective quality and
relia bili ty.
Any company can produce quality goods, but they may not necessarily be reliable;
similarly, any company can produce goods that are reliable, but they may not necessarily
be of acceptable quality. Even if goods are of an acceptable quality and are totally reliable
in service, they may have cost so much to produce that they are unable to compete in the
market. Hence the need for a well-planned quality assurance and reliability programme
and it has to be a programme that starts right back at the product inception stage and
which is effective from initial design, through prototype development, to the finished
product, involving bought-out and internally-manufactured parts. It is useless trying to
introduce a quality assurance and reliability programme only at the production stage - it
would be like painting over rusty metal, because sooner or later the blemishes are going to
show through.
The words 'quality' and 'reliability' are well-known and widely used (sometimes
misused) throughout industry, but are they really understood? 'Quality' would appear to
be a very subjective word, 'reliability' is open to wide interpretation, and both could be
considered comparative. Here then is yet another example of the need for good standards,
not only in design and production, but also in defining words and phrases so that
everyone can start from the same base line - in this case, BS 4778: Glossary of Terms used
in Quality Assurance, which is related to international standard lEe 271. The word
'quality' is often used for several distinct purposes:
(a) 'comparative sense' or 'degree of excellence', whereby products may be ranked on a
relative basis;
(b) 'quantitative sense' as used in manufacturing, product releases and for technical
evaluations;
(c) 'fitness for purpose sense' which relates the evaluation of a product or service to its
ability to satisfy a given need.
Within the context of BS 4778, and in accordance with established usage in the quality
assurance field, the word 'quality' is used in the (c) 'fitness for purpose sense' - the totality
of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy a
given need.
Quality assurance is defined as embracing all activities and functions concerned with the
attainment of quality, rather than in the narrower sense only of the provision of proof
associated with the word 'assurance'. Thus, quality assurance includes the determination and assessment of quality.
Quality control is defined as the operational techniques and activities that sustain the
product or service quality to specified requirements, and is also the use of such
techniques and activities.
Reliability as a concept is a special development of the engineering industries, in particular
the electronics and aerospace industries. In the practice of these industries, reliability is
used as the collective name for those measures of quality that reflect the effect of time in
storage or use on a product, as distinct from those measures that show the state of the
product at the time of delivery. It is, then, the ability of a product to perform a required
function under stated conditions for a stated period of time.
Standards
67
Obviously, reliability is closely related to failure - the basic term denoting the termination
of a required function, which may be due to circumstances during design, manufacture,
assembly, installation or use.
In practice, some kinds offailure are more important than others and it is necessary to
distinguish between them. This is done by adding an adjective to the word 'failure': for
example, a complete failure is the complete lack of the required function. A failure term
applies only to the item under consideration, but if the failure is judged by its effect on
another item, a different term may be involved. Thus a complete failure of a particular
part may cause only a partial failure of the equipment of which it is a part.
All of the terms relating to quality, reliability, failure and associated terminology are
clearly defined in BS 4778, and a guide to quality assurance is set out in BS 4891. The
definitive documents on these subjects are BS 5750: Quality Systems, and BS 5760:
Reliability of Systems, Equipments and Components. All are combined into BS Handbook
22. These are comprehensive documents that need to be studied carefully, but there are a
few phrases that are well worth repeating here:
Quality must be designed into a product before manufacture by the translation of
purchaser requirements (which should be detailed in the programme) into practical
designs and specifications that permit production, maintenance and servicing to be
technically and economically feasible. The design function is fundamental to the creation
of product quality.
The manufacturing/production function is responsible for producing goods in
accordance with the production specification which should have all acceptance/rejection
criteria adequately defined. Management should ensure that manufacturing operations
are carried out under controlled conditions. The omission of any particular operation or
process from the scope of such control invites inferior quality. Ineffective, incomplete or
intermittent control can lead to costly and unnecessary defects. For this purpose,
adequate communication is indispensable. Accordingly, manufacturing operations
should be defined to the greatest practical extent by appropriate work instructions and
work should be accomplished as specified in these instructions. One of the basic
management problems is to strike an optimum balance between the cost and value of
quality assurance.
5.7 Printed circuits

The main international (1EC) standards for printed circuits cover the grid system for
component mounting (IEC 97), materials (IEC 249) and printed boards (IEC 326), the
identical British Standards being BS 5830, BS 4584 and BS 6221 respectively.
As the title implies, IEC 97/BS 5830 defines a grid system for printed circuit boards to
ensure compatibility between the printed circuits and components mounted on them at
the intersection of the grid. Currently in its third edition, IEC 97 has been in existence
since 1970 without amendments; the identical British Standard BS 5830 was not published
until 1979, and is also without any subsequent amendments to date.
Base materials for printed circuits are detailed in IEC 249 which covers test methods,
individual specifications of copper-clad sheet and special materials. The related British
68
Standard is BS 4584 and care has to be exercised when making comparisons between the
two, because although some parts of BS 4584 are identical with the equivalent parts of
IEC 249, other parts are only classed as 'related standards'. This means that the British
Standard covers matter similar to that covered in the IEC publication, but it may deal
with that subject matter in a different manner. As far as IEC 249-1 Methods of Test is
concerned, there is no problem because BS 4584: Part 1 is identical with it. The same also
applies to IEC 249-3/BS 4584: Part 11 Bonding Sheet Materialfor Use in the Fabrication of
Multilayer Printed Boards, and IEC 249-2C-12/BS 4584: Part 12 Thin Epoxide Woven
Glass Fabric Copper-Clad Laminated Sheet of Defined Flammability For Use in the
Fabrication of Multi-layer Printed Boards. BS 4584: Parts 2 and 3 General-purpose and
Flame-retardant Grades ofEpoxide Woven Glass Fabric Copper-Clad Laminated Sheet, and
BS 4584: Part 7 The High-electrical-quality Grade ofPhenolic Cellulose Paper Copper-clad
Laminated Sheet are related to (not identical with) the relevant parts of IEC 249, and the
remaining parts ofBS 4584 (there is a total of sixteen parts) are not related at all to IEC 249.
With the standards for printed wiring boards - IEC 326 and BS 6221 - this problem
does not exist, because Parts 2 to 8 of the British Standard are identical with Parts 2 to 8 of
IEC 326 (there is no Part 1 to BS 6221, and Part 1 ofIEC 325 gives general information for
the specification writer). Part 3 of both standards is particularly useful in that each gives
recommended principles and practices for the design of printed wiring boards. However, BS
6221: Part 3 also offers additional value in that boards designed in accordance with these
recommendations can subsequently be processed in accordance with the recommendations given in Parts 20 and 21 which deal respectively with the 'assembly of components'
and 'repair' aspects - areas not covered in IEC 326.
It should be noted that IEC 326 and BS 6221 are 'methods for specifying standards',
intended as a basis on which agreements between purchaser and vendor can be made.
Sectional specifications for single and double-layer, multilayer, flexible and flexi-rigid
printed circuit boards, with or without plated-through holes, are covered by BS 9761 to
BS 9766 inclusive under the general heading of Specification for Printed Circuits of
Assessed Quality, with capability approval procedures and rules contained in BS 9760.
There are no IEC publications to which these can be related.
Chapter 6
The production area for printed circuit board assembly, when one considers the
requirements of automation, is really no different from planning any assembly area
Perhaps the difference with automatic assembly machines is the shift of emphasis from
storing components in the separate stores, to storing large volumes of components on the
machine, but at the same time retaining the facility for rapidly re-kitting the machines
when the kits are depleted or the job requirement changes. Clearly the type of machine or
machinery used also effects the planning of the production area.
Perhaps one should consider the flow of components in order to decide the layout for
the production area. The various charts in this chapter show alternative flow patterns
depending on volume of printed circuit board, volume of components, the flexibility and
the type of automatic assembly machines. The various charts are sourced not only by the
author but by a number of manufacturers of ACI machinery. They show the various
options available to the end user. The smallest and simplest flow shown (Figure 6.1) is that
of the smallest printed circuit board assembly requirement. The author has chosen for
illustration the cheapest of the assembly machines capable of assembling axials, radials
and DIL components at a single station. This machine, the Robin by Ambotech is a
machine conceived originally to be attractive to companies presently using manual or
semi-automatic assembly processes, with not particularly high volume of component but
with a need to maintain flexibility and reliable, accurate insertion.
The basic principle surrounding this machine and its inclusion in a production area, is
that it is capable of replacing a number of manual operators. The machine itself is capable
also of being run by a single operator on a part-time basis, therefore releasing that
operator for other tasks within the production area. Thus a grouping of component
storage, pre-kitting, and assembly operations in close proximity makes a great deal of
sense when considering staff/component movement. Equally, with this approach the same
operator could perhaps run two or three Robins at the same time; the second chart in the
70
Inspection
Parts
inwards---
Stores &
prekitting
__+-_+-
U Components
-:-- boards
..----4
r---
Radial
~eed
BOX
loader
Finished PCB's
Robin
Axial
feed
Fault
correction
etc.
""""--
+
Post aci
operations
Testing
Inspection I -
t
Inspection _
Soldering
cleaning
Figure 6.1
series shows a natural extension of the basic concept of a single-machine operation to a

multiple-machine operation. By this means the movement of the operator is minimized
while at the same time returning maximum flexibility for future expansion.
Figure 6.2 shows a simple expansion by a factor of2 with two Robin machines being fed
from the same stores and kitting area and the machines themselves feeding straight into
post-assembly operations which subsequently go via inspection, soldering, cleaning, etc.,
to the finished board. Quite clearly, with a slight change to Figure 6.2 one could achieve a
three, four, five and more, Robin operation without a vast increase to the overall assembly
area. However, one should bear in mind that the consumption of components in a multiRobin system is such that the stores and pre-kitting area would have to be extended as
would inspection - almost pro-rata. It is likely however that the soldering and cleaning
operations would not require further extension.
71
Parts
inwards
Inspection
Stores &
prekitting
IRadial I
Axial
Box loading
PCB's & kit
Axial
Completed
PCB
IRadial I
Fault
correction
Rework
Soldering
cleaning
Inspection
Inspection
Figure 6.2
There are charts elsewhere in the book which illustrate the various assembly speeds that
may be achieved, using alternative machines and alternative machine configurations. An
estimate of floor area required for any operation is also given. Leading on from the basic
Robin assembly operation there are alternative layouts possible for the different machines
available from different suppliers, as shown in Figures 6.3 and 6.4. There are machine
configurations from Universal, Amistar, Dynapert, and TDK. Although these relative
drawings are not necessarily to scale it does give an idea of the possible layouts achievable
using these alternative machines.
It should also be borne in mind that, in the typical production area, certain of the
machines are either going to be unnecessary or possibly even unavailable, i.e. referring
back to Chapter 2, if one can control the design and component procurement adequately,
then one may have no need for inserting, for example, radial components. This would be a
great advantage if the choice of machine is critical, as there are one or two suppliers who
do not make machines for handling radial components, thus a comparison between
machines is difficult. In all cases the author has not included the programming facility
within the production assembly area. It would be quite normal to carry out the
programming of machines in other designated areas of company facilities. The
programme is then transferred direct to the machine, thus facilitating high machine
throughput, as the machine itself is not used for programming. This again is not
necessarily true of all machines available and careful study has to be made of the
alternatives in order to determine the best approach for the application in hand.
handling
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74
Operator and staff utilization is vital if the maximum economic benefit is to be obtained
from automatic insertion. Figure 6.2 therefore shows a structure for a typical small
assembly operation where one operator of sufficient training and skill can operate Robin
One and Robin Two while at the same time servicing the stores and pre-kitting area (in
this case only applicable to box loading). The total an operator has to move is greatly
reduced by this structure. The post-assembly operations can often be handled by one
further operator who passes the boards either directly, or via inspection, to soldering and
cleaning. A later chapter discusses the question as to whether inspection is necessary at
this point or not. The decision as to whether to include inspection rather depends on the
component density and complexity of the boards and whether it is possible to fault correct
after testing. Clearly, if one can eliminate inspection both before and after soldering
because of the high standard of component insertion, a substantial cost saving in people,
equipment and space can be made.
After soldering at,d cleaning the boards pass straight into testing (or automatic testing),
which should completely test a printed circuit board. A test failure requires that the fault
be corrected, after which the board is re-tested prior to being issued as a completed board.
As the company's requirement grows in assembling printed circuit boards further
expansion will be necessary. The author would suggest that a two- to three-year
lookahead in total component and board throughput be undertaken at the point in time
that the decision is made to go automatic. A number of factors influence this decision.
With full ACI equipment it is'quite feasible - indeed economically sensible - to run these
machines on two or even three shift operations to maximize the return on investment.
Therefore the throughput from a given floor area can be doubled or trebled, depending on
the attitude taken to multi-shift operation.
Clearly, if the standards of control are such that inspection is not required the post-ACI
work is reduced to a minimum. It is likely that a two- or three-person shift could be
assembling boards at a very high rate on a more-or-Iess continuous basis. The economic
benefit of this is covered later. The author feels that this book being aimed at the manual
assembly operation which is desirous of changing to full automation, the probability is
that the floor area already being used for manual assembly is sufficient for an order of
magnitude increase under ACI assembly with rigid stock control, pre-kitting and multishift operation. The transition from manual to automatic assembly however is one which
requires careful study, and at which this book is primarily aimed.
Further charts (Figures 6.3 and 6.4) in this chapter indicate that a user with high
volumes of similar or identical circuit boards may prefer to go through a different
assembly sequence. Perhaps the ultimate assembly operation at the other end of the scale
is that illustrated by the Universal Pass-thru system which requires the minimum of
operator interference and achieves a very high output of printed circuit boards. The
company (Universal) is also aiming the Pass-thru system at those companies who have
small quantities of boards with high flexibility requirements; thus the choice there will be
between the two extremes of a number of Robin-type machines at one end and a
single Universal Pass-thru system at the other. It is however, difficult with the Universal
system to start very small and build up. The starting price for a Universal equivalent
system may well exceed the capital available to most companies. A fully operational
Robin system however is perhaps one-tenth by comparison. The ultimate choice can be
75
determined by the study of the various options and requirements and by direct
comparison with the assembly requirement of the company in question.
There are very many alternative options available to the user and there are as many
influences on the choice as there are companies and people involved in the industry. In
between the two extremes are included the machines which will insert axials only, and/or
DILs only, and/or radials only, and/or other components. In many companies the use of
such machines is often restricted to axials and DILs only for both economic and technical
reasons and the subsequent decisions on layout of the factory relate to the choice of
machinery. In many instances it will be necessary to add either light-guided and/or
manual assembly operations after automatic assembly.
In the case of the high-volume producers, Figure 6.4 illustrates an alternative set-up as
proposed by Universal which shows the use of the Pass-thru system, running from
inbound materials through to outbound goods. With the advent of the JIT philosophy
becoming more and more relevant, the demands on material control is such that the
emphasis is shifting from off-line kit preparation and the handling of bandoliers and
components to on-line kitting direct on to the machine. This change implies other
demands on any system of assembly. Figure 6.5 shows a multiple Pass-thru system using
parallel operations, thus allowing a number of different boards to be assembled at the
same time, and also allowing for certain increased flexibility and protection against
downtime. Figure 6.6 shows a fully automatic pcb assembly line and for the first time
illustrates the use of guided vehicles for replenishing kits and finished pcbs to and from
stores.
The development of these types of line tends to be restricted to the very high volume
producer, such as the producer of television systems and consumer electronics with a high
degree of complexity. What is important before any planning is done with regard to the
layout of the area is to establish in the planning concept not only the present-day demands
of the company but the demands over the next two to three years, and to take decisions
based on the medium to long term view rather than the short-term expedient view.
6.1 Component handling in automatic machines

The three fundamental types of component which are handled by automatic machines
each require a different approach mechanically. The axial component requires to have the
legs bent to a goal post shape, inserted through the holes, the leads bent and cut to the
appropriate length. The dual in-line component requires the leads to be constrained on
the correct pitch in both axes - and in particular requires the leads to be combed to 0.1 in.
pitch. In order to ensure correct insertion the leads are then inserted and two or more leads
may be bent and/or cropped to retain the component. The most difficult component to
handle of the three basic types is the radial components, which is delivered pre-pitched to
the appropriate dimension on tape. This has to be cut from the tape, the leads held or
constrained at the precise pitch necessary for insertion, and the leads inserted through the
holes. The leads are subsequently cropped and bent. These three different procedures are
described in this chapter in order to give the reader some understanding of the mechanical
requirements of any automatic machinery.
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78
6.1.1 Axial components
Axial components are delivered either loose or on bandolier into the machine. The
method is to cut the component from the bandolier - or deliver it loose towards the
placement head with the leads in line with the axis of the component. The action of the
machine after this point depends on the type of machine, in that in one type of machine
(Ambotech Robin) the component has its leads cut to length prior to 'goal-post' forming.
Whether the lead is cut at this point or not, the next process is for the component leads to
be formed into the appropriate goal-post for insertion. In some machines this is done by
the head itself operating over a mandrel; subsequently the mandrel is removed and the
Loose component
Bandoliered component
Cut from
tape
(-1
Preform to goal-post
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79
component in the placement head is taken towards the board in the correct position, the
component body (or leads) pushed and the component inserted through the holes.
This outline procedure is illustrated in Figure 6.7. Once the component is in place the
leads are either cropped or not (depending on the type of machine) and bent, so that the
component is then retained in the board and will not shake loose. The alternative
procedures are illustrated in Figure 6.8 and are really a question of machine dependence
rather than component dependent.
In some machines the pitch is variable and therefore the mandrel and the forming heads
and placement head all have to be pre-programmable, such that the components are
formed to the correct pitch. Similarly, the bend mechanism and the cutting mechanism
also have to be pre-programmable and linked to the assembly programme of the machine.
Once the basic process is understood it then becomes necessary to look at the detail
within a typical assembly sequence. For convenience the author has chosen to illustrate
the Ambotech Robin as this tends to be typical of most of the procedures. Where there are
exceptions and other machines operate in different ways this is described. In the case of the
Robin machine the component is cropped from tape (or extracted from a loose
component holder) and fed using gravity into a test cell. This test cell has probes which
come into contact with the wires of the component and enable a basic electrical
evaluation. The most basic evaluation is to test whether there is a component present or
not and, if so, whether it is polarized or not. More refined testing can take place which
could include component values and tolerances. Sensors are in the component gravity
path in order that the machine software can establish that a component is on route.
After the test cell the component is rotated (or not) depending upon the polarity
requirements on the board, and elevated to regain the energy needed for a further gravitycontrol drop into the crop and preform mechanism. This mechanism is unique to the
Ambotech machine in that the components are cropped before insertion. The cropping
length is determined by software incorporating the pitch of the holes, the diameter of the
Push jaws
Placement jaws of head
Leads - to correct length and pitch - ready for insertion
Figure 6.8
80
wire, the diameter of the component body, etc. so that the insertion of the wire through
the wires is always controlled within a very fine tolerance.
The pre-form unit which is part of the crop-and-form mechanism is also programmed
to control the bend mandrel and push mechanism to the appropriate pitch to give the
goal-post preform. The component is then pushed by the mandrel through pre-formed
jaws into the placement head (already programmed to the correct pitch). When the
mandrel jaws withdraw, the component is left in the head at the correct pitch and cut to
length. This is illustrated in simplistic form in Figure 6.8.
The head then moves the component over the holes in the board pushing on the
shoulders of the wire to push the component into position. The component is held
momentarily as the bend mechanism underneath the board bends the leads. The bend
mechanism is already in place during the push process so that the board is restrained in a
vertical axis.
The entire process takes up to two seconds, therefore the assembly rate of the machine
in this instance is governed by the various elements within the chain that form the total
process. The machine is divided into several links within the chain - each of which acts and
operates independently from the others, and therefore there is always a flow of
components from container to the head. If one examines in detail the placement head ja ws
as shown in Figure 6.9 one sees that the shape of the jaw to restrain the component wire is
in the form of a v . This can cause difficulties if not pre-programmed in that the wire
diameter as it increases or decreases causes the centre of the wire to move on the axis of the
pitch by the square root of the diameter change. Hence it is necessary for the machine
either to measure wire diameter or have the wire diameter in its programming knowledge,
so that this can be compensated, and give the true mechanical pitch of the wire. Thus the
centre of the wire is in the centre of the hole through which it is to be inserted.
The Ambotech Robin has a choice in that the wire diameter can be measured en route
to placement or can be pre-programmed at the programming stage. In order to give the
reader a figure for overall tolerances it should be borne in mind that the quoted tolerance
figure of this particular machine is an overall 0.004 in. (0.1 mm) and therefore all the
cumulative tolerances must be less than this figure. Bearing in mind that the vision
correction system and other tolerances can contribute up to half of the total allowable it
implies that the mechanical tolerances must stay within a cumulative figure 0.002 in.
(0.05mm).
The Robin differs from other machines in that there is a separate head for each type of
component. In the case of other machines such as Universal Instrument's axial placement
machine, the head is in a fixed position and the component is fed on bandolier to the
placement area. The head comes down, preforms the component and loads it into the
board in one action. Having placed the component it is cut to length and the leads bent.
This is a considerably quicker mechanism and only possible when the machine itself is
dedicated to axial components.
The same type of tolerances and conditions apply to all forms of axial machine.
6.1.2 Dual in-line components
Dual in-line components are delivered in tubes and are generally handled by allowing
them to fall under gravity through to the placement head restraint. There are mechanisms
81
Prior to
insertion
Insertion jaw
Prepared for
insertion
Insertion jaw closed
to correct pitch
'Push' paddle
OIL body
ri>i~~~'"P}:~----OIL leads
Shallow groove - to 'comb'
leads to correct pitch
PCB
Figure 6.9
for both blowing and mechanically transporting components to gain height in order that
they can then be processed using gravity. Typical among the processes is the Ambotech
system where the components are loaded in delivery tubes on the machine in cassette
form. The component is then selected by the programme and a carrier goes to the
appropriate tube. A mechanism releases one component from that tube into the carrier,
the carrier then returns to a central position and drops the component under gravity
through into a mechanism which will rotate (or not rotate) the component as required for
polarity purposes. After this stage the component is passed over pre-forming wheels
which widen the pitch of the legs across the width of the component to a constant value
(and wider than the value required for insertion). The component is then dropped under
gravity to a known datum ready for pushing into the appropriate insertion head. When
the insertion head is in place the component is pushed on the body of the device into the
insertion head and retained there by the form jaws on the head holding the component in
place using the spring of the expanded leads, and friction.
The head then goes to its insertion position and the component is pushed out by a fiat
paddle on the back of the body of the device. This mechanism causes the combingjaws of
the insertion head (as shown in Figure 6.9) to come into place and the insertion
mechanism causes all the leads on the dual in-line component to be combed to the correct
82

Release device from tube
Move to test area
Te)
Rotate for orientation (or not)
Splay leads
Push into placement head
~
~
Place over board
Insertion - comb legs

~
constrain pitch
Bend legs for retention
Figure 6.10
0.1 in. pitch, and at the same time pulls the legs which have been spread into the
appropriate component pitch width. The component is then inserted into its holes and the
same bend mechanism will bend over the two diagonal leads of the component. In the case
of the Ambotech machine there is no cutting mechanism, but in the case of a number of
the other machines the leads may be cut as well as bent. In some cases all the leads are bent,
rather than just a selected pair. The whole sequence is illustrated in Figure 6.10.
6.1.3 Radial components

Radial components are almost exclusively handled using tapes - and the tape is used to
transport the component from its delivery pack into the body of the machine. In the case
of the Amotech machine a component is selected and cut from the end of the tape such
that the component is still contained on tape but now separated into the one component.
This then travels to gripping jaws which grip the tape and transfer the component by
holding the tape to a mechanism which controls the pitch of the leads and subsequently
83
Cut component from tape
Datum body/leads
Rotate (or not) for orientation
Cut leads to length
Transfer to placement head
Place over insertion area
Push into place
Bend leads for retention
Figure 6.11
allows the component leads to be cut at the correct length to give the appropriate length of
lead below the board. This mechanism also rotates the component to give the correct
polarity. The component is constrained on multiples of 0.1 in. pitch. In order to achieve
this the gripping mechanism is manufactured in multiples of 0.1 in. pitch for the cutting
and datumming exercise. The placement head matches this gripping mechanism and takes
the component from the cutting and restraining mechanism down over the holes through
which the leads are to be inserted.
The placement head then pushes on the body of the component such that the leads enter
the holes and as they do so the gripping device on the placement head is released and
withdrawn sideways so that the component is then held in place by the holes in the printed
circuit board and the pushing mechanism. This mechanism continues to push until the
component is in place and the bend mechanism bends the leads. The head then withdraws
and the gripping mechanism returns to datum above the body of the component. The
footprint considerations of the three heads are discussed elsewhere in Chapter 9. The
sequence of events that takes place in order to achieve this insertion is shown
diagrammatically in Figure 6.11. Typical placement heads for the axial, dual in-line, and
radial devices are shown in Figure 6.12.
84
Figure 6.12
A typical insertion heads for component handling
6.1.4 Surface mount devices
The handling of surface mount devices varies according to the range of capabilities of the
machine. The components are delivered either in tape form (illustrated in Figure 14.2) or
in tubes which are the direct descendant of the i.c. tubes already described. In the case of
components delivered in tape form the mechanism for removing the component from the
tape is firstly to peel back the covering layer exposing the blister in the tape which contains
the component. Figure 6.13 illustrates the handling mechanism. The component is now
picked up using a vacuum device which sucks the component on to the nozzle of the pickup head. As is clear from considerations of the dimensions of the devices which go down
to 1 mm x 2 mm in plan area, the tolerances in the blister are such that the component can
be positioned over a fairly wide range on the pick-up nozzle. Although in absolute terms
this may represent only as little as a quarter of a millimetre, in percentage terms it is
relatively large. Figure 6.14 illustrates a pick-up head and placement.
The orientation of the component is then corrected either by mechanical means (that is
tapping the component into an orthogonal position) or alternatively by using a vision
system to view the component and then rotate and manipulate the component to the
correct position for placing on the printed circuit board. In either case then the head will
swing over the board lowering the component down to come in contact with the board
such that the component is then held in place by a form of glue.
This glue can either be an adhesive to hold the component in place prior to soldering, or
it could be solder paste (which then creates a solder bond to the board during heating), or
the component may be treated en route to placement with a small blob of glue.
85
The component is then placed on the board in the correct position and held in place
prior to soldering. The same basic technique is used for handling components delivered in
tubes. It should be borne in mind that the tolerances of placement required are at least as
severe as insertion and probably more severe due to the tighter dimensions on printed
circuit boards used for surface mount devices. Typical tolerance would be in the order of
0.05mm (0.002 in.). The techniques described in this chapter are all used by the various
machines which are available on the market, and the succeeding chapters develop the
concept of insertion and onsertion.
Figure 6.13
A typical tape feed and tube feed for SMC machines
Figure 6.14
A typical SMC placement head
Chapter
All the different programming techniques used by the different companies, ultimately
come back to the same basic requirement. That requirement is: Which component is to be
inserted, what is its pitch, size or dimension, and where does it go? Supplementary
information would include polarity, bend instructions, etc. Depending upon the type of
machine chosen, there are almost as many ways to program the assembly machine as there
are machines available on the market. The programming technique varies from the use of
the assembly machine as a programmer by moving the pcb to the design location, and
then instructing which component has to be inserted, to the other extreme, a CAD
integrated programming system which the original CAD design information can be used
to drive the machine directly. The author is well aware that the latter is rather a glib
statement and there are very few truly integrated systems to allow a CAD origination to
create the pcb assembly program.
In the use of some machines the programming is off-line and, by the use of relatively
sophisticated software packages, can be self-checking and also give options as to the type
of kit generation that is required. A discussion of the various types of programming
requirements really has to start with the different types of machine available, which then
has implications as to the programming techniques used. Perhaps the simplest to
comprehend is the machine that inserts all types of components at a single point. This
machine clearly has one control system and one programming requirement for generating
the completely finished assembly, at least finished up to the point to where ACI can no
longer handle the components. At the other extreme is a range of machines coupled
together by automatic board handling systems controlled by one central processor, which
effectively provides the program for all the machines, which in turn operate asynchronously under their own program control to assemble those components at each station.
The pros and cons are such that the user must be aware of the limitations of all these
systems before making a commitment to the correct machine or range of machines to be
used.
87
The centrally controlled system would appear to be appropriate to the larger operation
in that a high throughput of boards is possible as each machine in the assembly process
can operate at high speed and - provided the balance of components on the board is
reasonably well matched to the speed - then the investment may be justified on the
grounds of pcb throughput. Programming such machines however, may present
difficulties in the range of options available.
In some types of machine the program is generated by typing the information into the
computer. The information that the computer will require includes the component type,
the pitch of that component, and the location of the component on the board, usually in
some form of x, y co-ordinate code, the polarity of the component and any other
information relevant to the assembly process. At first sight this may appear to be
straightforward. One then has to bear in mind that the assembly process for all machines
can be footprint limited. The footprint is simply defined as the area around the
component, and includes the component insertion head. This area must be free of
obstruction at the pcb level in order to allow the insertion of the component in question.
The design guidelines refer the designer to allow for these requirements. Equally, the
sequence of component insertion must also allow for the component footprint.
In the case of the multiple machine system, where each machine is devoted to one type
of component, it may be possible to arrange that the components are assembled in such an
order that there is unlikely to be a footprint clash. However, it is probable that with
existing designs of pcbs footprint clashes are inevitable with this approach.
In the case of the single machine assembling boards all at one location, i.e. using a
mixture of components, these machines usually have sophisticated software which allows
for the footprint in such a way that the sequence of component assembly is controlled not
by the programmer but by the software generating that sequence and eliminating most if
not all the footprint problem. By this means the programmer's task is reduced simply to
the creation of the data which is then manipulated by the program work station in such a
way as to control both the kitting of the machine and the assembly sequence. It is
necessary with this approach to put component priorities into the footprint program such
that even though the machine can choose the assembly sequence of the components, it is
restricted by the component priority list as a first level of control. The reason for this
requirement is to enable the programmer to choose to place some of the smaller
components which may be covered or obscured by larger components at a later stage of
assembly, which may not be obvious to the footprint program in the machine.
What is absolutely necessary is for the choice of machine or range of machines to be
studied in conjunction with footprint and programming limitations together with an
appreciation of the needs of the assembly and design criteria in order to optimize the
assembly and programming process. In some companies it may not be acceptable to take
assembly machines off-line in order to program the next board or range of boards because
their throughput might be such that the time lost could be disastrous. This is particularly
true in the case of companies with a very high generation of new boards, who may wish to
assemble two or three prototypes by automatic machines for evaluation, and they may
only have two or three batches often or fifteen boards to assemble for the full production
operation. The ratio of time taken for assembly to programming is such that it would be
unacceptable to take a machine off-line for programming if the production throughput
per board were relatively small.
88
Therefore it is sensible for such companies to opt for a machine which has off-line
programming, so that the design and production engineering departments can combine to
produce the assembly program and kitting requirements completely remotely from the
assembly machine. The assembly machine must therefore be readily re-kittable and
readily changeable to any new pcb design and program. A degree of iterative feedback
between the assembly machine and the programming work station may be necessary in
order to eliminate programming faults, such as positional faults, or the generation of
reference hole faults. The machine may not be able to find the reference hole to start with
or is unable to find one or two components due to digitizing errors. This process however,
may only take a few minutes.
At first sight it would seem that CAD down-loading of information in order to control
the assembly process is an ideal. Indeed it is an ideal. The problem however, is that all
CAD work stations produce data in different formats, which is usually incompatible with
the assembly data formats, and thus some form of transformation from one to the other is
necessary. The author is not prepared at this stage to discuss all the details of all types of
CAD and assem bly machines as this is a task which would occupy at least another book. The
information transfer processes that are necessary from CAD to automatic assembly are
essentially software structured. Even under the conditions where all the information can
be down-loaded, quite often there is needed further information of a type not required for
the CAD process. This further information is usually mechanical information such as the
dimensions of the component, the length of the leads to be cropped, the direction of the
bend for the leads (where this is an option available to some ACI machines), and where
this information has to be added manually, as part of the programming process.
In order to give an example of the type of programming structure that is necessary for
one type of machine, the author summarizes below the various stages in the programming
function needed in order to achieve the full available facility for the Ambotech Robin
machine.
The programming manual starts with an introduction which indicates the description
of the system, the job flow, i.e. the order in which programming is carried out, and a
glossary of terms. (Note: The glossary page includes all the terms referred to in the book.)
Disc management is covered in the programming function in order to enable the user to
format discs which are used in the machine, right through to directory facilities, etc. The
work station is then described in hardware terms and, in the case of the Robin machine,
consists of a personal computer linked to a printer and a digitizer. The printer is used to
output the data such as kitting lists, etc. in printed form in order that they may be taken to
stores, for instruction on kitting. Other available functions from the printer include
placement idents, polarity, pitch(es) and the full output of data after the vision correction
has been carried out (in the programming stage). Also in this section on the work station is
the data preparation required for the machine.
The details of programming are to enable the user to create a component kit, i.e. the
first true programming task for the system, once it is in normal use. The options under
component kitting, are to add to the kit, change, delete, and of course print the kit out.
Under component placement the user is requested to input the screen ident, the part
number, and then facilities are there to add delete, change, and print out the component
placement situation. Under the section on component placement there is the requirement
89
to digitize the co-ordinates for the component in question, using a digitizer as a part of the
programmer.
The next heading in the programming manual, is 'facility to edit the job leader', i.e. the
facility to change the title and other introductory data to the job in question. The facility
exists to display lists which include printing out and displaying job leaders, location
reference points, the step-and-repeat function, the grid chosen, platen number, etc. as well
as kitting and placement information. These lists of information can either be displayed
on the screen or printed out, depending on the requirement.
The programming manual then goes on to describe some of the more detailed aspects of
programming including bend orientations (this facility is unique in the Robin and enables
the user to choose the bend orientation for the lead being bent beneath the board for
component retention). There is in all systems a default condition, and this can be used
throughout or changed at will to enable, for example, leads, to be bent along the direction
of tracks on the board thus minimizing the chance of shorts, etc. Facilities exist, for
collating the kit and placement lists to ensure that every component in the kit is in place
and that there are no surplus components which have not yet been placed during the
programming exercise.
Facilities exist and are described in detail for re-referencing the job, i.e. the facility for
moving the pcb around on the platen. Facilities available within the programming
structure allow the use of macro facilities, i.e. the use of computer power to create a macro
and reproduce this in different orientations on the platen. This is subtly different from the
use of step-and-repeat facilities where the user may choose to place a number of identical
pcbs on a platen and assemble each one in sequence. The difference between step-andrepeat in macro is that the macro creates a single job, and the step-and-repeat effectively is
a series of jobs on the same platen.
Further refinement within the Robin system includes vision corrections which enable
the program to run through the digitized pcb live, and to feed back corrections to the
digitized information thus producing a precisely digitized pcb. The subtlety of the system
would allow holes incorrectly digitized by as much as 0.05 in. to be moved on to grid, and
for pitches to be corrected in the same way. There is then the facility for realigning
artwork in position and for reloading different jobs for editing functions.
One of the more powerful programs is described in detail - and that is the footprint
program already mentioned previously in this chapter. Kitting and other details are
covered in the programming manual, which in the case of Ambotech extends to some one
hundred and fifty pages of information, covering the full detail of programming that is
required inevitably for the full facilities to be exploited, simply and easily by a user
company.
An alternative machine system created by Contax Limited also has off-line programming capability and a number of other features. I have included below the contents page
showing the depth to which the program manual goes in detail, in order to aid the user in
creating the program, modifying the program and generally adjusting the program for
use.
90
7.1
Contents
Introduction
Co-ordinate entry
Getting started
Set up origin
Offsetting the origin
Square the board
Enter co-ordinates
Error check on board references
Set up grid size
Set up board reference file
Change clinch
Setting up
Running off-line programmer
Use of menus
Files
Main menu
Parts list
Co-ordinate entry
Program file creation
Create a formatted disc
Print outs
System configuration
Use set up file postprocessor
Read back
Parts list
Alter component description
Continue entering parts list
Delete component description
Enter new parts list
House-keeping
Move components
Data entry
Description
Polarity
Size
Number of legs
Lead spacing
Message displayed
Quantity in list
Board references
Clinch
Editing

Print outs
Print
Print
Print
Print
Print
kitting list
set up list
sticky labels
parts list
undigitized co-ordinates
Example
Booting up
Stuffmaster program
Parts list
Co-ordinate entry
Delta and full mode
Direction of clinch
Origin check
Undigitized components
Finishing co-ordinate entry
Backing-up files
Amendment for hard drive
Amistar has produced a wide range of machines, and programming procedures. An

example from the text is as follows:
Machine description
Amistar's CI-3000 Automatic DIP inserter is a complete stand-alone system used for the
rapid installation of DIPs on to pcbs. The machine is programmed quickly and efficiently
91
by manually stepping the machine through a new board, one DIP at a time, so that the
machine will learn the location of each DIP and the DIP type expected for each location.
The program can be stored on a magnetic floppy disc and recalled from disk at the touch
of a button.
The machine can 'remember' up to 500 DIP locations over the 18 in. x 18 in. insertable
area, and the disk can store up to 70 such programs. During programming, the table
motion is controlled by the operator using the joystick located on the hand-held
programming box. Spots of light are projected from above on to the top surface of the
board. The table (with board) is moved so that one spot is over the reference end (left rear)
hole of a DIP pattern. A sensor, under the board, 'sees' the light coming through the pin 1
hole and moves the table automatically to position the DIP holes exactly under the head.
The co-ordinates for this hole are entered by depressing the 'enter' pushbutton. This same
sensor may be used during an insertion run to correct a program which is slightly
mispositioned due to board-drilling inaccuracies.
The operator selects a DIP type from one of the 94 input stations for each location on
the board at the time of programming. At the same time, at each location, the operator
selects the following function with switches on the program box: DIP polarity, DIP
preform action if desired, DIP into either board holes or socket, 'alternate tube' or not,
quantity of DIP legs, and the appropriate insertion head.
When 'ALT' selection stations are programmed, consecutive tubes are used for
identical components. The 'ALT' pair always consists of an odd-numbered selection
station and the next higher even number. This feature allows continual operation of
machine by allowing the operator to replace an exhausted tube while the machine is
selecting components from the alternate.
The CI-3000 also features a 'PARK and WAIT' mode which is used when several
boards are run at one time on a single tooling plate. When parked, the inserter is not
operating and the table is not moving to allow the operator to replace completed boards.
The PARK position of the table may be anywhere within the motion limits.
Because of the automatic 'self-learning' programming method used on the CI-3000, no
computer-type input is needed and no experience with programming or computer
languages is required.
It is not the purpose of this book to reproduce the entire programming manual in detail
- simply to indicate that there are facilities that are available within the program which
have some novel interest above the general programming level of all machines. Generally
the programming capability of functions are very similar to the Ambotech Robin. This is
hardly surprising in view of the fact that the source information is the same; that is, a parts
list and the requirement to insert those parts on a pcb, in a specific order. The print-outs
are different and the requirement to create a specific pitch for the component as distinct
from digitizing that component. The printed set-up list which shows a great deal of very
useful information of the assembly, is an example produced directly from the information
provided by Contax Limited and shows the capability of the system in detail, to identify
the product, its position, pitch, etc. and the type of bend and other information required
(Figure 7.1).
One of the differences between the Con tax system and the Ambotech system is the
clinch (or bend) mechanism. The Ambotech system allows for sixteen directions of bend
whereas the Contax system only allows for two, that is, inwards and outwards, but it also
92
14: 35: 54, 6-9-86, Setting List

Origin: Small hole top right numbered 1
R5
R6
R7
R8
R9
C3
C2
C1
C4
C5
C6
C9
C10
C8
R4
R3
R2
R1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
11
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
23
24
25
26
27
28
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
39
40
41
42
43
44
R10
R11
45
47
48
49
50
52
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
20
01
21
11
05
04
03
02
01
01
21
12
03
02
01
01
21
06
05
04
03
02
01
01
21
11
04
03
02
01
01
21
02
01
01
21
12
7
7
7
7
7
7
4
2
6
2
6
6
0
0
0
0
0
2
6
6
0
0
0
2
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
6
6
0
0
0
0
2
6
0
0
2
6
6
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
+0.00
+00.00
+0.00
+00.00
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
STUFFMASTER EXAMPLE
+0.00
0.01
+00.00
+0.00
RESISTOR 10K
01
B
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
-0.50
-0.90
0.00
0.00
-0.45
-0.30
-0.98
0.20
-0.35
-1.15
-0.55
0.35
-0.17
-1.40
-0.73
0.45
-0.80
-1.70
0.00
0.50
+0.00
+0.00
0.01
+00.00
CAPACITORS 123456789012345
B
02
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
-0.10
0.00
-2.20
0.00
-0.10
-2.40
0.00
0.00
-0.10
-2.60
0.00
0.00
+0.00
+0.00
0.01
+00.00
CAPACITORS 30PUF
03
B
-1.40
0.20
0.00
0.00
-1.10
0.00
-1.40
0.20
0.00
-1.40
-0.20
0.20
-0.20
-1.30
-1.40
0.00
-0.20
-1.20
-1.30
0.00
-0.20
-1.30
-1.60
0.00
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
0.01
RESISTORS 30K
04
B
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
0.00
-0.90
-0.20
0.50
-0.10
0.00
-0.90
0.50
0.00
-0.90
0.50
0.00
0.00
-0.90
0.10
0.50
+0.00
+0.00
0.01
+00.00
RESISTORS 15K
B 05
0.00
-2.80
-0.90
0.90
-1.70
0.00
-2.80
0.90
+0.00
+0.00
0.01
+00.00
DIODE 1N414
B
06
+0.00
+0.00
+00.00
+00.00
NOP
NOP
NOP
NOP
NOP
NOP
Enable C/C
Reset Bin
Acc Mess
Adv Bin 1
Pass Mess
Pol Off
Inward
Inward
Inward
Inward
Inward
Adv Bin 1
Pass Mess
Pol On
Inward
Inward
Inward
Adv Bin 1
Pass Mess
Inward
Inward
Inward
Inward
Inward
Inward
Adv Bin 1
Pass Mess
Pol Off
Inward
Inward
Inward
Inward
Adv Bin 1
Pass Mess
Inward
Inward
Adv Bin 1
Pass Mess
Pol On
93

D3
D2
D1
D4
53
54
55
56
58
59
60
61
02
01
01
21
11
02
01
01
0
0
2
6
6
0
0
2
-2.20
-2.20
0.01
07
B
+00.00
-2,60
-2.60
0.01
-1.50
-0.30
-1.10
-0.30
+00.00
+0.00
DIODES 2N414
+0.00
+00.00
-1.00
0.50
-1.60
0.50
+00.00
+0.00
0.00
0.00
+0.00
+0.00
0.00
0.00
+0.00
Inward
Inward
Adv Bin 1
Pass Mess
Pol Off
Inward
Inward
Adv Bin 1
(v 2.0 IBM PC)
Figure 7.1
enables the operator to disable the cut and clinch completely. A feature of the program is
that having selected the operation of the clinch (that is inwards, outwards or disable) it
stays that way until another selection is made. In other words the default condition is the
latest selected condition.
Within the programming structure there is the facility to create and move origins; to
create and move step-and-repeat images; and also to correct for the placement of the art
work on the digitizing tablet. This is also true of the Ambotech system and it indicates the
length to which the software designers have to go to in order to create a user-friendly
programming system.
One of the other aspects of programming which is developing very rapidly is the ability
for programs to be interchangeable from one type of machine to another. The author has
discovered that a number of companies will actually provide programs which are
compatible with the competitor's machine, so that it is possible for a pcb assembly
company to have machines on the premises provided by different manufacturing
companies, but operated under the same programming requirement and programming
instructions. This interchangeability the author believes will develop over the years so that
a common programming system should evolve in time. Hopefully, this common
programming system will evolve rapidly in the case of surface-mount components (but
the author also believes that due to the competitive nature of the business every
manufacturer will try to preserve his own security in the market place, by restricting the
programming capabilities of his machines to his own system).
With CAD programming there has been a move towards funnelling all CAD outputs
into what is termed EDIF configuration and to use that configuration to create the
program for assembly of pcb boards on machinery. The difficulty with this is that the
EDIF format does not necessarily transfer all the information required for assembly, such
as any priority requirements due to size, footprints due to different machines, etc., and
therefore there is always going to be a necessity for post-processing of CAD information
prior to machine programming.
Although the author has chosen to outline the various procedures on some machines
there are many parallel facilities available on all types of machine. In many cases the
programs cannot be translated from one machine to another, but it is known that one
94
company (Contax Limited), have managed to produce systems which enable CAD
downloading of information direct on to the machine, with a minimum of interface
required from the human operators. All the automatic machine producers run courses for
programming their machines and provide substantial programming manuals in detail. It
is not the purpose of this book to draw differences between the various systems, but
simply to indicate that for one of the most recent machines, programming has reached a
very high degree of self-checking, therefore reducing the chance of operator error.
Chapter 8
One of the more difficult decisions that has to be taken in any company is the organization
of inspection and quality control systems. In many companies there is an extensive
amount of inspection of printed circuit boards after the assembly stage and prior to
soldering. The reasons for this are quite clear. If a printed circuit board with a faulty
component or component incorrectly inserted on the board is soldered then this fault goes
through to cleaning, to testing and eventually to a rework stage which, if the board were
perfect in the first place, would not have been necessary.
However, the reason for inspection at the post-assembly stage has to be brought into
question when the assembly is done automatically. By its very nature automatic assembly
should imply perfect assembly, which in turn should eliminate the need for inspection at
the post-assembly, pre-soldering stage. Needless to say the chance of achieving perfect
assembly in any environment is not very high, but the chance of achieving an assembly
success rate in excess of say 99.7 per cent is significant and therefore the economic
justification for inspection is called into question. In order to establish whether or not
post-assembly inspection is needed from an economic standpoint, one has to establish
relative costs throughout the assembly process, in order to determine the cost ratio ofrework versus inspection - against a measure of reliability on insertion. Figure 8.1 shows the
pcb percentage success rate, plotted against the number of components per board, to the
percentage assembly success rate per component. Note that this assumes a truly random
error rate, which in practice is not true, and the result will be distorted by some
components having a higher rate than others. What is very clear is that a small difference
in component success rate makes a great difference to successful pcb assembly rate.
A typical board - if there is such a thing - would have around 80-100 components and,
with a success rate of 99.7 per cent for the components, a finished board percentage is
likely to be 75 to 80 per cent. Although this may appear disastrous, one has to remember
that components have an inherent failure rate - and this has to be taken into consideration
96
100
90
ell
80
0
.0
70
"0
0
0
60
Cl
'0 50
(J)
Cl 40
ell
30
'E
(J)
~ 20
(J)
10
Il.
0
I/)
"E
99.9% compo rate
50
100
150
200
250
Number of components per board
Figure 8.1
when making decisions. The author would also add that the manual success rate is likely
to be significantly lower!
If one could accept that a 95 per cent perfect board assembly rate is sufficient (i.e. one in
twenty boards has a component fault), then with a 99 per cent component success rate,
only five components per board give a statistical chance of achieving that rate - this rising
to fifty components per board at 99.9 per cent component success rate.
This done, the management can then decide whether or not it is worthwhile inspecting
prior to soldering or whether one can leave out the inspection stage knowing that re-work
will increase, but, providing the assembly reliability is sufficiently high, the overall cost
will in fact be reduced.
There is, of course, the other argument which enters at this point in that the total cost of
re-work may well exceed the cost of throwing away the assembled board altogether, and
the answer is to build a small percentage in excess of the requirement of boards. This again
is a subject which requires economic justification and a table shows the various aspects
and ratios which become clearer when one analyses the problems. What is clearly
important to the assembly operation is to ensure that the components in the machine
prior to assembly are the correct ones and in the correct place and, in the case of machines
with no polarity check, are correctly polarized prior to the insertion stage. There is
therefore some argument as to whether one should either do a quality control check on the
kit prior to assembly, or inspect the first board from the machine, which would indicate
whether the kit is correct or not.
The flow of operations which relate to this decision-making is shown in the chart
(Figure 8.2). As can be seen from the tables and charts in this chapter the actual cost per
hour ofthe person in pounds or dollars becomes largely irrelevant; what does matter are
the ratios that only the ultimate user can decide whether to retain inspection, or omit it
altogether after ACI.
What becomes clear when considering the need for inspection is the influence that the
size of the printed circuit board and the number of components on that board have on the
criteria for inspection. The chart (Figure 8.1) shows graphically the board assembly
97
Probable no benefit from inspection

post ACI
Need to inspect
High-density, high-component cost
and MIL-STD
Very high value board, multilayer
Low component cost

High pcb volume
Low pcb volume
Reliability of assembly comparable

to component failure
High-value components, not

socketed
Considerable manual assembly postACI

High-value components, socketed
Low-cost product
Inspection decisions
Figure 8.2
success rate versus the component insertion success rate and how that relates to the
number of components per board. It is quite clear that the smaller the number of
components per board and the higher the success rate, the less need there is for inspection.
Chapter 9
When considering assembling pcbs in your environment there are very many factors
which influence the choice of machine. These factors relate to such matters as the spread
of component type, the size and complexity of the pcb, the number of boards, the number
of components you wish to assemble in a given period or time, the number of different
boards that you wish to assemble and whether you wish to assemble prototypes by
machine, and how often the same pcb is recycled for assembly with or without changes. It
would be very easy to answer the question 'Which machine?' by simply saying that any
machine or machine system will assemble your pcbs; it is also quite glib to say that the
more you spend on a machine or machine system the more likelihood there is of fully
assembling your pcb. However, if the question is to be answered in a cost-effective manner
a detailed study of machine specifications coupled to your requirement is a necessity.
Other influential factors which only you can answer include the prediction of future
trends in your business, i.e., 'Is your business effectively steady-state, or increasing at a
small rate per annum, or are you at the early state of developing a business which will
grow rapidly - increasing the demand for automatic component assembly?' Equally, the
changing face of technology may influence your decision. Although it has become a
truism in this, as well as many industries, the change rarely happens as rapidly as people
predict. Therefore this may become somewhat less influential when studied in detail in
your environment.
It is impossible to compare a machine system such as the Universal Pass-thru system
with a machine like the Ambotech Robin. The end result of both machines is a fully
assembled board including axial DIL and radial components. The Universal capabilities
extends out to include SIL and other components. The difference is however, in terms of
speed, flexibility and cost; a direct comparison between both approaches is difficult
without understanding the implications of all the technical and financial detail. For the
same money one can procure a number of Ambotech machines whose total output as a
99

DIL
~_R_a_d_ia_I~1........
Complete kit (ex.
manual assembly)
1~__ ~
A_xi_al__
~-....!------,"
Assembly
area
Finished board
Against
For
Complete board at one pass
Single programming operation
Any component shortage stops

assembly of all components
Sophisticated footprints must be
included within program
Greater flexibility
Better installation economics
Small machine floorspace
Any components jam stops all

components assembly
With more than one machine then any breakdown is a

proportion of total
Figure 9.1
component assembly rate will be the same (or faster) as Universal (or others): and
therefore the comparison then becomes one of whether the user wishes to have a number
of identical machines all producing boards (and interchangeable), or whether one wants a
large single Pass-thru system.
At the time of writing this book, it is considered both impractical and unwise to make
any firm recommendations upon which type of machine to use in anyone environment.
Suffice it to say that there are a number of charts that show the different methods of using
such machines and the different considerations that have to be borne in mind when the
choice of machine is being made. The requirement put on the user is that he decides what
the need is and then procures from each and all the manufacturers the full specifications of
the machines; then he carries out a comparison of the machine capabilities, requirements,
and costs, and compares with the user requirement. In a perfect world, of course, one
would then arrive at a machine configuration ideal to the user. The production of pcbs is
rather less than a perfect world and therefore compromise is always going to be necessary.
However, reference to the charts, coupled with detailed examination of the latest
specification of machine should be made in order to guide the choice. It might also be wise
to investigate where the machines are manufactured, how they are supported in the user's
locality, and whether that support can be obtained in the form of a maintenance contract.
Let us examine the alternatives that are available in principle, as distinct from those
100
Kit
~
Axial
assy
~
Transfer
OIL
assy
Independance from component

shortage of one type
Automatic board handling

(and through to soldering)
Other
Against
For
Higher individual component

speed possible
Transfer
Radial
assy
Speed balance - could mean

over investment if components
not balanced on board
Large factory area
Multiple programs - or all linked
to separate control computer
A break down of any unit can stop
all production
High initial investment
Figure 9.2
which are available in practice. First let us consider the machine which is a stand-alone
unit assembling all three types of component, i.e. DIL, axial and radial.
This machine then has a configuration and pros and cons as outlined in Figure 9.1. As
will be seen from the figure, the pros and cons of the single stand-alone machine are
relatively clear. It is fairly obvious that the choice of such a machine should be made by
those companies demanding high flexibility with perhaps modest throughput, and it is
suited ideally to those companies in start-up or early production situations where the
conservation of capital investment is important. Such a machine may appear on the face
of it to be a slower option than the multi-site machines, and therefore could possibly be
rejected on these grounds alone. This would not be a wise decision if based solely on that
figure, because the multi-option machines have a parking situation between machines,
and therefore the overall assembly rate is not as rapid as one might have assumed, other
than in ideal circumstances - a high-throughput, well-balanced board.
Figure 9.2 shows a similar chart for the multi-option machines. A study of the two
tables will indicate that there are pros and cons for each type of machine. The problem
with an ultimate decision of which type of machine the system any user should adopt, is
that all the pros and cons actually overlap between both systems. For example, if one is
intending to spend a substantial sum of money as an investment on equipment -let us say
a seven-figure sum - then all the options are open from an economic point of view. By the
same token the stand-alone machine can be installed such that there are several such
machines available with that amount of investment. With several machines the
throughput of the assembly area is probably comparable to, if not better than, the multioption machines.
If one then considers the two systems standing side by side, a breakdown of anyone of
101
the multi-option machines stops the whole assembly process, unless one has substantial
storage in between the assembly operations. On the other side of the coin, with the multioption machines and transfer mechanisms between machines there is very little boardhandling required other than to load the board into the machine and remove it at the end
of the assembly process. But of course that is true of the stand-alone machine in that the
board is placed on the machine, the total assembly takes place, and the board removed.
The difference comes when considering the flexibility between the two operations in that
the stand-alone machines on an assembly floor can each be doing different work. One can
be allocated to prototype work, for example, to verify assembly programs prior to being
transferred to one of the assembly machines. On the other hand the multi-option
machines using the techniques of automatic transfer between machines can also be
programmed so that even one board, i.e. a prototype, may be assembled on that system.
It seems logical when considering the different sorts of machine to look for the
individual detailed points within the specification and examine those points against cost
justification. Indeed, if one starts as described in an earlier chapter by deciding a limited
component specification for pcb assembly then the inevitable consequence is that almost
all the machines will be capable of assembling that board. If one takes the argument
further and, for example, decides on a stand-alone machine and takes a specification of
that machine as a limiting factor on deciding on component sourcing, then of course 100
per cent of components can be assembled by that machine.
In other words, before deciding on the machine, one has to consider all the aspects of
board assembly and design in the environment being considered, and one has to examine
the component specifications for assembly requirements and the machine requirements
side-by-side. The overall picture is one of a management decision satisfying all the needs
of the company. This inevitably is a fairly exhaustive task and perhaps some guidelines
and pointers should be added to this chapter to indicate areas where detailed study should
be made before making the decision.
Footprint
The mechanical considerations of the footprint are a vital part of machine choice. Below
are listed, with corresponding figures (Figures 9.3-9.7) the footprint for the Robin.
Figures are shown for Universal (Figures 9.8-9.14) but they cannot be compared,
because with Universal the machines follow in sequence, and thus great care has to be
taken with layout and sequence to avoid component footprint clashes. With the Robin
there exists a program which automatically allows for such clashes, and sequences the
assembly such that mechanical footprints may effectively be reduced to the component
itself in some cases, or the component plus a small surround.
In the event that a clash of priorities occurs in the placement sequence, it is then possible
that the mechanical footprint is important.
102
-1'1
I
Figure 9.3
Footprints - mechanical dimensions
Bend mechanism (Figure 9.3)

Tolerance
Dimension
(mm)
(inJ
Description
Wire-to-wire clearance (bend parallel or
2.54
0.10
Min.
sway)
B
Bend, centre line to platen edge (bend
5.0
0.20
Min.
towards edge)
Bend, centre line to platen edge (bend
3.0
0.12
Min.
c
parallel to edge)
Bend, centre line to platen edge (bend away 3.0
D
0.12
Min.
from edge)
*On small pitches, the minimum is affected by the direction of the adjacent bend.
Note
A*
lO3

K ----+--~-
L-----f-I~.j-.-
::r
H
Figure 9.4
Axial head (Figure 9.4)

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
M
Pitch 0.4 to 1 in., in 0.001 in. increments

Board footprint from wire centre line
Board footprint from wire centre line
Footprint H above board
Board footprint width
Footprint G above board
Height to full size width
Height to full size lengthwise
Cutaway radius
Body edge to centre line
Insert pusher width
Cutaway radius
1.25mm
2.35mm
3.00mm
2.50mm
3.00mm
1.20mm
2.50mm
3.00mm
2.20mm
2.00mm
3.00mm
104
---f+o--J
I+-- - - E--___+!
A
B
Figure 9.S
24-pin, 0.3 in. DIP head ( Figure 9.5)

Note
A
B
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
Description
Side clearance to adjacent DIP lead
End clearance to adjacent DIP lead
Height at adjacent lead
Footprint (after release)
Width of jaw
Maximum adjacent component
Width at height 12.0
First lead to end of jaw
Angle of jaw
Angle of jaw
Dimension
(mm)
(in.)
2.54 0.10
2.54 0.10
3.00 0.12
5.70 0.22
32.00 1.26
18.00 0.71
11.00 0.43
12.50 0.49
2.00 0.08
65
2
75
2
Tolerance
(mm)
(in.)
Min.
Min.
Max.
Max.
0.1 0.004
Max.
Max.
0.1
0.004
105
it
-1I
At=
Ar=
B-
Figure 9.6
40-pin, 0.6 in. DIP head (Figure 9.6)
A
B
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
Side clearance to adjacent DIP lead

End clearance to adjacent DIP lead
Height of adjacent lead shoulder
Footprint (after release)
Width of jaw
Maximum adjacent component
First lead to end of jaw
Angle of jaw
Angle of jaw
2.54
2.54
3.00
9.50
52.00
18.00
14.80
16.30
1.90
65
75
0.10
0.10
0.12
0.37
2.06
0.71
0.58
0.64
0.07+
Min.
Min.
Max.
Max.
O.I
Max.
Max.
Max.
0.1
2
2
0.004
0.004
106
c+--+-+--+--+~~~~---
Figure 9.7
0.2 in . radial head (Figure 9.7)

Note
A
B
C
D
E
F
Description
Max. component width
Max. component length
Pole lead to edge
Rear clearance (with 8 mm radial components) (0.5 mm
margin)
Front clearance (with 0.3 mm margin)
Pitch lead to edge
Dimension
(mm)
(inJ
8.0
0.315
11.0
0.433
2.8
0.110
14.7
0.579
1.5
2.0
0.059
0.079
107
oo=:;:t
6.35 mm (0.250 inch)
-l
0.25 mm (0.010 inch)
!-2.54 mm (0.100 inch)
ce=:J, ce=:J,
ii'
Standard fingers and standard verifier fingers
'u
~ c G:lJ re::::t!
I
2.54 mm (0.100 inch)
---J
I'
=::It=-3'.81 mm (0.150 inch)

-5.08 mm (0.200 inch)
Centre space
7.62 mm (0.300 inch)
10.16 mm (0.400 inch)
15.24 mm (0.600 inch)
Socket fingers and socket verifier fingers
r=;, ~ ~ oC=2o
I 'l i L-iL~.54 mm (0.100 inch)
I
5.08 mm (0.200 inch) --l.....j

2.54 mm (0.100 inch)
3.81 mm (0 .150 inch)

Centre space
7.62 mm (0.300 inch)
10.16 mm (0.400 inch)
15.24 mm (0.600 inch)
High density socket fingers
Figure 9.8
Example from Dynapert (extracts from design guidelines)
Above the board (insertion tooD
In the 'up' position, the insertion tooling allows approximately 19.05 mm (0.75 in.) above
the pcb as clearance for other components on top of the pcb. Since the inserting fingers
guide the component leads down into the holes in the pcb, and then swing away from the
component, consideration must be given to the clearances needed between other
components and the inserting fingers. Figure 9.8 shows minimum clearances needed
between components.
108
---- ------
Side
Side
~Footprint
I-D
14-- - G- ----+I
Standard finger dimensions
~$-:$:~eo~,
-t:-
Footprint
.1
Socket finger dimensions
DIM
MM
INCH
DIM
MM
INCH
A
B
C
D
E
F
19.30
14.22
9.14
1.27
17.83
22.91
50 .80
0.760
0.560
0.360
0.050
0.702
0.902
2.000
A
B
C
D
19.30
14.22
9.14
1.27
18.74
23.82
50.80
0.760
0.560
0.360
0.050
0.738
0.938
2.000
Figure 9.9
F
G
Figure 9.10
Below the board (cut-and-c/inch unit)

The HPDl has only an outward clinch capability. In the 'down' position, the cut-andclinch unit allows 14.27 mm (0.562 in.) below the pcb as clearance for obstructions under
the pcb.
As the insertion tooling starts down, the cut and clinch unit moves up into position. At
the bottom of the insertion tooling stroke, the moving knives of the cut-and-clinch unit
109
Side
Side
~lle}..ee-e,
-\. B
D --~
Standard verifier finger dimensions
A
B
C
D
./
Footprint
Footprint
DIM
Socket verifier finger dimensions
MM
INCH
DIM
MM
INCH
6.60
1.27
39.12
50.80
0.260
0.050
1.540
2.000
A
B
C
D
6.60
1.27
40.28
50.80
0.260
0.050
1.586
2.000
Figure 9.11
Figure 9.12
are actuated, cutting and clinching the component leads. The raised cut-and-clinch unit
also serves to limit downward movement of the pcb during the insertion cycle.
When inserting components into sockets rather than directly into the pcb, the cut-andclinch unit rises to support the pcb, but the clinch mechanism is disabled by the program.
The pcb designer must make sure that the uncut component lead is long enough to
extend below the pcb at least 1.02 mm (0.04in.) to be cut and clinched underneath. The
clinch angle can be varied from 0" to 45 from the vertical. When using the standard cutand-clinch unit, the cut length can be adjusted from 1.14 to 1.52mm (0.045 to 0.06 in.).
Leads from 1.02 to 1.14mm (0.04 to 0.045 in.) in length will be clinched, but not cut. The
cut-and-clinch unit can be permanently modified to allow a minimum length of 0.89 mm
(0.035 in.). The clinch angle and cut length are mechanical adjustments that cannot be
varied during machine operation.
110
-.
--r--
----1
6_
"
E
Front
(---- ~-----J
~~~I===?*== ...i.
IT
Side
Right side
'X!:::;:~
~
D
F
.. I
Footprint
High density socket finger dimensions

DIM
MM
INCH
9.52
6.98
19.63
1.27
5.46
50.80
0.375
0.275
0.773
0.050
0.215
2.000
B
C
D
E
F
Figure 9.13
Clinch unit dimensions

INCH
DIM
MM
1.820
46.23
1.000
25.40
7.62
0.300
0.850
21.59
Centre space
plus 2.54 mm
(0.100 inch)
1.980
50.29
0.520
13.21
16.51
0.650
0.520
13.21
0.500
12.70
0.250
6.35
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
Figure 9.14
Figure 9.14 shows dimensions of the cut-and-clinch unit. The dimensions can be used to
calculate required clearances between the cut-and-clinch unit and insert edges, surface
mounted devices, heat sinks, or other obstructions under the pcb.
Giving examples of the footprint requirements of two different machines will give the
reader some concept of the difficulties that may be faced when choosing, or at least
attempting to choose, an appropriate machine for the task. Footprint however, is only
one of the aspects of machine choice. The other aspects are touched upon in the chapters
on costing and design, etc., but perhaps one should list other aspects of machine choice
here.
111
One of the factors picked upon most by potential users of automation is the speed of the
machine - and this factor has to be taken in its broadest sense; by this I mean the speed at
which a pcb is produced in total, rather than the speed of the insertion of anyone
particular component. This has already been touched upon but it is necessary to clarify
the speed requirements of any machine. In very many applications in the pcb industry
there is a need for a high degree of flexibility and changeability from board to board type,
and therefore speed should be a measure not only of the insertion rate, component to
component, but also the speed at which the machine will produce a completed pcb and
then produce another type of pcb and then a further type of pcb. So one is actually looking
for the average speed of insertion per component irrespective of component type or,
alternatively, the average rate of assembly of boards.
Clearly, if all one is producing is a single pcb without any changes then there is no
changeover time and no change of kit, program, etc. to contend with. Therefore one is
concerned solely with the speed at which the component is inserted and held in place. If
one is using a machine for a specific type of component such as an axial only machine, or a
DIL only machine, then one has to bear in mind the balance between the rates of different
machines. In most machinery types there is not a lot of relationship between a DIL, an axial
or a radial machine, even within the same manufacturing company, and therefore one has
to start with a likely average of each type of component on a board. Then, by using the
rate of the insertion of each of those types of component, one can calculate an overall rate
for assembling the average board in the user company.
It is quite probable that there will be a limitation in one or other component type, and
that the remaining machines will be standing idle for periods of time. Therefore it does not
matter how fast those machines run because the limitation will be on the machine with the
slowest assembly rate. If however one uses a machine capable of inserting all the
components on the board and the assembly rate is the same for each of those types of
components, it is quite clear that there is no wastage of machine time in any given
assembly. If, however, one of the feed paths to the head is slower than the others then the
limitation will be on that feed rate. However if the machine is asynchronous and designed
to take the next component available (subject to a footprint demand) then it is probable
that the rate achievable is comparable to the fastest rate of any type of component.
The implication is therefore that a multi-component machine for most applications
would appear to be better from the point of view of speed and cost. For the information of
the reader the author attaches here a list of typical claimed insertion speeds, for different
types of machine. It is quite clear that there is a large variation in insertion speed,
depending upon the type of machine and the manufacturer, and it will be necessary for
potential users to analyse their requirements in detail when considering progress from
semi-automatic, or manual to automatic, in order that they do not suffer from excess
expenditure when trying to achieve automated assembly.
One other aspect that one should be aware of when attempting to differentiate between
machines with regard to assembly rate, is the various claims and definitions, with regard
to that rate. It should be quite clear that the rate of the machine is dependent not only on
the machine characteristics, but also on the adjacent positions oflike components that the
machine will assemble. For example, an axial machine assembling resistors on 0.1 in.
centres is not likely to be limited by the pcb or table movement, or by the movement of
components which are being fed to the head. However, if the pcb has only a few axials
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scattered about the board and on different orientations, the assembly rate will be severely
reduced as the table movement becomes a limiting factor. Certainly, for rotations and x
and y movements between different components, assembly rate comes down very rapidly.
Therefore many manufacturers actually quote two rates: the first of these is the optimum
rate, i.e. the rate which could be achieved under idealized conditions, and the second is a
claimed average assembly rate which is the rate limited by the design of pcbs, rather than
the machine characteristics.
Clearly it is an advantage to have a machine with a software program underlying the
assembly procedure which chooses the optimum assembly path bearing in mind the speed
of assembly and thus minimizes time wastage. However, for many machines this is not
possible and therefore the user has to live with the limitations of the machines as they are
designed to be operated, and programmed to be used.
Hence the list below of different manufacturers and different claimed speeds for the
specific product, is likely to be misleading, in the sense that they are manufacturers'
claimed rates; therefore comparisons between the two do not necessarily imply assembly
of the same board on each machine, which would reflect the rate claimed. Only by actually
assembling the boards on any of the machines, can a true idea of assembly rate be
obtained.
However, going back to earlier comments in this chapter, it is necessary really to
establish the assembly rate of the pcb as a whole, rather than the assembly rate of any
particular component within that pcb. If, for example, the mechanical assembly takes five
times as long as the automatic assembly because of problems with heatsinks, switches,
nuts and bolts, etc., then the automatic assembly of the pcb and the components that can
be assembled by that means, almost becomes irrelevant when compared with the
mechanical assembly problems. Therefore choice between machine is no longer a ratedependent thing, more a decision based on the flexibility requirements of the user and the
capability of the machine to assemble a larger proportion of the pcb, thus reducing the
mechanical assembly content.
However, it may be impossible to reduce mechanical assembly content significantly on
any type of machine due to the requirement to assemble items such as heatsinks, switches,
connectors, etc. and therefore careful study should be made of the methods applying to
mechanical assembly as well as the automatic assembly of components. Table 9.1 shows
the various machines and relationships between speed and component for particular
manufacturers and types. The author has used published data from manufacturers and
therefore it is always subject to change, modification, and improvement by those
manufacturers, and should be regarded only as a guide. For the latest figures, the users
should contact the manufacturers or agents direct and establish the latest figures and
machines available, before even considering a demonstration and purchase.
Having established some of the basic data in Table 9.1 it would now be possible to
analyse the maximum achievable rates on any typical board, for different types of
machine. However, with such a range of speeds, from just over 0.1 second per component
to approaching 3 seconds per component, a range of 30 to 1, there clearly has to be a more
detailed study and other factors have to be brought into account - particularly the cost
factor. If one takes the Ambotech Robin machine as an example, with an assembly rate
typically 2.5 seconds per component, this has to be compared with a Universal system
which consists of DIP inserter, separate machine for an axial inserter, and a third machine
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Table 9.1 Assembly rate table (automation)
Manufacturer
Product and
machine type
Date of
data
Ambotech Robin
Axial/DIL
Aug. 1987
Axial/DIL/radial
Aug. 1987
CI-3000
DIP/socket
CI-1800
DIP/socket
HPDI-II
DIP insertion
DIP-G
DIP insertion
VCDG
Axial lead
Not dated
Optimum 2.5
Achievable 3.0
Optimum 2.5-4.0
Achievable 3.0--3.5
Maximum 1.125
Not dated
Maximum
1987
Test speed 0.75
1987
Test speed 0.72
1987
1987
Dual head cycle rate 0.1125

Single head (plus sequencer
time) 0.225
Cycle rate 0.3
Not dated
Maximum 0.75
Cycle rate minimum
Amistar
Dynapert
Fuji
Universal
Universal
Vl2000
Axial lead
All types
6796
DIPS/sockets
6790A
DIP
6241
VCD axial
6300E
Not dated
Rate (seconds/component)
1.0
0.87
May 1985
1.0, demonstration board,

minimum or DIP to 1.0 or
1.3 with 2/4 pin devices,
minimum
0.36 minimum
Jan. 1986
0.51 minimum
Note: The Dynapert VCDG requires a sequencer in addition to the machine (but all can now include sequencers on
the machine).
for a radial inserter, all controlled from a central location. In order to make the true
technical comparison the pcb would have to travel automatically, from beginning to end,
so that the only requirement on the operator is to load the board on to the machine, or
group of machines and remove it at the end of the assembly cycle.
This means that the two systems would then be technically comparable; however the
floor area taken up by the Ambotech machine is little more than two or three square
metres, whereas the Universal system will take up substantially more, perhaps an order of
magnitude more. Similarly the cost of the Ambotech machine at around 100,000 for the
most comprehensive unit including the programming system, has then to be compared
with the cost of the programmng system, computer system and the several machines for
Universal which would be perhaps a factor of six to eight times the Robin machine.
Indeed, if one then analyses the maximum board assembly rate it is conceivable that the
two systems are comparable in terms of cost per insertion.
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Figure 9.15
An automatic sequencer
When this cost is translated into the capital investment in the machine and floor area,
however, it can be shown (depending upon the application) that the use of seven or eight
Robin machines which would produce the same number of boards per hour, would be
better in some applications due to the increased flexibility and the protection against
down-time on anyone machine. If anyone of the Universal machines goes down then the
whole system may stop. If a Robin machine goes down then one has lost one-seventh or
one-eighth of the production output. The opposite view is that the Universal system will
produce a great many boards per hour at a high speed and only one or two operators are
perhaps necessary to monitor the circumstances of his or her own company production
requirement.
Automatic buffering between the machines on Universal, or the use of board cassettes,
can eliminate the machine down-time problem - and with a number of Robin machines
there has to be an increase in operators as board loading and removal is manual (at the
time of writing). In between these extremes are many other variations and the potential
user is best advised to visit, try, and evaluate the machines on his own production, before
considering a final choice.
Other factors to be taken into consideration when choosing the type of machine include
the trends in which the industry is involved. The latest is a drift towards the JIT
philosophy, if not formally at least in outline, which in principle implies that an increasing
volume of kit is actually placed on the machine rather than pre-kitted. Figure 9.15 shows
an axial sequencer device by Universal and the development of this towards pre-kitting on
the machine is shown in Figure 9.16 where the sequencer is part of the assembly machine.
Thus the machine itself becomes the pre-kitting and sequencing device as well as the
Figure 9.16
Figure 9.17
A direct bandolier feed system
A typical OIL assembly machine with large capacity
115
116
Figure 9.18
A typical small assembly machine for all three component types
assembly machine. Figure 9.17 shows the Amistar machine fully kitted for axials and
DILs - for high-speed production. Figure 9.18 shows the Ambotech Robin equipped for
axial DIL and radial component insertion. Virtually all the manufacturers have methods
of taking components from reel or tube straight into the machine assembly and this is an
important consideration when viewing the future of an assembly operation.
Chapter 10
Manual, light-guided, semIautomatic and robotic assembly
In many applications where ACI is chosen as the assembly method to be used for the
majority of components on a board, there is a need to assemble after the ACI stage a
number of components which are either uneconomic to handle by machine, or impossible.
There are four main alternative ways of dealing with this situation. The first is simply to
use a manual assembly operation, relatively easy if there is just a connector or
transformer, or simply one or two bulky items to be added to the board; if it is obvious
where they go there is no need for any form of guidance system. The second of these can be
best described as the light-guided system, where a projected image on to the board shows
the operator where the component should go and a binning system brings that
component to the operator's hand. This method has the advantage of increasing the speed
of assembly over manual methods, and at the same time maintaining the assembly
accuracy close to that of the ACI machine. There is also a type of machine available
(Figure 10.1) called 'Microgrid' which narrows the operator search area down and is a
stage just short of full light-guided.
The third way is by using the so-called semi-automatic machines. These machines could
include machines for inserting pins or for inserting DILs, for example. These are machines
which insert the component automatically but the board location is controlled by an
operator; they are in fact the half-way house between pure manual assembly and fully
automatic assembly. A fourth method uses robotic techniques for assembling these
components. Here the field for assembly suddenly expands enormously simply because of
the many alternative ways of using robotic assembly techniques and robot arms. One of
the problems of robotic arms however, is their lack of precise positional control. It is
necessary when inserting leads of components into printed circuit boards to hold the
accuracy to perhaps between 0.001 or 0.002 in. as a tolerance. At the time of writing
virtually all robotic arms fail to meet this standard, as the application for which they were
originally designed does not demand this level of accuracy. However, there is an
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Figure 10.1
The microgrid. A simple component identification/location system
increasing use of robotic arms with vision systems, which would enable errors to be largely
eliminated, thus bringing the accuracy into the same order as the ACI machine.
This chapter discusses and explains the four different types of system which will, in most
users' factories, be complementary to full ACI. In some factories however, the use of one
or more of the above techniques is already well known and well understood; what the
company needs to do is add ACI, while using its existing systems as a complement to ACI.
For that reason this discussion on the alternative techniques is essential for the full
appreciation of the needs of the printed circuit board assembly area. Only in rare cases can
boards be assembled without further work after the ACI process, e.g. the addition of
transformers, connectors etc. There are also the mechanical items such as heat sinks, nuts
and bolts, rivets, washers, insulators and others, to be added to the board, and in the vast
majority of operations these can economically be done only by a human operator. This
may well change over the next decade or two but for the lifetime of this book it is deemed
that it is necessary to outline the alternative assembly techniques.
Manual, light guided, semi-automatic and robotic assembly
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10.1 Manual assembly

It may appear at first sight that it is unnecessary to describe manual assembly when related
to printed circuit boards. However, even with manual assembly there are a number of
approaches taken by different companies and assembly systems, which are applicable to
full manual techniques but probably not applicable when the manual assembly technique
is supplementary to automatic assembly methods. Even with manual techniques it is
necessary to have a well-organized kitting system which will amost certainly have to be
supplemented by some form of component pre-forming, of the type which produces the
goal-post configuration for axial components, and which in the case of bandolier
components cuts them from the bandolier to provide them in loose form with the correct
pitch pre-formed for insertion. With i.c.s however there is also a need to provide some
form of insertion tool, in order to close the i.c. leads up to the correct pitch prior to
insertion. Most i.c.s are manufactured with the leads splayed so that they are readily held
in automatic assembly machines, and for this reason it is necessary to close the lead pitch
down to insert them in the holes of a normal printed circuit board or socket. There are
small tools available for this purpose such as i.c.s' illustrated in Figure 10.2.
Another key point to bear in mind when setting up manual assembly operations is
incipient damage to components caused by static. Thus in most applications of printed
circuit board assembly it is wise to take anti-static precautions when assembling
components to boards. The reason is to prevent the build-up of charge on terminals to
devices which create a potential which can cause either catastrophic breakdown, or
Figure 10.2 Hand placement of DIL
120
incipient breakdown in the structure of the device. This was commonly thought to be
applicable to metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices only, whose input gate is
effectively a capacitor made up ofthemetal on one side (beingthei nput)theinsulation(gate)
and substrate (silicon). The typical gate thickness or capacitor thickness for such devices is in
the region of0 .1 to 0.2 micrometres, and whose breakdown voltage is in the region of 50 to 75
volts. This breakdown, unlike the breakdown in semiconductor devices under test, is
irreversible, and thus catastrophic.
One of the problems of such static damage is that it may not show itself during assembly
or test of the printed circuit board but may well have caused sufficient damage so that the
life of the component (and hence printed circuit board) is reduced to perhaps days or
weeks. It has been recognized, however, that static damage can effect other devices besides
MOS, and therefore a broad approach to anti-static protection makes sense in most
printed circuit board assembly operations. In order to achieve anti-static protection the
operator should be requested to wear clothing which does not generate static, i.e. not use
artificial materials but try to use materials that are naturally available, such as cotton, or
to use materials which are specifically anti-static, or have some form of conduction
capability. In addition, a loose-fitting strap tying the operator to ground is advisible on
the hand which may be handling the component. The work bench then should also have
an element of anti-static protection in the component packaging and holding devices, in
the printed circuit board holding devices, and for any tools and equipment that may come
in contact with the particular component or printed circuit board under assembly.
It should be borne in mind that not only should one protect the i.c.s from the chance of
static build-up and thus damage, but from all components to be added to the board,
because a component with a high static charge added to the board subsequently, even ifit
doesn't damage the component in question, may well create high potential across the
input to a vulnerable device. Therefore anti-static protection for all forms of component
should be mandatory, where there is any doubt about static damage. The photograph
illustrates a typical manual assembly bench, with full anti-static protection, and highlights
those items which are available from a number of manufacturers (Figure 10.3).
There are many ways of structuring a manual assembly operation. The two most
obvious are the single-location assembly of the entire board - where the operator has
access to the complete kit for assembling the printed circuit board at a single station. This
has the advantage that it increases operator interest, but the clear disadvantage is that the
operator then has to search for the positions of the components when assembling a new
board, before learning the full board and component geography. One of the dangers of
the learning cycle is that the operator will become blase about his or her ability to
remember all the locations, errors will creep in and, because there is no correction process,
those errors will become cumulative. Therefore there is a very high probability that
manual assembly using this technique will have poor reliability coupled to a slow learning
curve.
In order to circumvent this problem other companies have laid out the assembly in a
flow line, where each operator may assemble only a small number of components on each
board as it passes. This clearly has the advantage that the learning curve is very much
shorter, but has a number of disadvantages. Foremost among the disadvantages is that
the operator interest level drops very rapidly giving rise to sporadic errors. In addition,
one operator missing from the line or leaving the line at anyone time can create a situation
121
Figure 10.3 A typical manual assembly bench with anti-static precautions

where the entire assembly line has to stop and wait until an operator returns. Clearly this
is an unacceptable problem and therefore a further operator irritation is to have to ask
permission to leave the line and either be replaced or wait until the whole line can leave at
the same time. This is a somewhat retrograde use of human labour and is hardly to be
encouraged in the latter part of the twentieth century. However, it does have advantages
provided the manager and the operator interest can be maintained at a good level.
10.2 Light guidance
In order to circumvent the learning curve problem and the problems associated with the
blase approach to memorizing component positions and polarity, there was introduced
some two decades ago, the concept of a light-guided approach to assembly. With this
method one still effectively has the manual operation of the assembly process, but the
component to be assembled is presented to the operator either by a unique binning
system, or by a light indicating in which bin the component to be placed is held. A
projected image on the printed circuit board showing where that particular component is
to be inserted, links to the bin.
Over the years there have been a number of attempts to make this process simple and
straightforward to operate, and the machinery has now reached a high degree of
122
Figure 10.4
Figure 10.5
A light guided assembly bench
A light guided component location - by projected light beam
Figure 10.6
123
A light guided station (Contax) including an out and clinch mechanism
sophistication. In the early days use was made of 35 mm film, slides, or various plates in
order to produce the image. This was subsequently replaced by a single projected beam of
light which was manipulated so as to produce a single or multiple image on the pcb under
computer control, the light beam being deflected by galvanometer mirrors and therefore
apparently static to the operator. A sophisticated improvement on this has been to replace
the illuminator with a laser, thus increasing the apparent brightness of the image on the
pcb and simplifying the optics necessary to increase that brightness. Figures 10.4, 10.5 and
10.6 show such workbenches.
Programming techniques for such equipment have varied over the last few years and
have now reached a level where they are comparable to programming ACI machines in
their simplicity. The use of such light-guided systems reduces the learning curve
practically to zero, and also enables any change of components to be introduced without
the operator necessarily having to be trained or told in any formal way that there has been
a change to the design to the board. The advantages are thus clear cut, and the maximum
benefit from such systems can be gained from the reduction in learning curve; therefore
these machines are ideally suited to the small- and medium-run batches so typical of most
industry. When a company is producing high-volume board throughput of the same type
continuously, however, there are other advantages for using such systems. With guidance
systems the operator is always under the control of the programme and should thus
always produce a reliable assembly.
Management however, must playa role in the use of these machines in that it is not
unknown for operators to ignore the machine and to work ahead of the programme.
Because they think they remember the assembly sequence they work ahead of the
programme in an attempt to reduce the assembly time. The dangers of allowing this to
124
happen are quite clear when one considers the likely effect of design changes, component
shortages, etc. on a kit for assembly.
When using such machines as a supplement to ACI, the number of components these
machines are to handle is reduced dramatically over the norm for assembly, and therefore
it becomes arguable as to whether they are necessary or not. In the case of a well-managed
company using the preferred component list approach, it is quite probable that the
number of components that cannot be inserted by ACI, or by automatic means, is going
to be quite small- and restricted to those components where there may only be one or two
of a type on a board. Because of their odd nature it becomes obvious where those
components are to be inserted, and certainly very easily remembered by the operator.
Therefore it may well be that the supplement to ACI is not necessarily a light-guided
system. However, for those companies that already have light-guided systems in their
assembly, and are stepping forward into automatic assembly, then the light-guided
systems can be used with great benefit to help with those components not assembled by
ACI. An additional reason is that a company already in production will not necessarily
operate a preferred list of components.
One has in mind radial components, sockets, transistors, etc. which can all be handled
by ACI provided the components are chosen correctly, or one is prepared to invest the
capital necessary for the various machines to handle them. However, in many
applications the additional investment to handle some of these components is out of the
question, and then the light-guide system with the manual operator comes into its own, as
a supplement to ACI.
10.3 Semi-automatic assembly
The third approach to assembling components is often mistaken, or confused with the
light-guided system, and that is the range of machines known as semi-automatic. In this
case there is no guidance for the operator, but the operator is necessary in order to place
the pcb in the correct position for the component to be inserted. Generally speaking there
is a simplified program which will select the component (or range of components) in a
suitable order to be added to the pcb, the operator then moves the board from component
to component. When in the correct location the operation actuates a switch which will
place the component into the board and bend the leads, to carry out the other functions of
component assembly.
In essence this is a half-way house between manual assembly and fully-automatic
component assembly, which in most instances can carryon without any form of operator
intervention or involvement - other than to be available should the machine stop for any
reason and to recover faults. It is applicable to those companies which perhaps have a
restricted range - for example OIL components to insert, who can use ACI for their axial
components and use semi-automatics for their OILs and manual for the odd component
that follows this process. One has in mind in this application for example, power-supply
manufacturers who may well have a number of axial components to assemble, maybe
only one or two OIL components and a number of odd components including heatsinks,
transformers, etc. in order to build their product.
It is not usual for semi-automatic machinery to be used in high-volume production
which is capable of being handled by full automatic machinery, but it definitely has a place
125
in the company with low volumes (proportionately) of one particular type of component.
Semi-automatic machines are also applicable to some of the passive components such as
pins, etc.
10.4 Robotic assembly
The fourth, and perhaps the most difficult to define, is the use of a robotic arm system.
Robotic arm systems are in use in a very restricted number of companies throughout the
world and generally have been developed for specific pcb lines rather than for general use.
It is not the purpose of this book to discuss the various or specialized uses of equipmentmore the generalities of pcb assembly and therefore the use of robotic arms at this stage
will not be detailed. It is anticipated by the author that within the next five to ten years
true robotic assembly systems and single-cell assembly systems will come into their own,
and therefore will form an increasing part of the contents of this book in future years.
When we refer to robotic assembly we are referring essentially to the adaptation of
robotic arms and systems to the assembly of components into or on to printed circuit
boards. By their nature, robotic arms are based on R {} movements rather than x,y coordinate movements and therefore the adaptation of robotic arms has tended to create a
situation where the robotic arm simulates the movement of a human being's arms, i.e. the
robot arm goes to pick up the component from a feeding mechanism, takes the
component over the printed circuit board and places it on to the board with the leads
going through or not as the case may be.
Clearly this is a very simplistic view of robotic arm operation and if it were that simple
everybody would be doing it. The snags occur with robotic systems in that the
components still have to be fed to a suitable pick-up point and in so doing they have to be
formed (or pre-formed) and occasionally cut prior to robotic handling. Thus any system
of robotic assembly has to have similar feeding mechanisms to those used on
'conventional' automatic machinery. The robot arm also has to have appropriate heads
or gripping mechanism to pick up the component. The component is then placed over the
board in similar manner to that of automatic machinery, and placed on to or through in
the correct position. When placed through the board, leaded devices have to be bent
and/or cut underneath the board, and therefore an extra mechanism is required to achieve
this.
In addition, an R {} movement by its nature tends to have reasonable repeatability but
poor accuracy (when considered in the light of printed circuit board assembly). The
requirement to assemble a printed circuit board usually defines that the accuracy of
assembly on a mechanical system should be within 0.002 in. (0.05 mm). Virtually all
robotic arms are considerably worse than this in accuracy; however, by using vision
systems to back up the assembly operation it is possible to increase this accuracy
dramatically and achieve suitable assembly accuracies. The vision systems used can also
be programmed to correct for the placement of components and their orientation on
vacuum nozzles for surface mount assembly, and therefore by using a robotic arm a
suitable degree of accuracy may be achieved. In addition one still needs the feeder
mechanisms and the cutting and bending mechanisms for the appropriate components
and therefore the cost of such a system is comparable to or higher than the cost of a
dedicated assembly system.
126
Figure 10.7
A robotic assembly system
An example of the new flexible assembly system coming on to the market is a system
called Boardmate manufactured in the USA by Alliance Automated Systems. The
Boardmate is a robotic assembly system capable of handling and assembling a wide
variety of components on to and into a pcb. The machine is capable of handling axials,
radials and DIPs as well as odd forms and surface-mounted components. It is a recent
development and the author is aware of some eight installations worldwide at the time of
writing the book. The basic robotic arm is based on the Adept Arm which carries a turret
of handling devices and has available a number of feed systems on to that turret. The end
result of such an assembly system should be the complete assembly of a pcb.
It is a very new equipment on the market and as such could be regarded as untried;
however, judging from the specifications available to the author (which should be
confirmed by going direct to the agents or the company itself), it is capable of assembling
boards at the rate of roughly one component every two seconds, and has a number of
feeders available capable of handling a wide range of components. The handling of the
board itself is via a pass-thru magazine/conveyor so that with suitable magazine input
and output the device is capable of assembling boards continuously or for long periods of
time without operator intervention. It incorporates the vision system and other
refinements in order to provide fully flexible assembly. It is inevitably relatively expensive
and the entry price is well above the entry price of more dedicated systems, but it does
indicate the direction in which the technology is beginning to move. The product is
illustrated in detail in Figure 10.7.
Other books in this series give great detail of robotic systems and their application and
should be consulted for full detail.
Chapter 11
Training of operations,
programming and planning staff
In any operation which requires the use of high-technology systems such as soldering
machines, bench conveyors, ACI, or surface mount machines - as well as Automatic Text
Equipment (ATE) it is (or at least should be) obvious that only by-training operators and
support statT adequately, and maintaining that training, will the best results be obtainable
from the machinery.
Many companies operate training schemes for both operators and programmers on
such equipment, and in most cases this training is part of the purchase price of the
machinery. Even so, what tends to happen is that after the person has been trained he will
tend to drift away from the original training into his own ways and methods of running
and programming the machine. Whereas this might just improve performance of the
machine, in general there is a tendency to go away from established practice and may well
degrade the machine's running characteristics. This won't be picked up by management
who have not been trained - as it will be assumed that is the way the machine should be
run, even though it's erroneous!
Therefore it is always wise to send more than one person on a training programme, and
preferably, more than one person at ditTerent management levels in the company. It is also
wise to have these people re-trained from time-to-time on the latest techniques, and of
course should those trained people leave the company, then any new person taken on to
run or operate the machinery should be sent on a training course - even though this might
cost money. The additional cost would soon be recouped in improved machine operation,
provided the training is carried out properly. The training of operators can take anything
from a few hours to a week or so, depending on the level of the operator.
If the operator is expected to deal with machine and programming faults, then the
training programme is naturally quite extensive, in order to introduce that operator to the
wide range of fault conditions that might exist in anyone machine. This philosophy
applies not only to ACI and sm equipment but also to soldering, cleaning and other
128
associated equipment used in pcb assembly. If the training programme allows for the
training of operators in fault diagnosis and correction, then this is even more reason why
re-training should be given at regular periods, because all machine manufacturers tend to
improve their machines on a continuous basis. This implies discovering new techniques,
and better techniques for dealing with problems. Therefore the user company, in order to
keep up to date, should continually be re-training its staff.
The author feels that, in general, not enough thought is given to this approach to
running the machinery. This is a view formed of the electronic assembly operations, which
he has visited over the past fifteen or twenty years.
The training of programmers, in order to drive the machines effectively, can again take
anything from a few days to a few weeks, depending upon the type of machine being used.
In the case of soldering machines only a few hours is necessary with the latest computerbased systems. However, in the case of ACI and smt machinery, certainly several days
spent under training, coupled to some weeks of experience are necessary before a
programmer will have reached a sufficient level of experience to be able to deal not only
with the generation of new assembly programs for machines, but also to deal with
problems that naturally arise through faults in programming - which have to be corrected
rapidly - and changes to programs which occur regularly in practically every pcb
assembly operation. Coupled to programming requirements, it is necessary to train the
staff who will be responsible for planning machine scheduling - and this is perhaps a
rather trickier field to tackle for the first-time user of automatic machinery.
The author has already referred to the balance of assembly rates between different
machines and different boards, which are affected by the component mix on anyone
particular board. Ideally, planning staff should be able to generate a program on a
personal computer which would enable them to get a true picture of the board assembly
time, on any given set of machinery. The feeling of the author is that this should perhaps
become thejob for the supplier of the machinery in the first place, so that he can update his
database of machine rates and keep pace of development on behalf of the user. The
tendency however is that most planning staff operate on the basis of paper, rather than
computer-based programs. In either case it is quite clear that the planning staff have to be
trained in every aspect of pcb assembly, particularly with regard to assembly time,
machine down-time, faults, etc. It becomes a very complex picture when one then
introduces a number of boards to the same assembly operation, each of which may have
different requirements in terms of numbers of assembly. Coupled to that, one has to look
at the implications of the stores and component availability, which inevitably affect the
best laid plans of the staff.
The overall training of all staff involved in automatic assembly and pcbs is therefore of
paramount importance, and should be undertaken starting before a machine is delivered
and used, and the maximum benefit should be obtained by visiting the chosen supplier as
often as possible, in order to establish all the data and conditions and requirements of the
machinery chosen.
An example of a course typical of this industry, is shown as follows. It was developed by
Ambotech for the Robin machine, but would be similar to many courses run by
companies to train users' staff.
11.1
129
Training course example
Robin ACI training package
Objectives
The objective is to offer a complete training package, to enable a customer to be proficient

in programming, operating, and maintaining the Robin ACI.
It is recommended that a minimum of two people attend each section of the course.
Subjects
1
2
3
4
Work station operation, job preparation, and data capture

Robin ACI operation
Robin maintenance and repair
Robin 'hands on' maintenance
3 days
2 days
5 days
2 days
Prerequisites
The prerequisites of attendees are outlined individually with the syllabus on each section.
1 Work station operation
Day 1,2
Day 3
Work station operation and data capture

Post-processing
Preparing customer's job
2 Robin machine operators' course
Objectives
This course is intended to provide a machine operator with sufficient understanding of the
Robin to quickly master running in a production environment.
Prerequisites
The attendees should be capable of handling light machinery and preferably have some
keyboard experience.
Course timetable
Day 1
Machine
Requirements
Options
Machine philosophy
Outline machine specification
Data capture
Work station requirements
Overview 09.00-10.00
10.00-11.30
130
VSE feedback
Job disk
Kitting information
Robin installation
Robin program disk
Datab/vision/window
Object of initialization/scavenge
Placing platen/pcbs
Kitting
DILs - preparation
Axials - preparation
Setting carriers
Running VSE
Operation
Feedback file
Running job
Job file
Options
Axial testing
Empty boxes/hoppers
Finding reference hole
Day 2
Running job (continued)
Potential jam areas/clearing
Re-initializing after failure
Fault recovery
Halting/aborting
Halt functions
Emergency stop
Interlocks
Limit switches
Limit override
Aborting job/batch/image
Safety
Re-work/inspection/recording
Identifying problems and re-working
Logging problems
Component counters
Daily maintenance
Cleaning
Cropped ends
Air supply/pressure
Tin-lead build-up
Box loader
Operation
Daily maintenance
No more than six people should attend on one day.
11.30-12.30
13.30-14.30
14.30-15.00
15.30-17.00
09.00-09.30
09.30-12.00
12.00-13.00
14.00-15.30
16.00-17.00
131
3 Robin technical training course details

Objectives
The objective of the course is to provide sufficient understanding of the machine

operation, maintenance, and calibration, to enable the trainees on completion of the
course to give full machine support.
Prerequisites
The attendees should be competent mechanical engineers with an understanding oflogic,

and digital electronics.
Course timetable
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Machine overview
Machine operation Level 1
Axial path
OIL path
Capstan
Axial head
OIL head
Table
Bends
Vision
Practical on Day I
The commission program
Options 0 to 5
Practical
Options 6 to 15
Practical
The calibration program
Linear calibrations
Table calibrations
Machine operation Level 2
Power supplies
Mother board
Address decode cards
Solenoid air valve cards
Sensor cards
Timer cards
Vision interface cards
Motor drive cards
Control cards
Pneumatics
Corrections and vision system
Head calibrations
09.00-09.30
09.30-15.30
15.30-17.00
09.00-14.30
14.30-17.00
09.00-15.00
15.00-17.00
132
Day 4
Day 5
Flowcharts and timing

Axialloop
DIL loop
Capstan loop
Table loop
Documentation and tables
Maintenance manual
Electrical service manual
Parts list
Tables and their use
Routine maintenance
Radial attachment
Fault analysis and repair
Hints and tips
09.00-11.30
11.30-1400
14.00-17.00
09.00-12.00
12.00-15.00
4 Two-day 'hands-on' Robin training
This opportunity to increase practical experience on the Robin is offered in addition to the
Technical Training Course. Attendees should previously have attended at least days 1 and
2 of the Technical Course.
Course timetable
Day 1
Day 2
Removal and refitting of Crop and Form unit,

and Crop-and-Form calibrations
Removal and refitting of DIL Form unit
Removal and refitting of DIL Head
DIL Head calibrations
Axial head calibrations
Removal and refitting of Bend Mechanism
Removal and refitting of Camera/Vision system
PSU set-up
Table calibrations
09.00-11.30
11.30-14.30
14.30-16.30
16.30-17.00
09.00-09.30
09.30-11.30
11.30-15.00
15.00-15.30
15.30-17.00
The course will run from 09.00 to 17.00 hours daily, with a one-hour lunch break and two
thirty-minute tea breaks usually fitted in on the day when an appropriate opportunity
occurs.
The training course outline above gives a clear picture of the standard of staff, time taken
and other aspects of the course. It should also be clear that any supplying company that is
to provide such machinery must be capable of full training, back-up and re-training to
maximize the benefit for the user.
Chapter 12
Cost considerations
When setting out to write this chapter the author is conscious that the classical method of
deciding whether ACI is cost-effective is simply to establish the rate of ACI assembly and
decide whether the return on investment is justified compared with the use of assembly
operators. This simplistic approach to the subject takes absolutely no account of all the
other effects that ACI will introduce. The ACI influence is such that if it is introduced to a
factory or assembly operation correctly, practically every other operation in that factory
relating to assembly operation should change or adjust in order to make the best use of
ACI. This includes everything from component procurement and goods-inwards
inspection to decisions on final inspection and test, from the management stand-point,
and from a technical stand-point. There will be an immediate improvement in both the
reliability of finished boards post-ACI due to correct assembly, and an improvement in
soldering and cleaning due to correct insertion, cropping and bending standards.
In examining the cost implications of automation one has to recognize that there are
much broader implications for the company as a whole brought about by automation
than the simple and cold cost calculations that can be carried out. For example, the use of
fully automatic assembly linked to much tighter management control of stock and work
in progress allows the company a more aggressive stance in what is a competitive market.
The ability to use flexible automation to control the rate of production of anyone product
in a range and to change that product rapidly from one type to another to meet changing
market demands enables the company to address the market requirement and delivery
requirement much more vigorously. The economic advantages of being able to address
the market rapidly are quite clear from the general management viewpoint.
There are underlying technical/economic reasons for the adoption of automatic
assembly methods. A clear reason for well-controlled assembly, particularly control over
the reliability of the end product, is to be found in the military market. A side issue
134
technically (perhaps) of the advantages of automatic insertion is the ability to control the
depth of lead below the board and the subsequent component lead bend direction along
the track on the printed circuit board. This gives an assembly which is acceptable to
military standards and therefore allows the user of automation to address those military
standards with confidence and continuously without the need to monitor manual labour.
Another strong reason to choose automatic insertion is if the company is located in
premises that do not allow for further expansion of the output and therefore relocation
may be necessary. That being the case, automatic insertion and automation in general
could increase the output by a factor of two to five, with no further increase in premises
required. The cost advantages of doing this should be quite clear. A further reason for
automatic insertion and automation in general is if the location of the factory is such that
suitable skilled or assembly labour is in short supply. The use of automation reduces the
demand for skilled labour substantially while either maintaining or increasing the output.
This is yet another economic reason for going to full automation.
Even iflabour is not in short supply, it makes the company more independent oflabour
fluctuations against market fluctuations as it is relatively easy to increase the output from
an automatic factory, whereas increasing the output from a manual-only factory
inevitably demands increase in staff and/or shift working and therefore training and
management are at a premium with such changes. In addition, once the change has been
made to increase the staff it is often difficult to reduce the staff should the market demand
go the other way.
Taken to the next stage where design and component procurement is influenced by the
considerations of ACI, one would expect substantial improvement in the total operation
of any assembly area. This would include bare-board testing, post-assembly ATE,
cleaning and soldering. What the author has attempted in this chapter is to quantify most
of the contributory factors which make up the total cost of a board. Of necessity this is a
difficult task, due to the different methods of approach adopted by companies, and also
due to the currency differences involved where this book might be read.
The author has therefore adopted an approach which is relatively simple and uses
sterling where necessary in order to establish the principles involved. If the reader needs to
establish the true costs, or likely costs in any environment then he has to establish all the
different parameters used throughout this chapter, and that includes overhead rate,
assembly rate, machine up time, machine insertion reliability, etc. It is up to the user to
achieve the best and most effective understanding of costing in his environment. This
chapter is only a guide to the areas which should be concentrated on in order to achieve a
substantial gain.
When one takes the argument further - to a just-in-time philosophy (JIT) - then the
gains are even more significant, but are made not so much in the cost of the assembly, but
in the savings of investment in work in progress, and stocks. However, in order to achieve
this high level of control it will be necessary for every company to develop management
techniques from stock control, through to inspection, shipping, etc. to a very high degree
in order to achieve a turn-round on the final product which would justify the investment in
the JIT philosophy. Worked examples are given and show what may be expected of a
professional approach to installing ACI.
Figure 12.1 describes the basic steps in pcb assembly and the influences that come into
135
Cost considerations
Rejects
r---
Design
Component
proved
Post auto
assembly
Assembly
auto
Inspection
--
r---
Kitting
.-
Cleaning
r---
ATEltest
Rework
---.
Inspection
Soldering
~
Rework
To shipping
Figure 12.1
play. Then developing on from that chart one can establish that the final board cost is
made up of the following factors:
I
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Cost of design of (a) prototype(s), (b) layout, (c) documentation

Cost of components (a) pcb, (b) electronic components, (c) mechanical components
Cost of kitting/preparation
Cost of inspection at goods inwards
Cost of (a) automatic assembly, (b) manual/guided assembly
Cost of post-assembly inspection
Cost of soldering
Cost of cleaning
Cost of test
Cost of rework
The cost of each board assembled, tested, and read y for shipping is a combina tion of all the
above figures - plus the finance considerations of investment in stock and work in
progress.
In many companies, only an overall figure is taken for the costs of overheads etc. and
then a simplistic approach to the figures is carried out to justify, or not, equipment
136
purchase. Often, for such as ACI machinery, it is taken on pure people replacement costwithout any consideration for other aspects. The facts are that a properly operated ACI
machine will improve hand assembly so significantly that the 'knock on' effect - by
eliminating post-assembly inspection for example - can be very significant economically.
Thus the author will attempt to quantify each stage in terms of cost as a mathematical
equation, and then encourage the reader to compare the actual figures for ACI side by side
with manual assembly.
Basic assumptions
Capital equipment cost is the total cash price, plus an annual charge for servicing that
finance.
2 Manpower cost is the cost of an individual person in terms of salary, space, plus basic
overheads. These may include floor space, statutory payments, services such as
electricity, heating etc., plus (in a few cases) cost of 'indirect' labour as a percentage
charge.
3 Every assembly stage has a rate for successful completion.
4 All rates are annualized (i.e. rates are based on an annual average, rather than use
any shorter period).
12.1
Manual assembly methods
In essence, one can dispense with some of the disciplines because with a manual approach
to assembly (only), the bulk of the time is taken up with simple manual operations
between design and test. Figure 12.2 shows the progress of the assembly operation.
The total value of equipment is almost negligible, in that there is no investment in
automation, or other machinery. Thus one can assume that the vast bulk of the cost is in
people, and their overheads, plus cost of components (D).
Now, we have to make some assumptions:
2
3
5
6
Incoming goods inspection is elementary, and simply checks for correct component
value, and quantity. Delivery methods and mechanical considerations are ignored.
Inspection rate is A components/annum/person.
Kitting is merely putting the correct number of components into bins, etc. prior to
placing them in the assembly area. Kit rate is B components/annum/person.
Management control is planning the board assembly, and managing the assembly.
This depends on the number of different boards/changes per annum. One can assume
that planning is related to the number of different components/boards per annum
and is therefore represented by S components/annum/person.
Manual assembly, plus soldering. This includes two basic factors.
(a) Number of components per annum per operator, C.
(b) Learning-curve effect - reducing C by a factor related to number of different
boards per annum, L.
Inspection. This is the number of components per annum per inspector, I.
Test. Common to all types of assembly, and ignored in this comparison between
manual and automatic.
l37
Cost considerations
Set
procedures
Manual assembly
and soldering
Inspection
Rework
Test
Ship
Figure 12.2
If we now assume that there is a need to assemble Y boards from Z components per
annum, then we have a cost per annum as follows:
Z/A
Cost for Z: Inspection
Kitting
Z/B
Planning
Z/S
Assembly
Z/CL
Inspection
Z/I
Component cost D
Or, Annual cost=D+Z/A+Z/B+Z/S+Z/CL+Z/I=AN
Therefore Cost per board = AN/ Y.
138
In order to put some realistic numbers into the equation, let us now make some
assumptions to get an assembly cost per component. The figures are based on 1987
co stings, on wages in the UK and all are in pounds sterling.
Salary cost = 7000 p.a.
O.H. rate = + 150%
Therefore person cost per annum = 17,500 p.a.
2 Goods-inwards inspection: probably components are inspected in batches, and thus
a rate of twelve per second seems sensible. With a 37t-hour week, and a 50-week year,
this is 13.5 million components per annum.
3 Kitting: let us assume a rate of one per second - and thus no pre-forming, just
placement of components in the correct bin.
6.75 million components per annum
4 Manual assembly: this includes getting the component from the bin, preforming it,
placing it, cropping and bending leads and soldering. Wide variations occur in
companies, but 20 seconds would be an acceptable average time. This is:
337,500 components per annum
5 Inspection: a good inspector would operate at about one component per two
seconds, average, or 3.375 million per annum.
Thus the cost of assembling 10 million components per annum (equivalent to 1000 boards
per week, each of 200 components), would be:
(10/13.5 + 10/6.75 + 10/0.3375 + 10/3.375) x 17,500
= 609,259 (say 610,000)
This is a cost of 6.1 pence per component.
It also employs some thirty-five staff full time, and the floor area that they occupy. It is
interesting to compare this 6.1 pence with the efforts companies expend to reduce the
component cost by small amounts, say ten per cent, when the component cost in most
cases is only one or two pence anyway!
12.2
Automatic insertion
Now let us examine automation for insertion, soldering, etc. The costs must now include
the capital cost centres of the equipment, and financing costs, as follows:
Let us assume that there are only two cost centres, ACI and soldering, and that the ACI
cost is N and soldering M. Then we have a cost build-up as follows:
Goods-inwards inspection: we have to add mechanical and delivery method checks to
the normal manual work, and thus we can say rate is AA.
2 Kitting. This needs to be more thorough, and also requires an element of additional
care. Let us say the rate is AB.
3 Programming, and planning, can be assumed to be comparable between manual and
automatic, and thus the same.
139
Cost considerations
4 ACI rate. Let us assume AC.

5 Inspection. Generally unnecessary, but a token check on a random basis may be
considered, AI. (See Chapter 8.)
6 Soldering rate here is board rate, but one can assume an 'average' component rate for
the sake of simple calculations, AS.
For staff involvement, we have a situation with ACI where one person can both control
the machine, and carry out kitting work: there, we could now carry out our calculation as
before, to establish cost of assembly per component.
I Goods inwards, say double the time for manual assembly, or 6.675 million
components per annum.
2 Kitting. Assume average rate is as manual or 6.675 million components per annum.
3 Assembly.
Capital cost
Amortization x number of components p.a.
+Operator cost (say
Finance costs
Number of components p.a.
operator per machine rate)
Ifwe assum an automation rate of one component every three seconds, and a cost of
100,000 over five years (20,000), plus finance costs (10 %, or 10,000). This is a
running cost of 30,000 for a machine, per annum.
On a single-shift basis this is 1.913 million components
is 3.825 million components per annum.
On a double-shift basis this
Plus operators at 1.5 seconds per component, or 3.825 million components per annum.
4 Post-ACI manual assembly. Let us assume ten per cent manual assembly, but
because these are components that are easily identified, assembly time is no more
than ten seconds, average.
Therefore assembly rate = 775,000 components per annum.
5 Soldering, probably at a rate often components per second, average, or 67.5 million
per annum.
In the real world, we can then for the same ten million components, produce an assembly
cost as follows:
Total cost [(10/6.675 + 10/6.675 + 10/3.825 + 1/0.775 + 10/67.5) x 17,500]
+(10/3.825) x 30,000+(10/67.5) x 10,000
but it is a nonsense to have part of a machine, and therefore one must assume whole
machines - thus some spare capacity is available.
Therefore costs are:
For people
17,500 x 7.05
= 123,375
For machines 78,431 + 10,000= 88,431

Total= 212,000 say
140
This is 2.1 p per component, which is about thirty per cent of the true manual assembly
cost, and takes into account the effects of all the mechanism of converting to automation.
Even if we reduce to one shift, the cost then is still only a total of2.9p per component!
Thus we have: Manual, 6.1 pence per component.
Automatic, single shift, 2.9 pence per component.
Automatic, dual shift, 2.1 pence per component.
By relatively simple mathematics one can thus show great cost savings - but the cold sums
hide the reality of the situation from the company! The reality is either a dramatic
reduction in the number of employees, space and thus cash flow - or the chance to increase
output, be more profitable, and produce a better product. It all depends on the ability of
the company to grasp the opportunity - or remain in what is termed 'the knife-and-fork
era'!
12.3
JlT
The benefits from JIT philosophy are all to be gained in the reduction of investment in
stocks and work in progress (SWIP). The simple approach is to take the previous
example and rework the figures using SWIP built into the calculation.
In a well-organized but non-JIT company, one should assume that SWIP represents
some three months of total stock, with one month assembled, and two months awaiting
assembly. Let us assume that the components (ten million) are divided as follows:
Five million axials at one pence
Three million i.c.s at thirty pence (inc!. sockets)
One million radials at five pence
One million 'others' at twenty pence (transistors, connectors, etc.)
50,000 pcbs at 7.00 each.
Total annual cost of parts is therefore:
Axials
50,000
i.c.s
900,000
Radials
50,000
Other
200,000
pcbs
350,000
1,550,000
Assembly cost: Manual
Automatic
610,000
212,000
We can therefore deduce that the cost of two months' stock is 258,000 and one month's
stock plus manual assembly is 180,000 - thus the investment in a worst-case situation is
438,000! Clearly, a reduction to one month's stock, two weeks WIP reduces the figure to
219,000 - still quite an investment when set against the cost of machinery.
The JIT philosophy would reduce the figure to the equivalent of say, a week - or
Cost considerations
141
41,500-and the use of ACI to 33,900. This means that the saving in investment is in the
region of 180,000 to 400,000, depending on the present assumptions, and thus an
interest charge of perhaps 27,000 to 60,000 per annum. However, the cash-flow
implication is a massive amount - and could be the entire SWIP figure in the books at
present! That alone would go a long way to creating a fully automated factory at little, or
no, additional cost. It does mean that the management team has a lot of work to do to
create the environment and maintain it. But once there the advantages are obvious.
When the user comes to consider the cost implications of automation, whether or not
the JIT philosophy is adopted, it should be borne in mind that there are many crossimplications, which don't necessarily lend themselves to simple financial or mathematical
solutions. Examples of these include the increase in soldering reliability brought about by
soldering machines, when using automatic assembly, as distinct from manual assembly
prior to soldering. Experience shows that the use of automatic insertion equipment
produces a better component lead in terms of cleanliness, shape and consistency of bend
and location, which implies that the soldering will be of a more consistent standard
throughout the company's production. This in turn implies higher assembly rates and also
a greater standard of appearance and consistency. It also implies a substantial reduction
in re-work due to problems with blow-holes, etc. as will be indicated by the chapter on
soldering. This is very difficult to quantify in a chapter on the economics of automatic
assembly, but a reduction in re-work from present figures to 25 per cent of the present
figures should indicate a substantial economic advantage. However, only the reader can
calculate what this advantage might be, bearing in mind his present assembly procedures,
costs and how they relate to re-work, for example.
The author has said little about the economic advantages of using flow-soldering
equipment, as distinct from manual soldering. This method can have quite a startling
economic benefit to any assembly company, and it is becoming fairly rare for the manual
soldering of pcbs to be carried out in any manufacturing company worthy of the name.
The advantages are so clear that it is not considered worthwhile carrying out the
elementary sums to prove the point; in the case of manual assembly every soldered joint
has to be attached by a suitable soldering iron and pre-fluxed solder so that, for example,
in a microprocessor socket some forty individual movements and contacts have to be
made in order to solder that socket in place. Even for a very highly experienced and skilled
operator that can take a substantial period of time. With less skilled operators it is
possible to form solder bridges, miss out contacts and create blow holes, and therefore
create an enormous amount of re-work.
Many companies assembling pcbs by manual means seldom analyse the problems in
financial terms. If one now considers manual soldering (which also requires the operator
to turn the board over in order to gain access to the lead to be soldered and therefore the
components have to be clamped in place by a suitable jig), the time taken for this exercise
is substantial and can certainly add twenty-five to thirty per cent to the normal assembly
time of a pcb when assembled by manual means. However, if one uses a flow-soldering
machine, even in the smallest company with perhaps only two or three assembly
operators, one can assemble boards so that all the components are in place. Then, a couple
of days a week, or two mornings a week, or even in one case known to the author for two
hours on a Friday morning, run the flow-soldering equipment, run all the boards through
and therefore produce a high quality of finished soldered boards with dramatic reduction
142
in assembly time. There is therefore a correspondingly dramatic increase in profitability

and quality of the end product.
In order to arrive at a conclusion there may be simple decisions which can be taken to
influence the choice of both machine and the cost reduction that will occur. The following
therefore relate to an anonymous company and the decision-making that could be a part
of the scenario in any typical company.
12.4
Quick guide to whether ACI makes sense before full investigation
Insertion of printed circuit board components by machine is not justified in every case.
Where it is justified, flexible systems are appropriate in only a proportion of cases.
Installation of such machines should be investigated if:
batches of boards to be stuffed are in the five upwards range.
the opportunity exists for reducing recruitment or staffing by five persons, or more,
or redeployment of those persons.
skilled labour is in short supply.
volume throughput could increase suddenly, or fluctuates significantly.
over 70 per cent of components are of axial, DIL, or radial type.
consistent quality is important.
the business base can support the investment.
The approach to cost-benefit
Every business is different and this must be reflected in the cost-benefit analysis made to
support or reject an investment. There is no one standard approach that should be used.
For example, one should include the importance of meeting the terms of supply contracts,
the reliability and quality of available staff, and the availability of management skills, and
production space. Approval processes vary substantially; some companies look first at
the cash payback, others at the overall internal rate of return. In reality of course the total
picture must be considered, and the inability to place a tangible benefit on a particular
facility does not mean that that benefit should be ignored.
A typical spread of demand for ACI could read as follows:
The main alternative to ACI, certainly for the range of axial, DIL, and radial
components is manual insertion, with or without the aid of light-guided systems.
Light tables have been used since they first came out, and have reached the limits of
operating efficiency. Presently the need is to stuff radials and DILs in large numbers,
although the component types may change in future.
Over the period of a week, allowing for a reasonable degree of repair or remake, a
typical insertion time of 12-18 seconds per component is experienced at present (an
average of 16--17 seconds). This does not include preforming, but does include
cutting, crimping and fixing components in position for soldering.
Boards stuffed vary in size, and number and mix of component.
At present a single shift is worked offorty hours per week. There is limited flexibility
from staff for working overtime.
Cost considerations
143
The production is 1000 good boards per forty-hour week for the main products, 4000
per month, but also small numbers of other products.
Preliminary questions - for preparation for financial calculations:
1 How many boards, net of returns are required each week?

2 On average, how many (relevant) components are there on each board?
3 How many people are employed to prepare, insert, crimp and inspect your (relevant)
boards?
4 What hourly rate is used when preparing a quote for insertion?
This chapter on costs and cost recovery is of necessity fairly wide-reaching without
attempting detailed mathematical calculations. The essence of the cost calculation must
include many of the intangibles which improve the productivity of the company, the
reliability of the product and the quality of the product, all of which have a cost influence
even though it is difficult to quantify. Companies also have different pay-back and
recovery criteria and this too has to be dealt with by the company when it carries out its
own calculations.
One thing that the author is certain of as a generalized statement - perhaps rather too
sweeping for many readers - is that if a company is using four or five people to assemble
pcbs, and if the bulk of the components are axials, OILs, and radials then there has to be a
serious economic reason for full automation within that company.
That statement assumes that the company is sufficiently dynamic to make use of the
extra productivity, the growth, and the substantially better image that the company will
be able to portray.
Chapter 13
The first method to be used for mass soldering was a static solder bath operated at around
260 degrees Celsius (Figure 13.1). The circuit board was held in a fixture and fluxed by
dipping or brushing, and then it was lowered at an angle of about 20", held flat on the
solder surface for at least two to five seconds then gently lifted from the bath in a swinging
or sweeping action, allowing excess solder to drain back into the solder bath. This method
was widely used to improve production output - but hand soldering was of course still
required for re-work and post-soldering operations. The major breakthrough for mass
soldering came with the mechanization of the manual DIL process. Conveyor rails were
fitted over the solder bath and carriers were then conveyed at selected speeds through an
adjustable entrance and exit angle to allow the solvent gases from the flux to escape and
Float soldering
260C - 3-5 seconds dwell
t . . . . :,Jl~
~
; ;: t__
+
...
The first mass soldering method
Figure 13.1
145
Figure 13.2
the solder to drain back into the solder bath. The wave soldering machine invented by
Fry's Metals of Mitcham was introduced in 1956. This new soldering process comprised a
horizontal conveyor mounted over a foam fluxing unit, a pre-heater and solder bath with
a parabolic shape wave; this simple arrangement was the forerunner of today's modern
complex systems some of which are now fully computer controlled (Figure 13.2).
Out of necessity a new technology was developed. To increase the knowledge of solder
joint formation which is based on the metallurgical study of hot solder and resin and
different base materials, producing acceptable solder joints within two to three seconds of
contact with the solderwave.
The technology of automatic machine soldering advanced quickly with two excellent
institutes which turned soldering from a black art into a science. The International Tin
Research Institute and IPC (Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic
Circuits) lead the way with technical publications which are now used as a base for the
various Specifications.
13.1 Machine selection and evaluation

Before setting out to purchase a soldering system it is necessary to understand fully both
present and future production requirements, establish the size of the largest circuit board
in present use, and also establish the size requirements in five years hence. This will give
the size of machine required which will fall into the following range of wave widths:
6-8-10-12-15-18-24 inches
146
Conveyor style
If production circuit boards have a mixture of differing sizes in small batches, a palette
design with extra side bars would be suitable (Figure 13.3). Volume production of similar
size circuit boards could easily be processed using a finger conveyor. A motorized finger
conveyor with an adjustment is available (Figure 13.4). Both are shown diagrammatically
in Figure 13.5. Finger conveyors can also be provided to accommodate a special palette so
that small batches of mixed sizes can be processed on the finger conveyor.
Figure 13.3
Figure 13.4
147
Conveyors
Finger type
Pallet type
Figure 13.5
13.1.1 Flux units
The methods of fluxing are foam, wave, spray and globular. The most popular is the foam
system using a porous Teflon aerator to produce a controlled head of foam . Many of the
units are manufactured from pvc or polypropylene and can accommodate all types of
flux. Some are of stainless-steel construction which limits the use to resin fluxes.
Wave fluxing units are available in both pvc and stainless steel. This method is used
primarily for high solid content (35 per cent) resin fluxes and will also reach high wave
requirements of up to 2 in. The wave height is produced by a constant speed impeller with
adjustable immersion of depths for different wave heights.
Spray fluxing units are more specialized and are constructed of pvc or stainless steel. The
atomized spray is produced by special nozzles or through a rotating perforated mesh
screen. Both systems are effective for long lead fluxing or for special requirements;
however, these require a high level of maintenance to keep them in full operating
condition.
Globular fluxing is a similar spray. The globules of resin flux are more controllable, with
regard to height and overspray. There is a system which uses a rotating brush into which a
horizontal bar is fixed causing a flicking action of the bristles and by increasing the speed
of rotating a greater flux coating is applied to the underside of the circuit board.
Flux control All resin-based fluxes work correctly at a specified specific gravity which
must be adjusted at a controlled temperature of 25C (7TF). Automatic systems of
specific gravity control and adjustment with built-in thermal probes are available from
some manufacturers. Great care should be taken in choosing a specific supplier to ensure
that thermal control is available within the unit.
148
13.1.2 Pre-heating
Pre-heaters are one of the essential process units often misused and misunderstood. The
prime reason for pre-heating a circuit assembly is to dry out the solvent within the flux. If
the solvent is not dispersed, minor explosions will occur on contact with the solderwave,
producing malformation of joints or no joints at all, which are undesirable, and very small
solder balls will be found on the topside of the circuit board giving a potential short-circuit
or low-resistance condition.
Resin flux is an insulator - the melting point is approximately 71C and the activators
start working at approximately lOre. This pre-heating is insufficient to give the correct
temperature, so one must be looking for a much higher temperature on the underside of
the board.
Pre-heating is also required to induce heat into the plated-through-holes, the epoxy
fibre base material, and of course the top side and circuitry. Typical temperature for
epoxy fibre glass FR4 1.6mm is l50-200C on the bottom side and 60-900C on the top
side. Multi-layer circuits may require other temperatures to optimize the internal circuit
layers to produce full capillary action through the various plated-through-holes.
Pre-heating units. Manufacturers of soldering systems will have already selected the type
and style of heating source to suit their design c~mcept and therefore a choice may not be
available. The most popular types of pre heater are cal-rods and hot plates or platens.
The latter are capable of giving a maximum touch contact temperature of 450C and are
usually at a fixed distance from the underside of the circuit, or around 0.5 to 1.5 in.
maximum. The cal-rods normally work at a dull-red heat or just below and are fixed at a
distance of 1.5 to 3 in. away from the circuit board. Other pre-heating sources are the
tubular electric, infra-red, quartz-plate, and quartz-rod, and hot air. All will provide
sufficient heat if correctly adjusted and kept clean.
13.1.3 Solder baths
These have a standard operating temperature range of 235-2600C maximum; the top
temperature is important as the higher the temperature the more tin is burnt out of the tin
lead which will give very unsatisfactory solder results. The unit design and solder capacity
is a vital factor for temperature stability. Some solder baths will have a large solder
capacity while others will be relatively small. These smaller units rely on the heating
source to maintain a stable temperature within 2 to 3e. Thermal insulation of the unit
should be a design feature of the overall solder bars.
The solder bath. The heating methods vary from tubular heating elements fitted into
sleeves within the solder bath itself, to the cowl-rod design directly in contact with the
solder and immersed into the lower regions of the bath. Others have surface electrical
heating mats fixed and clamped against the sides of the bath. These are also very efficient,
and are easy to replace should any of the heaters burn out.
Access to the solder bath unit is also very important as solder dross and carbonized flux
is produced during normal operations. Regular cleaning and adjustments are important
as a routine operation, so it is vital there is ease of access to all parts of the bath to
maintain the operation of the solderwave and the satisfactory application of solder to the
149
underside of the pcb. The check points are the ease and speed of removal of the pump unit,
the nozzle unit, wave straighteners (which are directly below the nozzle itself), and the
heating elements. A drain tap is important for the eventual solder change which will
happen when the solder comes up to the top limits of contamination. It is necessary to
have a receptacle for molten solder below the bath, and drain as rapidly as possible. The
overall design of the machine and the superstructure itself should allow for a daily wipe
down and clean without having any hidden corners or crevices which will impede the
cleaning operation, as a build-up of dirt will impair the qualities of the operation of the
solder bath itself.
Solder bath construction will vary from Meahanite cast iron to boiler plate and 316
stainless steel. The latter is a guarantee of quality and it is far better to go for the top
quality to be sure of no possible migration of any contaminant source whatsoever.
13.1.4 Solderwaves
Many different wave shapes are available and categorized under the following headings
(Figure 13.6):
A
B
Parabolic
Parobolic with
wave extender
C
Hollowwave
D, E, F Symmetrical
G
Asymmetrical
Wave forms
Figure 13.6
Triple wave
Vibratory wave
ISO
All of the above wave shapes have different operating characteristics and are designed to
work within the specified machine layout. All will work within the compromise of the type
of flux, the type of pre-heat temperatures, the size of solder bath, temperature involved in
the waveheating and the conveyor speed. The multiple wave configurations are specially
developed for the latest high-density chip component assemblies and can also be used for
conventional circuit boards by turning off the turbulent front wave sections. The
vibratory wave can also be turned off to produce a normal wave shape for conventional
soldering systems.
The choice of wave shape may be restricted, as some manufacturers will have
standardized on one particular waveform only.
All of the wave shapes will have different solder contact areas which will influence the
amount of heat which is transferred into the circuit board. This induced heat is directly
proportional to the wave contact width or area, and the solder bath temperature.
13.1.5 Conveyors
Two types of conveyor are available as standard from many suppliers. The carrier is the
most popular and with most of the smaller systems the only method to be offered. Carrier
design will vary from Teflon-coated aluminium milled side bar supports, to stainless or
titanium fingers; most are capable of accepting extra side rails to accommodate multiple
rows of small circuit boards, maximizing the machine throughput.
--- ----
Figure 13.7
151
13.2 Supplier evaluation

Select at least three suppliers offering similar systems and use the check list below. Figures
13.7, 13.8, 13.9 show the types of machine.
Figure 13.8
Figure 13.9
152
Check system size (width of maximum pcb of 6-8-10-12-15-18-24 inches).

Conveyors (Figure 13.5)
Pallet type
Finger type: Handwheel width adjustment
Push/pull width adjustment
Motorized width adjustment
Speed range 0-10 ft/min, 0-20 ft/min
Solder bath capacity and temperature
Solderwave shape
Solderwave contact area
Solderwave maximum height
Preheating
Cal-rod
Hotplate
Tubular
Infra-red
Quartz plate
Quartz rod
Hot air in combination with any of the above
Fluxing units
Foam
Foamwave
Wave
Spray
Globular
System size: length/width/height
Weight including solder
Method of construction
Ease of moving without frame distortion
Access to sub-units for repair and replacements
Power consumption, electrics
Power consumption, air
Fume extraction
Built-in air supply
External CFM required at machine outlet
Space requirement at rear or front of machine (for unit removal)
Process materials
Solder composition: 63/37 to QQS 571E/BS 219 K
60/40 to QQS 571E/BS 219K
Flux materials
Resin type R, RMA, RA, Synthetic, Organic, Other.
Note: It is important that the same flux is used on each of the machines being tested at the
suppliers.
153
Printed circuit temperature. Check the top side temperatures during a preheating and
solder wave contact.
13.7.1 Process testing

Prepare at least twenty identical circuit assemblies, for each machine supplier. Prior to
visiting a supplier send ten of the circuit assemblies requesting them to set up a machine to
give the optimum conditions and result. They should also record all of the operating
details of the temperature of the solder bath, the preheaters, the conveyor speed, and the
type of flux used (if not specified in advance).
13.2.2 Visiting the supplier
Give them more identical circuit board assemblies to process, they must use exactly the
same machine parameters and optimum settings recorded earlier for the first batch. No
further adjustments should be allowed during this trial, also no further discussion or
examination of the soldering results should be made on their premises. Hand over the
circuit boards to your own QA dept for a critical analysis of the solder results. The test
boards from the three suppliers should then be sufficient for you to make a fair evaluation
and have a clear indication of the most suitable soldering system for your present and
future production.
13.3 Solder defects - trouble shooting

Icicles (Figure 13.10)
A basic problem of solder drainage
Decrease conveyor speed
Check solder bath temperature
Increase preheat temperature
Check flux coating and specific gravity
Check the printed circuit board
components for solderability to
IPC 804/5
Figure 13.10
154
Figure 13.11
Figure 13.12
Bridging (Figures 13.11,13.12)

Check preheating is not too high
Check conveyor speed is not too slow
Check flux deposit for unevenness or over-thinning
Check flux deposit has not been overdried, or absorbed into the circuit board base
material
Check component leads are not pointing towards each other, and not overhanging other
tracks or leads themselves
Check circuit design of pad shapes and amend if necessary
155
Figure 13.13
Figure 13.14
Figure 13.15
Out-gassing (Figures 13.l3, 13.14, 13.15)

This is a basic circuit board problem, of moisture within the laminate, and requires a
prebake at a temperature of 110-120"C, either overnight or for at least forty-eight hours.
This will withdraw all of the moisture from the circuit boards. Any pre baked circuit board
must be soldered within thirty-six hours. This is normally impossible for production
cycling so these circuit boards should be stored in a metal cabinet, heated to a temperature
of 42C. This gives the availability for production cycles and storage for three to four
weeks without allowing any moisture to be pulled back into the circuit boards. The other
important thing is to notify the board vendor that this has occurred and get his assistance
in preventing a recurrence of the problem.
156
Figure 13.16
Malformed joints (Figure 13.16)

Check solderability of the pcb components to IPCS 804/5
Check solder analysis: tin (Sn), copper (Cu), gold (Au)
A combination of solder defects
Check for board sag or bow
Check solderwave height. Solder flow will stop if wave height is less than tin.
Check for sufficient clearance while in contact with the solderwave
Check flux for overfilling of solvent
Check flux for overdrying
Check pre heater temperatures
Check conveyor speed
Circuit board, bow and twist and warp
Check solder temperature
Check preheater temperature
Check circuit board vendor to confirm quality
157
Figure 13.17
To apply some control to boards which excessively twist and bow or warp one of the
methods is to apply an airknife (a multiple style airknife) directly after the circuits leave
the solderwave. If the cold air is directed to the underside of the circuit boards this reduces
the temperature of the circuit board to below 60"C, the circuit board material will remain
in the normal flat condition, and thus meet the normal specifications.
Non-capillary
Check knee of hole to IPCS 804
Check flux application
Check for dirt or resist within the holes
Check preheater temperature
Check solder temperature
Solder
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
spikes and flags on lead ends (Figure 13.17)

conveyor speed is not too fast
flux application
flux overfilling with solvent
solder temperature
pre heater temperature
Solder balls on top side of circuit board

Check preheater temperature because solvent gases are exploding on contact with the
solderwave.
158
13.4 Post cleaning

Cleaning of circuit assemblies is expensive. Due consideration must be given to this factor.
Vapour degreasing. The most popular form of off-line cleaning is the dipping-style unit.
This uses solvent-based materials which are capable of removing the residues of resin and
synthetic based fluxes.
Off-line water washing systems, similar to a washing-up machine are also capable of
efficient removal of organic and synthetic flux residues.
Many companies will opt for underside cleaning for in-line automatic testing. These
units basically consist of a series of rotary brushes dipping into solvent and scrubbing the
underside of the circuit which is being conveyed in a pallet or with fingers through the
system. These in-line systems will have a built-in distillation unit to maintain the
cleanliness of the solvent used for the cleaning process.
Another in-line type of system is also designed with a broad flat wave into which the
circuit is submarined, giving a top-side wash without totally immersing the components.
The wave can be set to clean the underside of the printed circuit board for ATE testing and
extra energy can also be added to this type of unit by rotary brushes, ultrasonics, air
bubbles and sprays.
Totally enclosed in-line solvent systems are effective methods of cleaning at high
production rates. A mesh-type conveyor transports the circuit assemblies into hot solvent
tanks under solvent traps, through a spray zone, exiting via a rinse zone and through to an
off-load section of the machine. These systems give total control for efficient cleaning and
are self-contained with full filtration and distillation units built into the machine.
Ultrasonic energy is also available to improve cleaning efficiency if allowed.
Organic flux removal on an in-line basis requires a whole series of rinse and recirculating
tanks, followed by high-powered drying units. High-volume throughput is possible
providing circuit assemblies are designed for total immersion under high-pressure sprays
both top and bottom of the circuit. Hermetically sealed components are mandatory to
prevent moisture being locked in during the drying stages. Computer control of the
process is readily available with automatic ionic recorders controlling contamination
levels in the system.
System choice would depend upon the specification levels of cleanliness and capital
availability. It is important that anyone anticipating going into cleaning should make a
very thorough test trial with the suppliers of the machines and solvents to confirm all BS
and DIlL Specifications of cleanliness can be met and the required production rate of
throughput achieved.
Chapter 14
With any high-technology product there is inevitably development towards a better

product, a product that is easier to manufacture and easier to use, and one that is more
cost-effective. Over the past few years there has been an evolution from components
which have leads to make contact to the pcb to components with no leads, which are
soldered directly onto the pcb. Figure 14.1 shows these components mounted on to a pcb.
The attachment of the component is dealt with in Chapter 13.
Surface-mount components have a number of advantages from the assembly viewpoint
over components with leads. Paramount among these advantages is the small size of the
component, thus allowing increased packing density due to the small package and the
lack of leads. Typically, resistors can be as small as 2 mm long by 1 mm wide, compared
with a leaded resistor which may be as much as 10 mm long when assembled into the
board and 2 to 3 mm in diameter. The packages tend to follow the same format as leaded
components in that integrated circuits are mounted in the equivalent of OILs. These are
generally referred to as small outline integrated circuits or SOIC devices which are
effectively the same as small OIL packages without the leads. At the time of writing many
of the components that are normally leaded have been converted to surface-mount types.
This not only includes the range of capacitors, resistors, integrated circuits and
transistors, but also devices such as potentiometers, variable capacitors, connectors, etc.
One of the handling advantages of these components is that there are no leads to bend
or preform, insert through holes and retain in any way; the component simply requires
placing on the pcb in the correct position. The norm is for it to be held in position
temporarily by either glue or solder paste until such time as the soldering process is
completed. Because the components are considerably smaller, the track spacing on the
pcbs is also smaller - going down to as little as 0.01 in .. This implies that the component
placement has to be accurate to perhaps -0.002-0.003 in. in order that the registration of
the component and the leads on the board is sufficiently accurate. In the case of some of
160
Figure 14.1
A typical PCB - including SMD components
the small resistors and capacitors the meniscus of the molten solder has been used to
straighten the component up between the tracks. Although this is a technique that has
been used in the past the author would not recommend it for the future because, as the
number ofleads increase and the density ofleads increases, the accuracy required follows
and therefore one should aim to achieve correct placement without resorting to smt postplacement techniques.
Surface-mount components are inevitably more difficult to handle than leaded
components because of both their size and the accuracy of placement required. Surfacemount components invariably come in handling mechanisms to facilitate their automatic
placing. Generally these handling or carrier systems are developments of the plastic tube
already well known for handling DIL i.c.s, or they are the successor to the bandolier. This
successor to the bandolier is effectively the same as S mm film, in that the component is
placed in a recess in a continuous sheet of film with a suitable seal in such a way that when
the film is unravelled and the seal removed, the component can be extracted using vacuum
techniques. The principles of this are shown in Figure 14.2. The reels also come in sizes
such as 12, 16 and 24mm as well as Smm.
One of the disadvantages of surface-mount components is the difficulty of assembling
printed circuit boards in prototype form and in the making-up of prototype boards for
purely test or experimental purposes. Surface mounting therefore imposes a requirement
on companies to increase the use of computer simulation for circuit performance on the
161
Ao
4.0
0.1
1.75
0.1
Blister pack
;,
.- .- .J:' '.'
/ //
Reel .
,
.~
-........
"'. .--r-"/
....
\\
I J
/ /
_ ._ .
Figure 14.2
one hand, and to go straight from that to a properly designed (usually by CAD) printed
circuit board for the first prototype. With the increasing sophistication of computerbased simulation and CAD packages this is now relatively straightforward, although
many companies will prefer to operate this through a bureau in order to reduce capital
investment. Surface-mount machines are available which enable fairly simple manual
operations to take place, based on either the light-guided, semi-automatic or small fully
automatic machines. When full production is required, then a machine capable of
assembling a large number of components of varying types at a rate compatible with the
output required by the using company is necessary. Such a machine is illustrated in Figure
14.3 and allows the placement of component accurately at high rate.
Once the components are placed on the board then they go on to soldering, cleaning
and testing in much the same way as leaded component boards. Cleaning however, has
proved a difficult technology to resolve simply, although soldering has been operating an
acceptably high level for some time (discussed in Chapter 13 on soldering). Although
testing is not the subject of this particular book, it should be borne in mind that the high
density of components imposes particular constraints on automatic test equipment,
particularly the type using sprung probes which inevitably have a mechanical limitation
on the point-to-point positional spacing. When one considers surface-mount components
in isolation then one can adopt the principles already described in the chapters on design,
component procurement, etc. perhaps with rather a higher degree of success, in view of
162
Figure 14.3
---
A small SMD assembly machine
the discipline that the industry has developed over the past twenty or thirty years towards
standardization.
In the inevitable change from leaded component assembly to surface mount assembly
there will be a number of components unavailable in one form or the other and therefore
some companies may opt to use hybrid assembly techniques using both surface-mount
and leaded components in order to obtain the optimum performance in terms of product
size and performance as well as possible economies. When mixing the two technologies
there are several alternatives available and these are illustrated in Figures 14.4 and 14.5.
>r----IF)
do::ol.oompo".""
Surface mount components
Axial
through -hole
Surface mount (both sides)
Figure 14.4
Figure 14.5
A mixed technology board (SMD and insertion)
163
164
In order to understand the required accuracy and the problems associated with surface
mount, it is perhaps appropriate to consider all the various 'do's and don'ts' of the design
and machine usage requirement, when it is particularly related to the surface-mount
environment. Already stated above is the fact that the required accuracy is of the order of
0.002--0.003 in. and this figure would normally be sufficiently accurate for every normal
smt placement requirement. However, when one states that this is the required accuracy,
this is the absolute accuracy over a board which may be perhaps as much as 12 in. square
and therefore, as a percentage, puts a remarkably high demand on a number of design
features. Of these one can include the positional accuracy of the machine itself which
typically will be within the accuracy of 0.001 in. One then has to add the errors due to
photo-plotting which will probably be less than 0.001 in., the errors due to processing the
pcb and the board stability. The total of these errors may well be in the region of
0.005--0.006 in. Many of these errors can be reduced to the desired figure 0.002 in. or less.
Vision systems, in the cases of both surface-mount machines and insertion machines,
are being used increasingly in order to reduce assembly areas and increase the assembly
accuracy, and allow for errors in both machines and the production processes on the pcb.
As a word of advice, the author would define the differences between resolution and
accuracy and repeatability, in order to clarify the reader's perception of machine
specifications. The term resolution usually implies a measurement or placement which is a
division of the reading scale; that is, a machine may well have a resolution of 0.0005 in.,
and this simply means that it will stop at that marker point. Accuracy however, is defined
as the error from the absolute position and thus accuracy is normally significantly larger
than resolution in most machines. Accuracy may only be 0.002 in. in many cases although
the machine will stop to a finer gradation than that accuracy. Repeatability on the other
hand can be regarded as a figure which is not either accuracy or resolution; simply it can
be defined as the facility with which the machine repeats a previous instruction, that is it
may well have a repeatability which is apparently greater than the accuracy but clearly
cannot be greater than the resolution.
The author would caution careful reading of machine specifications so that the true
figures for the application are established. In essence, resolution is irrelevant; what counts
first is accuracy and second repeatability. However if the machine has a vision system
which corrects every location, then the accuracy with which the vision system corrects
then becomes a sole definition of machine performance as the machine effectively redefines its data on every placement. The accuracy then can be to 0.001 in. for example,
irrespective of the quality of the photo-plotting, the machine or the production of the pcb.
Another aspect of accuracy and resolution which is effective in linear definitions is that
of orthogonal accuracy. It is clearly important that a machine's X and Y axes are
orthogonally correct to within a specification of the accuracy of the machine, otherwise
the accuracy will change in one axis as the other axis is altered. Orthogonal accuracy is
vital in the case of surface mount, but again a vision system will correct all orthogonal
inaccuracies provided the vision system is used intelligently. The author would offer the
following list of guidelines to users when initially assessing the use of an sm machine for
their environment:
Accuracy figures should be clearly defined within a set of mathematical parameters.
These parameters should include probability levels, so that the user can assess
165
whether the machine will go outside its quoted accuracies given certain
circumstances.
2 The accuracy, repeatability and resolution figures should be quoted within an
environmental condition so that the accuracy can be determined in the user's
environment and the change of the accuracy which is obviously critical to the user of
such a machine.
3 Any accuracy quotation must include all the machine errors because with some terms
of definition it is possible to create a false image of accuracy. For example, if the
resolution of a machine is actually less than its accuracy, it is possible to achieve the
accuracy only within a resolution performance.
4 Accuracy should also be quoted as an extreme in the orthogonal axis rather than
about a central axis.
5 Rotational axis, depending upon how it is achieved, should also be defined because in
the case of the larger sm components the inaccuracy due to the error on rotation
translates to a substantial linear inaccuracy which may well place the leads outside
the tolerance necessary for that placement. With the increasing use of larger and
larger packages of 80 and even 96 leads, it is clearly important that the component is
placed accurately for soldering and that the component once placed and soldered has
a high probability of being correct.
6 If a machine has a vision correction system this should specify not only the
achievable accuracy using the vision system but also the board tolerance of
acceptability within the window that is accepted by the vision system. Most vision
systems have no form of pattern recognition and therefore if the vision system picks
up on the wrong hole or track it will simply correct to that hole or track, which will
then become an incorrect placement. Therefore, even with vision systems the
accuracy must be defined well enough to allow the vision system to pick up the
correct reference every time.
The advent of smt technology is not entirely the panacea that had been predicted by the
companies promoting smt at the outset. It has quite definite advantages, but the industry
is now settling down to the idea that smt technology and insertion technology will run side
by side for many years. The latest predictions at the time of preparation of this book, were
that by the year 1995 the value of assembly of both will approach equivalence, and even by
the turn of the century insertion technology will still be used by most companies. With the
growth of the electronics market as a whole continuing for the foreseeable future, the
implication is that insertion requirements will continue to grow, or at worst will start to
stagnate by the year 1995. Thus any company with thoughts that smt is the only way to go
should think again in the light of their real market requirement: Do they need smt for that
alone, or are they looking at the new technology without considering that it may not be
the only route?
Chapter 15
Conclusions
Are there any succinct conclusions that can be drawn from the chapters in the book, that
could be used as a quick guide to automation? Hopefully there are. The overwhelming
evidence in the use of automatic assembly methods, whether light guided, or full
automation, shows that there are many benefits to be obtained. These include technical
and quality benefits, improved market image and flexibility, substantial cost and cashflow improvement, and in general a better-run company. The author believes that for a
company which employs five or more operators hand assembling boards, the only route
forward is to full, flexible automation, and it can be done now.
What lessons and what guidelines are there for the company attempting to enter the
automation assembly business? It is clear that any attempt to automate with a halfhearted management approach is doomed to disaster from the outset. Automation
implies that everyone from cleaner to managing director must be fully involved. The
whole structure of the company must change in its attitude, and management techniques.
The impact on cost-benefit can only be realized fully when every aspect of the company's
approach to design, buying, inspection, assembly, quality control, etc. is overhauled.
The detail is within the bulk of the book, but it is clear that attention to creating a
restricted component list for the designers is sensible, also buying those components and
having them delivered in the correct packaging, then inspecting for mechanical as well as
electronic parameters. The layout of boards to meet the requirements of the chosen
machines is obvious, but often overlooked. The selection of a machine, or machinery
system for the particular company goal is important. That machine should be supported
by a sound educational programme for all personnel, and backed by a capable supplier
with the resource to maintain the machine.
Many companies delay a decision, while 'further investigation' is carried out.
Meanwhile their competitors are busy with their automation programmes, and the
machinery available is moving onwards; thus it is possible for companies to have such a
Conclusions
167
long gestation period for decision that they never can make one! If a company waits a year
to decide what is best, by then new machines are available, new techniques and facilities
on old machines, and thus the picture changes. They have gained nothing by waiting even though they haven't spent the cash directly, they have for certain indirectly, in
wasted effort, poorer assembly, and additional costs hidden in their system.
This book is not for the existing expert, although there is a great deal of factual
information on standards, which may be useful to have, collected in one volume. It is for
all those who wish to understand a part of the automation business, who want to get a
feeling of what it can do for them or their companies, and it is for those who want to learn
about the assembly of printed circuit boards from an educational viewpoint.
In short, it is for everyone in any environment who wants to know more, from finance
director to operator, from lecturer to student, and the author hopes that it fulfils that
ambitious goal to some degree.
Appendix 1
Glossary
ACI Automatic Component Insertion; usually implies a machine.

Ammo-pak A form of bandolier storage, where the tape is folded into layers in a box or container.
Annulus Mathematically the area between two concentric circles, but in this context used to describe
the area between the wire and hole in a printed circuit board.
ATE Automatic Test Equipment
Automatic A machine that operates without any operator requirement except perhaps at the end of
an assembly cycle.
Bandolier A method of attaching the wires of components (normally axial or radial) to tape for
handling purposes. See also Ammo-paks, and Reels.
Bend mechanism The mechanism below the board which is used to bend the leads to retain the
component.
Bird's nest interconnect The pattern created between components with straight lines between the
component pins, before track routing.
Block diagrams The diagrammatic representation of a circuit by considering the circuit function in
blocks, rather than in detail.
Board design The process of creating the geographical layout, and electronic function of a printed
circuit board.
Bridging In soldering, an electrical contact between tracks which causes a failure of the circuit.
CAD Computer Aided Design. The use of computer-based systems to assist with design. In this
instance it applies to printed circuit boards and their layout, together with help in planning
testing, production, etc.
Cal-rod Heaters used to pre-heat boards prior to soldering.
Cassettes In this context, a mechanical device for holding components in a prepared form prior to
release to the machine.
Circuit diagram A diagrammatical representation of the electronic functions of a circuit.
Component ident The marking of the component identification on the printed circuit board.
Cropping The cutting of the wires, either before or after insertion, in order to control length oflead.
Datum hole The hole(s) used to position a printed circuit board on a holder, or platten.
Glossary
169
DIL Dual in-line.

DIP Dual in-line package.
Double-sided A printed circuit board where the track is on both sides of the board.
Earthplane A continuous (usually) plane of track on a printed circuit board used as an earth
screen.
Finger conveyors A device using small gripping 'fingers' to hold a printed circuit board, on a
continuous track, and thus convey the board.
Fixed kit Used in automatic assembly, a term to describe a kit of components fixed in position on the
machine, for all types of printed circuit boards, the program selecting the correct part from the
position on the machine.
Flexi-rigid A type of printed circuit board which combines both rigid (e.g. Fibreglass) with a flexible
membrane.
Fluxing The adding of flux to the board/component to be soldered.
Footprint The shape taken on the printed circuit board by both the component and the insertion
head on an automatic machine.
Galvanometer An electro-magnetic device, which controls the position of a mirror by the current
flowing in an attached coil.
Grid dimensions In designing printed circuit boards it is usual to control the layout to a standard
grid, and this can be any size, usually related to component size; thus a size of 0.1 in. is common,
as is 0.05 in., 0.040 in., and others.
Hardware The visible system, as distinct from software, the instruction set.
i.c. Integrated circuit.
Icicles The formation of icicle-shaped solder during the soldering process, and created by faulty
processing.
Interconnection pattern The tracking pattern that creates the circuit between components.
JIT Just in time.
J oggie The shape created by forming the wire( s) of a leaded component, usually to create a stand off
from the printed circuit board.
Light-guided Machines that use a beam of light, or projected image to indicate the position of a
component assembly on the printed circuit board.
Mass soldering Soldering all the connections simultaneously, or rapidly in an automatic soldering
machine.
MOS Metal-oxide-semiconductor.
Multi-option An automatic insertion machine capable of handling more than one component type.
Multilayer A printed circuit board where the track is on both sides and also sandwiched in the
insulator, giving several layers of tracking.
Multiprobe system A method of making connection to a printed circuit board in order to carry out
electronic testing, the connections being made using sprung probes.
Off-line Not on-line, thus can be used independently of the assembly operation.
Onsertion A term used to describe the placement of surface-mount components. Due to Universal
Instruments Ltd.
Orthogonal At right angles.
Out-gassing The generation of gasses during high temperature processes (soldering).
Pad diameter The diameter of the 'pad' which is created round the hole in the printed circuit board
for the lead to be inserted through, and thus form the solderable connection.
Pass-thru system A Universal Instruments registered trade mark, used generally to describe a
system of assembly where the printed circuit board passes through from one machine to the next
in the assembly process.
Pattern recognition Machine recognition of visual patterns, often used in machine character
recognition, robotic assembly of mechanical parts, etc.
170
Pitch The distance between the two (or more) wires on a leaded component, or the hole spacing for
same.
Plated through holes A connection method whereby the tracks on both sides of a printed circuit board
are connected by plating the inside of the holes.
Platen A mechanical device for holding a printed circuit board on a machine in a stable position.
Polarity The electrical difference between the current/voltage of a component, requiring the correct
insertion direction.
Pre-heaters Device(s) for heating the board prior to soldering, and in line with a flow-wave soldering
system.
Pre-processing A process carried out prior to, and required by, a subsequent process or activity.
Preferred component A component that has been selected for not only its electronic features, but
also its mechanical features to aid assembly.
Quality assurance The technique of controlling processes, components, etc. in order to ensure a
reliability standard.
Quality control A method of controlling the management of assembly, component procurement,
etc. to ensure a product meets standard specifications.
Re-work The process of carrying out work on a printed circuit board after supposed completion to
correct assembly or other faults.
Resin A type of flux base.
Robotic assembly Assembly of parts, to a printed circuit board (or generally a broader definition, to
anything) by the use of robots and robotic techniques.
R H The movements of robot arms through radius and angles.
Screen ident The identification mark on a printed circuit board (produced usually by screen
printing) of a component, or its position.
Screen printing A process for depositing ink(s) on to a surface by the use of a mesh, with the
appropriate pattern etched into the mesh, and thus controlling the position of the ink when it is
squeezed through the mesh.
Semi-automatic A machine that still requires an operator in order to function correctly.
Side brazed Refers to dual-in-line packages whose structure is such that the leads (or leadforms) are
attached to the base material (usually metallized ceramic) on the side of the package by brazing.
Single-sided A printed circuit board where the track is only on one side.
sm Surface mount.
smc Surface mount component.
smt Surface mount technology.
Software The programs that control the actions of microprocessors, computers, etc.
Solder baths A hot bath with molten (in operation) solder.
Solder mask A covering on a printed circuit board, usually selective, which is used to prevent the
adherence of solder to the partes) of the board being protected.
Spray fluxing The covering of the printed circuit board before soldering by using spraying
techniques.
Stand-alone unit In the context of this book, it defines a machine which can assemble all types of
common component (axial, radial, and DIL).
Static In this context the word, refers to a voltage charge, which is introduced on to components
during assembly.
Surface mount (sm) The type of component that has no leads (for placing through the board), and thus
is mounted flat on the board, hence surface mount.
Test pads Pads introduced on to a circuit board solely for the purpose of creating test area for
probes, etc.
Test points Places on a printed circuit board which are used for test purposes, but which may also be
used for other purposes such as component solder points, etc.
Glossary
171
Track The metal (usually copper/lead/tin) which forms the lead between components on a printed
circuit board.
Vapour degreasing The post-soldering cleaning of boards by using a heated vapour.
Via holes The use of a plated through hole between the layers to act as interconnection.
Wave 8uxing The coating of a printed circuit board with flux, by using a wave of flux, with the peak
of the wave in contact with the board.
Wave soldering Soldering of the components to the printed circuit board by using a molten solder
wave, and running the board over the top of the wave, with the board just in contact with the
wave.
Appendix 2
Standards
A2.1 Standards for production

Britain
Production
planning,
manufacturing
methods,
general
requirements
for equipment
Quality control,
reliability,
sampling
procedures
USA
lEe
MIL-STD 242
MIL-STD-454
BS 5191
BS PD 6470
DEF-STAN-OO-IO
BS 600
BS 4200
lEe 271
lEe 272
BS 4778
BS 4891
BS 5750
BS 5760
BS 6000
BS 6001
BS 6002
BS 6143
DEF-STAN-OO-40
DEF-STAN-00-41
DEF-STAN-00-3
DEF-STAN-05-21
DEF-STAN-05-22
DEF-STAN-05-58
lEe
lEe
lEe
lEe
300
362
410
605
MIL-STD-I05
MIL-HDBK217
MIL-STD-414
MIL-STD-781
MIL-STD-785
MIL-Q-9858
W. Germany France
173
Standards
Britain
Measurement,
calibration,
inspection
inspection
Environmental
testing
Clean areas
Racks, cabinets,
crates, etc.
Printed circuit
boards, printed
wiring and
materials
DEF-STAN-05-61
DEF-STAN-05-62
DEF-STAN-05-67
BS 923
BS 5781
BS 6146
DEF-STAN-00-13
DEF-STAN-05-26
DEF-STAN-05-27
DEF-STAN-05-29
BS 2011
BS 4864
BS 6140
DEF-STAN-00-1
DEF-STAN-07-55
BS 5295
BS 5490
BS 5554
BS 5836
BS 5954
DEF-STAN-59-46
BS
BS
BS
BS
BS
BS
BS
BS
BS
BS
BS
4584
5830
6096
6221
9760
9761
9762
9763
9764
9765
9766
lEe
USA
W. Germany France
IEC 60
IEC 625
MIL-I-45208
DIN57432
IEC
IEC
IEC
IEC
68
184
222
721
MIL-STD-81O
IEC 297
IEC 482
IEC 516
IEC 529
IEC 547
IEC 552
IEC 640
IEC 668
IEC 677
IEC 678
IEC713
IEC 729
IEC 97
IEC 194
IEC 249
IEC 321
IEC 326
NEMA ICS 1
DIN 41494
IPC and
E1A series
Full range
of specs.
See main
listing.
MIL-STD-275
MIL-P-13949
MIL-P-28809
MIL-P-50884
MIL-P-5511O
DIN 40 803 NF C93

Series
See main
listing
Note: For most of these categories, W. Germany and France generally conform to many of the
requirements of the lEe publications, as do most of the lEe member countries. Also, many of the British
Standards listed are identical with or take into account the requirements of, in whole or in part, the
relevant lEe publications. See separate cross-reference table.
174
A2.2 British Standards publications

Standards
Number
Part/Section
BS 308
Part 2
BS 600
BS 923
Part
Part
Part
Part
1
2
3
4
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part
1.1
2.1
2.1A
2.lB
2.1Ca
2.1Db
BS 2011
Part 2.1Ea
Part 2.1Eb
Part 2.1Ec
Part 2.1Ed
Part 2.1Fc
Part 2.1Fd
Part 2.1Fda
Part 2.1Fdb
Part 2.1Fdc
Part 2.1Ga
Part 2.11
Part 2.1Ka
Part 2.1Kb
Part 2.1Kc
Part 2.1Kd
Part 2.1N
Part 2.1N
Part 2.1P2
Part 2.1Q
Title
Engineering drawing practice

Recommendation for dimensioning and tolerancing of
size. This introduces a new concept in tolerancing of
size and form
Application of statistical methods to industrial
standardization and quality control
Guide on high-voltage testing techniques
General
Test procedures
Measuring devices
Application guide for measuring devices
Basic environmental testing procedures
General and guidance
Tests
Tests A: Cold
Tests B: Dry heat
Test Ca: Damp heat, steady state
Test Db and guidance: Damp heat, cyclic (12+ 12 hour
cycle)
Test Ea: Shock
Test Eb: Bump
Test Ec: Drop and topple, primarily for equipment-type
specimens
Test Ed: Free fall
Test Fc: Vibration (sinusoidal)
Test Fd: Random vibration-wide band, general
requirements
Test Fda: Random vibration-wide band. Reproducibility
high
Test Fdb: Random vibration-wide band. Reproducibility
medium
Test Fdc: Random vibration-wide band. Reproducibility
low
Test Ga: Acceleration, steady state
Test J: Mould growth
Test Ka: Salt mist
Test Kb: Salt mist
Test Kc: Sulphur dioxide test for contacts and
connections
Test Kd: Hydrogen sulphide test for contacts and
connections
Test M: Low air pressure
Test N: Change of temperature
Test P2: Flammability
Test Q: Sealing
Standards
Standards
Number
Part/ Section
BS 2754
BS 3015
BS 3375
ritle
Test R: Resistance to fluids

Test Sa: Simulated solar radiation at ground level
Test I: Soldering
Test U: Robustness of terminations
Test XA and guidance: Immersion in cleaning solvents
Test Z/AD: Composite temperature/humidity cyclic test
Test Z/Afc: Combined cold/vibration (sinusoidal) tests for
both heat-dissipating and non-heat-dissipating
specimens
Test Z/AM: Combined cold/low air pressure tests
Part 2.IZ/AM
Part 2.IZ/AMD
Test Z/ AMD: Combined sequential cold, low air pressure
and damp heat test
Test Z/ ABDM: Climatic sequence primarily intended for
Part 2.IZ/ABDM
components
Part 2.1Z/BFc
Test Z/BFc: Combined dry heat/vibration (sinusoidal) test
for both heat-dissipating and non-heat dissipating
specimens
Part 2.1Z/BM
Test Z/BM: Combined dry heat/low air pressure tests
Part 2.2
Guidance
Part 2.2C & D
Guidance, Tests C and D: Damp heat tests
Part 2.2J
Guidance, Test J: Mould growth
Part 2.2Kd
Guidance, Test Kd: Hydrogen sulphide test for contacts
and connections
Part 2.2N
Guidance, Test N: Change of temperature tests
Part 2.2Sa
Guidance, Test Sa: Solar radiation testing
Guidance, Test T: Soldering
Part 2.2T
Part 2.2Z/AFc &
Test Z/AFc and Z/BFc: Guidance on combined
temperature (cold and dry heat) and vibration
Z/BFc
(sinusoidal) tests. Identical with IEC 68-2-53
Background information
Part 3
Tests A (cold) and Tests B (dry heat)
Part 3A & B
Part 3Z/AM & 3Z/BM Tests Z/AM and Z/BM: Combined temperature/low air
pressure tests
Specification for mounting of components, equipment and
Part 4, Section 4.1
other articles for dynamic tests
Guidance on the application of the tests of BS 2011 to
Part 4.2
simulate the effects of storage. Control chart technique
when manufacturing to a specification, with special
reference to articles machined to dimensional tolerances
Memorandum. Construction of electrical equipment for
protection against electric shock
Glossary of terms relating to mechanical vibration and
shock
Work study and organization
Guide to method study
Part 2
Part 3
Guide to work measurement
Part 4
Guide to work performance control
Part 2.IR
Part 2.ISa
Part 2.IT
Part 2.IU
Part 2.IXA
Part 2.IZ/AD
Part 2.IZ/Afc
BS 2564
175
176
Standards
Number
Part! Section
BS 3939
Part 1
BS 4200
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
BS4759
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
BS 4743
BS 4778
Part 1
BS 4864
BS 4889
BS
BS
BS
BS
4891
5191
5233
5295
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
BS 5308
Part 1
Part 2
Title
Guide for graphical symbols for electrical, power,

telecommunications and electronics diagram
General information, General index
Guide on the reliability of electronic equipment and parts
used therein
Introduction
Terminology
Presentation of reliability data on electronic components
(or parts)
The collection of reliability, availability and
maintainability data from field performance of
electronic items
Reliability programmes for equipment
Feedback of reliability information on equipment
The inclusion of reliability clauses into specifications for
components (or parts) for electronic equipment
The screening (sorting) of electronic equipment and parts
Performance of mechanical and compression joints in
electric cable and wire connectors
Compression joints in copper conductors
Compression joints in nickel, iron and plated copper
conductors
Mechanical and compression joints in aluminium
conductors
Specification for safety requirements for electronic
measuring apparatus
Quality vocabulary
International terms BS 4778: 1979 is amended and
becomes BS 4778: Part 2
Recommendations on the design and testing of enclosures
for environmental testing
Method of specifying the performance of electronic
measuring equipment
A guide to quality assurance
Glossary of production planning and control terms
Glossary of terms used in metrology
Environmental cleanliness in enclosed spaces
Specification for controlled environment, clean rooms,
work stations and clean air devices
Guide to the construction and installation of clean rooms,
work stations and clean air devices
Guide to operational procedures and disciplines
applicable to clean rooms, work stations and clean air
devices
Instrumentation cables
Specification for polyethylene-insulated cables
Specification for PVC-insulated cables
Standards
Standards
Number
Part/ Section
BS 5310
BS 5372
Part 1
Part 2A
Part 2B
BS 5490
BS 5554
BS 5625
BS 5750
Part 0, Section 0 I
Part 0, Section 02
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
BS 5760
Part 0
Part I
Part 2
Part 3
BS 5772
Part I
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
177
Title
Hand crimping tools and wires for low-frequency and

radio-frequency applications
General requirements and tests
Hand crimping tools (fixed die, sizes A to E) for radio
frequency connectors and concentric contacts
Hand crimping tools (removable and interchangeable
dies, sizes A to G and Q to S) for radio frequencies,
connectors and concentric contacts
Specification for degrees of protection provided by
enclosures
Guide to a modular instrumentation data handling:
CAMAC system
Specification of purchasing requirements and methods of
test for soft soldering
Quality system
Guide to selection and use
Guide to quality management and quality systems
elements
Specification for design development, production,
installation and servicing
Specification for production and installation
Specification for final inspection. These parts are identical
to ISO 9000, 9004, 9001, 9002 and 9003 respectively
Guide to use of BS 5750 Part 1
Reliability of constructed or manufactured products,
systems, equipments and components
Introductory guide to reliability
Guide to reliability and maintainability programme
management. Supersedes 1979 edition
Guide to the assessment of reliability
Guide to reliability practices: examples
Specification for electromechanical components for
electronic equipment; basic testing procedures and
measuring methods
General
General examination, electrical continuity and contact
resistance tests, insulation tests and voltage stress tests
Current carrying capacity tests
Dynamic stress tests
Impact tests (free components) static load tests (fixed
components) endurance tests and overload test
(switches)
Climatic tests and soldering tests
Mechanical operating tests and sealing tests
178
Standards
Number
Part/ Section
Part 8
Part 9
BS 5781
Part I
Part 2
BS 5783
BS 5830
BS 5836
BS 5954
Part 2
Part 3
BS 5958
Part 1
Part 2
BS 6000
BS 6001
Part 3
BS 6002
Part I
BS 6096
Part
Part
Part
Part
1
2
3
4
BS 6140
Part 1
Part 2
Title
Connector tests (mechanical) and mechanical tests on

contacts and terminations
Cable clamping tests, explosion hazard tests, chemical
resistance tests, fire hazard tests, RF resistance tests,
capacitance tests, shielding and filtering tests and
magnetic interference tests
Measurement and calibration systems
Specification for systems requirements
Code of practice for handling electrostatic-sensitive
devices
Specification for grid system for printed circuits
Guide to CAMAC: organization of multicrate systems:
specification of the Branch-highway and CAMAC crate
controller Type Al
Specification for dimensions of panels and racks for
electronic equipment
Specification for cabinets and pitches of rack structures.
Identical with IEC 297-2
Specification for subracks and associated plug-in units.
Identical with IEC 297-3
Code of practice for the control of undesirable static
electricity
General considerations
Recommendations for particular industrial situations
Guide to the use of BS 6001. Sampling procedures and
tables for inspection by attributes
Sampling procedures and tables for inspection by
attributes
Specifications for skip-lot procedures. Based on ISO/DIS
2859/3
Packaging of electronic components for automatic
handling
Specification for tape packaging of components with axial
leads on continuous tapes
Marking inks and solder resist coating material for
printed circuits
Methods of test
Specification for marking inks
Specification for solder resist ink
Specification for permanent polymer (dry film solder
mask material)
Test equipment for generating vibration
Methods of describing characteristic of electrodynamic
test equipment for generating vibration
Methods of describing characteristics of auxiliary tables
for test equipment for generating vibration
Standards
Standards
Number
Part/Section
BS 6143
BS 6146
Part 1
BS 6221
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 20
Part 21
BS 6467
Part 1
BS 6493
Part 2 Section 2.2
Part 2 Section 2.3
Part 3
BS 9003
BS 9070
Sections 1 & 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 7
Section 8
Section 10
BS 9090
BS 9100
BS 9110
BS 9230
179
Title
Guide in the determination and use of quality related

costs
An interface system for programmable measuring
instruments (byte serial, bit parallel)
Specification for functional, electrical and mechanical
requirements, system applications and requirements for
the designer user
Guide for code and format conventions
Guide for the design and use of printed wiring boards
Methods for specifying single and double sided printed
wiring boards with plain holes
Methods for specifying multilayer printed wiring boards
Method for specifying multilayer printed wiring boards
Method for specifying single and double sided flexible
printed wiring boards without through connections
Methods of specifying single and double sided flexible
printed wiring boards with through connections
Guide for the assembly of printed wiring boards
Guide for the repair of printed wiring boards
Electrical apparatus with protection by enclosure for use
in the presence of combustible ducts
Specification for apparatus
Semiconductor devices
Recommendations for digital integrated circuits
Recommendations for analogue integrated circuits
Mechanical and climatic test methods. Identical with lEe
749
Requirements for the manufacture of electronic
components for assessed quality intended for long life
applications
Fixed capacitors of assessed quality: generic data and
methods of test
Section I: Principles and mandatory procedures
Tantalum electrolytic capacitors
Polystyrene dielectric capacitors
Ceramic dielectric capacitors
Mica dielectric capacitors
Aluminium electrolytic capacitors
Tantalum electrolytic capacitor modules
Specification for variable capacitors of assessed quality:
generic data and methods of test
Specification for capability approval for custom-built
capacitors and capacitor modules: generic data and
methods of test
Fixed resistors of assessed quality: generic data and
methods of test
Specification for connectors of assessed quality for optical
180
Standards
Number
BS 9300
BS 9370
BS 9400
BS 9450
BS 9500
BS 9520
BS 9561
BS 9600
BS 9720
BS 9733
BS9753
BS 9761
BS 9762
BS 9763
BS 9764
BS 9765
Part/Section
Title
fibres and cables: Generic data and methods of test.
Related to IEC 791-1 and IEC 794-1.
Semiconductor devices of assessed quality: generic data
and methods of test
Specification for capability approval of light-emitting and
infra-red diode arrays of assessed quality: generic data
and methods of test
Integrated electronic circuits and micro-assemblies of
assessed quality: generic data and methods of test
Specification for integrated electronic circuits and microassemblies of assessed quality (capability approval
procedure): generic data and methods of test
Sockets of assessed quality for electronic tubes and valves
and plug-in devices: generic data and methods of test
Specification for electrical connectors of assessed quality
for dc and low-frequency applications: generic data and
methods of test
Specification for lever-operated switches of assessed
quality: generic data and methods of test
Specification for piezoelectric crystal filters of assessed
quality: generic data and methods of test
Sectional specification for power transformers of assessed
quality for switched mode power supplies (SMPS) for
use in electronic equipment for capability approval.
Supersedes the 1983 edition
Sectional specification for pulse transformers of assessed
quality for use in electronic equipment for capability
approval
Sectional specification for variable rf type inductors of
assessed quality for use in electronic equipment for
capability approval
Specification for printed circuits of assessed quality.
Sectional specification for multilayer printed circuits
Sectional specification for double-sided printed circuits
with plated-through holes
Specification for printed circuits of assessed quality,
Sectional specification for single- and double-sided
printed circuits without plated-through holes
Sectional specification for flexible and flexi-rigid printed
circuits without through-hole connections
Sectional specification for double-sided flexible and
flexi-rigid printed circuits with through-hole
connections
Standards
Standards
Number
Part/ Section
181
Title

Sectional specification for multi-layer fiexi-rigid printed
circuits with through-hole connections
Specification for capability approval of modular
electronic networks: generic specification
Harmonized system of quality assessment for electronic
components. Inductor and transformer cores for
telecommunications
Specification for harmonized system of quality assessment
for electronic components, fixed capacitors for use in
electronic equipment
Generic specification
components. Fixed resistors for use in electronic
equipment
components. Semiconductor devices
BS 9766
BS 9800
BS 9925
BS 9930
Part 0
BS 9940
Part 0
BS 9970
Part 0
British Standards and published documents (PD)

Handbook
No. 22
PO 6470
PO 6514
Quality Assurance, full text of BS 4778, BS 5233, BS

5750, BS 5760, BS 5781 and BS 6143
The management of design for economic production
Guide to basic references for the development of
functional standards in the field of information
technology equipment. Identical with CEN/CENELEC
HO 40001: Requirements for Information Technology
Equipment
BS CECC publications
The identity of a British Standard with a CECC (Electronic Components Committee of
CENELEC, The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) publication is
indicated by the presence on the cover of the number of the CECC publication preceded by
'BS'. The standards listed below having five digits following 'BS CECC' are CECC
publications adopted without change in content or format as British Standards. Those
standards having eight digits in place of five are British Standard detail specifications
harmonized with the CECC system.
Standards
Number
BS CECC 00 006
Part/Section
Title

components. Basic specification: environmental test
procedures
182
Standards
Number
BS CECC 00 007
BS CECC 00 008
BS CECC 00 009
BS CECC 11 000
BS CECC 12000
BS CECC 13000
BS CECC 14000
BS CECC 16000
BS CECC 17000
BS CECC 18000
BS CECC 19000
BS CECC 20000
BS CECC 22000
BS CECC 25000
BS CECC 30000
BS CECC 30100
Part/Section
Title

components. Basic specification: sampling plans and
procedures for inspection by attributes
components. Basic specification: essential ratings for
semiconductor devices and general principles of
measuring methods
components. Basic specification: basic testing
procedures and measuring methods for
electromechanical components
components. Generic specification: cathode-ray tubes
components. Generic specification: image converter
tubes
components. Generic specification: camera tubes
components. Generic specification: photomultiplier
tubes
components. Generic specification: electromechanical
all-or-nothing relays
components. Generic specification: mercury-wetted
make contact units
components. Generic specification: dry-reed changeover contact units mechanically biased
components. Generic specification: dry-reed make
contact units
components. Generic specification: semiconductor
optoelectronic and liquid crystal devices
components. Generic specification: radio frequency
coaxial connectors
components. Generic specification: inductor and
transformer cores for telecommunications
components. Generic specification: fixed capacitors
components. Sectional specifications: fixed polyethylene
Standards
Standards
Number
BS CECC 30200
BS CECC 30900
BS CECC 31700
BS CECC 36000
BS CECC 40000
BS CECC 41000
BS CECC 42000
BS CECC 43000
BS CECC 45000
BS CECC 46000
BS CECC 50000
BS CECC 63000
BS CECC 75200
BS CECC 90000
BS CECC 90100
BS CECC 90200
Part/ Section
183
Title
terephthalate film dielectric metal-foil capacitors for

direct current. Supersedes BS E9076: Part 1, 1976
components. Sectional specification: fixed tantalus
capacitors with non-solid or solid electrolyte.
Supersedes BS E9073: 1976
components. Sectional specification: fixed polystyrene
film dielectric metal foil dc capacitors
components. Sectional specification: circular connectors
components. Generic specification: travelling wave tube
amplifiers
components. Generic specification: magnetrons
components. Generic specification: fixed resistors
components. Generic specification: potentiometers
components. Generic specification: varistors
components. Generic specification: directly-heated
negative temperature coefficient thermistors
components. Generic specification: film and hybrid
integrated circuits
components. Sectional specification: circular connectors
components. Generic specification: monolithic
integrated circuits
components. Sectional specification: digital monolithic
integrated circuits
components. Sectional specification: analogue
monolithic integrated circuits
184
A2.3 UK Defence Standards

Standards
Number
Part/Section
DEF-STAN-OO-OO
DEF-STAN-OO-I
DEF-STAN-00-5
DEF-STAN-00-9
DEF-STAN-OO-IO
DEF-STAN-00-13
Part I
Part 2
DEF-STAN-00-40
Part I
DEF-STAN-00-41
DEF-STAN-05-3
DEF-STAN-05-14
DEF-STAN-05-20
DEF-STAN-05-21
DEF-STAN-05-22
DEF-STAN-05-24
D EF -STAN -05-25
DEF-STAN-05-26
DEF-ST AN-05-27
DEF-STAN-05-29
Title
Standards for Defence (a multi-part standard covering:
preface, principles and structure; index of procurement
executive standards; index of standards; and drafting
and presentation)
Climatic environmental conditions affecting the design of
material for use by NATO forces in a ground role
Design criteria for reliability, maintainability and
maintenance of land service material (a multi-part
standard covering: general requirement; management
requirements; mechanical aspects; electrical and
electronic aspects; and optical aspects)
General requirements for qualification approval,
capability approval and quality assurance of
components for MOD use
General decision and manufacturing requirements for
service electronic equipment
Achievement of testability in electronic and allied
equipment
Guide
Production acceptance testing
Achievement of reliability and maintainability
Management responsibilities and requirements for R&M
programmes and plans
MOD practices and procedures for reliability and
maintainability in multi-part standard covering:
reliability design philosophy; reliability apportionment,
modelling and calculation; reliability prediction;
reliability engineering; and reliability testing and
screening
Mutual acceptance of Government quality assurance
Mutual acceptance of qualification approvals for
electronic components within NATO
NATO requirements for a Government quality assurance
programme
Quality control system requirements for industry
Guide for evaluation of a contractor's quality control
system for compliance with DEF-STAN-05-21
Inspection system requirements for industry
Guide for the evaluation of a contractor's inspection for
compliance with DEF-STAN-05-24
Measurement and calibration system
Guide for the evaluation of a contractor's measurement
and calibration system for compliance with
Basic inspection system requirements for industry
Standards
Standards
Number
Part/Section
DEF-STAN-05-58
DEF-STAN-05-61
DEF-STAN-05-62
DEF-STAN-05-67
DEF-STAN-07-55
DEF-STAN-59-36
Part 1
Part 2
DEF-STAN-59-41
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
DEF-STAN-59-46
DEF-STAN-59-48
Part 4
DEF-STAN-59-59
Title

attributes of isolated lots
Quality assurance procedural requirements
Guidance on quality assurance procedures
Guide to quality assurance in design
Environmental testing of Service material (a multi-part
standard covering; general requirements; and tests)
Electronic components for defence purposes
The role of Defence Standards in relation to the BS 9000
series of specifications
Procedure for the selection, specification and quality
assurance of electronic components for use in Defence
equipment
Electromagnetic compatibility
General requirements
Methods of test
Control plans and test plans
Cases, equipment, rack mounting, and associated lids,
panels and shelves - suitable for use with 19 in. racks
Panels, printed circuit of assessed quality, general
requirements for the procurement of rigid and flexible
printed circuit panels (incorporated in one standard the
now-superseded Parts 1, 2 and 3)
Panels, printed circuit of assessed quality, general
requirements for multilayer printed circuit panels with
discretely wired layers
Electrical/electronic components for Defence use. Services
qualified products list including components of assessed
quality
A2.4 lEe publications

Publication
Number
Part/Section
38
50
50(00)
50(07)
50(10)
50(16)
50(20)
50(30)
50(31)
185
Title
IEC standard voltages

International Electrotechnical vocabulary
General Index
Electronics (under revision)
Machines and transformers (under revision)
Protective relays
Scientific and industrial measuring instruments (under
revision)
Electric traction
Signalling and security apparatus for railways
186
Publication
Number
Part/Section
50(35)
50(37)
50(40)
50(55)
50(60)
50(70)
50(101)
50(111-01)
50(111-02)
50(111-03)
50(121)
50(l31)
50(131A)
50(151)
50(301)
50(302)
50(303)
50(351)
50(371)
50(391)
50(392)
50(411)
50(431)
50(441)
50(446)
50(461)
50(471)
50(521)
50(531)
50(551)
50(581)
50(602)
50(605)
50(691)
50(725)
50(726)
50(801)
50(806)
50(826)
50(841)
Title
Electromechanical applications
Automatic controlling and regulating systems
Electro-heating applications
Telegraphy and telephony
Radiocommunications
Electrobiology
Mathematics
Physics and chemistry. Section lll-Ol-Physical concepts
Physics and chemistry. Section 111-02-Electrochemical
concepts
Physics and chemistry. Section 111-03--Concepts related
to quantities and units
Electromagnetism
Electric and magnetic circuits
First supplement. Section 131-04: Polyphase circuits and
components
Electrical and magnetic devices
General terms on measurements in electricity
Electrical measuring instruments
Electronic measuring instruments
Automatic control
Telecontrol
Detection and measurement of ionizing radiation by
electric means
Nuclear instrumentation
Rotating machines
Transductors
Switchgear, control gear and fuses
Electrical relays
Electric cables
Insulators
Semiconductor devices and integrated circuits
Electron tubes
Power electronics
Electromechanical components for electronic equipment
Generation, transmission and distribution of electricity Generation
Generation, transmission and distribution of electricity Substations
Tariffs for electricity
Space radiocommunications
Transmission lines and waveguides
Acoustics and electro-acoustics
Recording and reproduction of sound and video
Electrical installations of buildings
Industrial electro heating
Standards
Publication
Number
Part/ Section
50(881)
50(901)
50(902)
59
60
68
60-01
60-02
60-03
60-04
68-1
68-2
68-2-1
68-2-2
68-2-3
68-2-5
68-2-6
68-2-7
68-2-9
68-2-10
68-2-11
68-2-13
68-2-14
68-2-17
68-2-20
68-2-21
68-2-27
68-2-28
68-2-29
68-2-30
68-2-31
68-2-32
68-2-33
68-2-34
68-2-35
68-2-36
68-2-37
68-2-38
187
Title
Radiology and radiological physics
Magnetism
Radio interference
lEC standard current ratings
High-voltage test techniques
Part 1: General definitions and test requirements
Part 2: Test procedures
Part 3: Measuring devices
Part 4: Application guide for measuring devices
Basic environmental testing procedures
Part 1: General and guidance
Part 2: Tests
Tests A: Cold
Tests B: Dry heat
Test Ca: Damp heat, steady state
Test Sa: Stimulated solar radiation at ground level
Test Fc and guidance: Vibration (sinusoidal)
Test Ga and guidance: Acceleration, steady state
Guidance for solar radiation testing
Test J: Mould growth
Test Ka: Salt mist
Test M: Low air pressure
Test N: Change of temperature
Test Q: Sealing
Test T: Soldering
Test U: Robustness of terminations and integral
mounting devices
Test Ea: Shock (under revision)
Guidance for damp heat tests
Test - Test Eb and guidance: Bump. Will be implemented
as a revision of BS 2011: Part 2-1 Eb
Test Db and guidance: Damp heat, cyclic (12+ 12 hours
cycle)
Test Ec: Drop and topple, primarily for equipment-type
specimens
Test Ed: Free fall
Guidance on change of temperature tests
Test Fd: Random vibration wide band - General
requirements
Test Fda: Random vibration wide band - Reproducibility
High
Test Fdb: Random vibration wide band - Reproducibility
Medium
Test Fdc: Random vibration wide band - Reproducibility
Low
Test Z/AD: Composite temperature/humidity cyclic test
188
Publication
Number
Part/ Section
Title
68-2-39
Test Z/AMD: Combined sequential cold, low air pressure

and damp heat test
Test Z/AM: Combined cold/low air pressure tests
Test Z/BM: Combined dry heat/low air pressure tests
Test Kc: Sulphur dioxide test for contacts and
connections
Test Kd: Hydrogen sulphide test for contacts and
connections
Guidance on Test T: Soldering
Test XA and guidance: Immersion in cleaning solvents
Guidance to test Kd: Hydrogen sulphide test for contacts
and connections
Mounting of components, equipment and other articles
for dynamic tests including shock (Ea), bump (Eb),
vibration (Dc and Fd) and steady-state acceleration
(Ga) and guidance
Guidance on the application of tests of IEC Publication
68 to simulate the effects of storage
Guidance to Test Kc: Sulphur dioxide test for contacts
and connections
Tests Z/AFc: Combined cold/vibration (sinusoidal) tests
for both heat-dissipating and non-heat-dissipating
specimens
Tests Z/BFc: Combined dry heat/vibration (sinusoidal)
tests for both heat-dissipating and non-heat-dissipating
specimens
Test Kb: Salt mist, cyclic (sodium chloride solution)
Guidance to tests Z/AFc and Z/BFc: Combined
temperature (cold and dry heat) and vibration
(sinusoidal) tests
Part 3: Background information
Section One - Cold and dry heat tests
Section Two - Combined temperature/low air pressure
tests
Electrical apparatus for explosive gas atmospheres
Classification of hazardous areas. (2nd edition)
Thermal evaluation and classification of electrical
insulation
Grid system for printed circuits
Method for determining the comparative and the proof
tracking indices of solid insulating materials under
moist conditions
Diagrams, charts and tables
Part 1: Definitions and classification
Part 3: General recommendations for the preparation of
diagrams
68-2-40
68-2-41
68-2-42
68-2-43
68-2-44
68-2-45
68-2-46
68-2-47
68-2-48
68-2-49
68-2-50
68-2-51
68-2-52
68-2-53
68-3
68-3-1
68-3-2
79
79-10
85
97
112
113
113-1
113-3
Standards
Publication
Number
Part/ Section
113-4
113-5
113-6
113-7
113-8
Multi-part
147
147-0
147-1
147-2
147-3
147-4
147-5
160
167
184
189
189-1
194
196
212
216
216-1
216-2
216-3
222
225
229
230
249
249-1
189
Title
Part 4: Recommendations for the preparation of circuit

diagrams
Part 5: Preparations of interconnection diagrams and
tables
Part 6: Preparation of unit wiring diagrams and tables
Part 7: Preparation of logic diagrams
Part 8: Preparation of diagrams of system manuals
Fixed resistors for use in electronic equipment (a 7-part
publication)
Essential ratings and characteristics of semiconductor
devices and general principles of measuring methods
Part 0: General and terminology
PartI: Essential ratings and characteristics
Part 2: General principles of measuring methods
Part 3: Reference methods of measurement
Part 4: Acceptance and reliability
Part 5: Mechanical and climatic test methods
Standard atmospheric conditions for test purposes
Methods of test for the determination of the insulation
resistance of solid insulating materials
Methods of specifying the characteristics of electromechanical transducers for shock and vibration
measurements
Low-frequency cables and wires with pvc, insulation and
pvc sheath
General test and measuring methods. (2nd edition)
Terms and definitions for printed circuits
lEe standard frequencies
Standard conditions for use prior to and during the
testing of solid electrical insulating materials
Guide for the determination of thermal ensurance
properties of electrical insulation materials
Part 1: General procedures for the determination of
thermal endurance properties, temperature indices and
thermal endurance profiles
Part 2: List of materials and available tests
Part 3: Statistical methods
Methods for specifying the characteristic of auxiliary
equipment for shock and vibration measurement
Octave, half-octave and third-octave band filters intended
for the analysis of sounds and vibrations
Test on cable oversheaths which have a special function
and are applied by extrusion
Impulse tests on cables and their accessories
Base materials for printed circuits
Part 1: Test methods
190
Publication
Number
Part/ Section
249-2
249-2-3
249-2-10
249-2-12
249-3
250
255
269
Multi-part
269-4
270
271
272
286
286-2
286-3
297
297-1
297-2
297-3
300
319
321
326
326-1
326-2
326-3
326-4
326-5
326-6
Title
Specifications (under revision)

Epoxide cellulose paper copper-clad laminated sheet of
defined flammability (vertical burning test)
Epoxide non-woven/woven glass-reinforced, copper-clad
laminated sheet of defined flammability (vertical
burning test)
Thin epoxide woven glass fabric copper-clad laminated
sheet of defined flammability, for use in the fabrication
of multi-layer printed boards
Special materials used in connection with printed circuits
Recommended methods for the determination of the
permittivity and dielectric dissipation factor of electrical
insulating materials at power, audio and radio
frequencies including metre wavelengths
Electrical relays (a 20-part publication)
Low-voltage fuses
Supplementary requirements for fuse-links for the
protection of semiconductor devices. (3rd edition)
Partial discharge measurements
List of basic terms, definitions and related mathematics
for reliability
Preliminary reliability considerations
Packaging of components for automatic. handling
Tape packaging of components with unidirectional leads
on continuous tapes
Tape packaging of surface mounted device (SMD)
components on continuous tapes
Dimensions of mechanical structures of the 482.6 mm
(19 in.) series
Part I: Dimensions of panels and racks
Part 2: Cabinets and pitches of rack structures
Part 3: Subracks and associated plug-in units
Reliability and maintainability management
Presentation of reliability data on electronic components
(or parts)
Guidance for the design and use of components intended
for mounting on boards with printed wiring and
printed circuits
Printed Boards
Part I: General information for the specification writer
Part 2: Test methods
Part 3: Design and use of printed boards
Part 4: Specification for single and double sided printed
boards with plain holes
Part 5: Specification for single and double sided printed
boards with plated-through holes
Part 6: Specification for multilayer printed boards
Standards
Publication
Number
Part/ Section
326-7
326-8
343
345
352
352.1
355
362
377
377.1
384
384.6
384.6.1
409
410
419
482
485
512
512.1
512.2
512.3
512.4
191
Title
Part 7: Specification for single and double sided flexible

printed boards without through connections
Part 8: Specification for single and double sided flexible
printed boards with through connections
Recommended test methods for determining the relative
resistance of insulating materials to breakdown by
surface discharge
Method of test for electrical resistance and resistivity of
insulating materials at elevated temperatures
Solderless connections
Part 1: Solderless wrapped connections - General
requirements, test methods and practical guidance
An appraisal of the problems of accelerated testing for
atmospheric corrosion
Guide for the collection of reliability, availability and
maintainability data from field performance of
electronic items
Methods for the determination of the dielectric properties
of insulating materials at freq.uencies above 300 MHz
Part 1: General
Fixed capacitors for use in electronic equipment
Part 6: Sectional specification fixed metalized
polycarbonate film dielectric dc capacitors
Part 6.1: Blank detail specification; fixed metallized
polycarbonate film dielectric dc capacitors. These are to
be implemented as BS QC 300 520 and QC 300 501
respectively
Guide for the inclusion of reliability clauses into
specifications for components (or parts) for electronic
equipment
Sampling plans and procedures for inspection by
attributes
Guide for the inclusion of lot-by-lot and periodic
inspection procedures in specification for electronics
components parts)
Dimensions of electronic instrument modules (for nuclear
electronic instruments)
Digital electronic dc voltmeters and dc electronic
analogue-to-digital converters
Electromechanical components for electronic equipment:
basic testing procedures and measuring methods
Part 1: General
Part 2: General examination, electrical continuity and
contact resistance tests, insulation tests and voltage
stress tests
Part 3: Current-carrying capacity tests
Part 4: Dynamic stress tests
192
Publication
Number
Part/Section
Title
512.5
Part 5: Impact tests (free components), static load tests

(fixed components), endurance tests and overload tests
Part 6: Climatic tests and soldering tests
Part 7: Mechanical operating tests and sealing tests
Part 8: Connector tests (mechanical) and mechanical tests
on contacts and terminations
Part 9: Cable-clamping tests, explosion hazard tests,
chemical resistance tests, fire hazard tests, RF
resistance tests, capacitance tests, shielding and filtering
tests, and magnetic interference tests
512.6
512.7
A2.5 CISPR publications

The International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) is a special committee
under the sponsorship to the IEC whose status differs from that of the other IEC Technical
committees in that CISPR member bodies comprise not only national committees of the IEC,
but also a number of international organizations interested in the suppression of radio
interference.
Publication number
Title
CISPR 7
CISPR 9
Recommentations of the CISPR

Limits of radio interference and leakage currents
according to CISPR and national regulations
Limits and methods of measurement of radio interference
CISPR specification for radio interference measuring
apparatus and measurement methods
CISPR II
CISPR 16
A2.6 IECQ-IEC quality assessment system for electronic components

The object of the system is to facilitate trade, both national and international, by providing
for the supply of electronic components of certified quality made and handled by approved
manufacturers and distributors, which buyers may use confidently without further testing.
Publication
Latest
issue
QC 001001
1986
QC 001002
1986
(Section I)
QC 001002
1981
(Section 2)
Title
Basic rules of the IEC Quality Assessment System for
Electronic Components (IECQ)
Rules of Procedure for the IEC Quality Assessment
System for Electronic Components (IECQ)
Section One: Clauses I to 8
Rules of Procedure of the IEC Quality Assessment
System for Electronic Components (IECQ)
Section Two: Clauses 9 to 14
193
Standards
Publication
Latest
issue
Title
QC 001004
QC 001005
1984
1984
Specification list
Qualified Products list
A2.7 ISO jlEC guides

Publication
Number
Latest
issue
Guide 3
1981
Guide 7
1982
Guide 16
1978
Guide 21
Guide 22
1981
1982
Guide 23
1982
Guide 25
1982
Guide 38
1983
Guide 39
1983
Guide 40
Guide 43
Title
Identification of national standards that are equivalent to

international standards
Requirements for standards suitable for product
certification
Code of principles on third party certification systems and
related standards
Adoption of international standards in national standards
Information on manufacturer's declaration of conformity
with standards or other technical specifications
Methods of indicating conformity with standards for
third party certification systems
General requirements for the technical competence of
testing laboratories
General requirements for the acceptance of testing
laboratories
General requirements for the acceptance of inspection
bodies
General requirements for the acceptance of certification
bodies
Development and operation of laboratory proficiency
testing
A2.S International (1EC) standards corresponding to British Standards

lEe publication
Relationship
British Standard
50(8)
50(25)
50(45)
50(55)
50(60)
50(101)
50(151)
50(411)
50(431)
50(551)
50(691)
RS
RS
RS
RS
TES
TES
TES
TES
TES
TES
TES
661
4727
4727
4727
4727:
4727:
4727:
4727:
4727:
4727:
4727:
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part
3:
1:
1:
2:
2:
2:
2:
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
06
01
02
03
09
02
07
194
lEe publication
Relationship
British Standard
50(725)
50(806)
60-1 to -4 Incl.
68-1 to -2-33 Incl.
68-2-34
68-2-35
68-2-36
68-2-37
68-2-38 10-3-2 Incl.
85
97
112
167
212
216-1 &-2
249-1
249-2
249-2C-12
249-3
250
270
271
272
286-1
297
319
326-2
326-2A
326-4 to -8 Incl.
345
352-1
362
409
410
485
512-1 to -9 Incl.
516
529
547
548
552
564
625-1 & -2 Incl.
672-1
695-2-1 & -2-2
714
716
TES
TES
IS
TES
TES
TES
TES
TES
IS
TES
IS
IS
RS
IS
IS
IS
RS
IS
IS
RS
TES
RS
RS
IS
IS
IS
TES
TES
IS
RS
IS
TES
IS
RS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
IS
4727: Part 2: Group 11

4727: Part 2: Group 10
923
2011
2011: Part 2.1Fd
2011: Part 2. 1Fda
2011: Part 2.1Fdb
2011: Part 2.1Fdc
2011
2757
5830
5901
2782
2844
5691
4584
4584
4584
4584
903.2067.2782 & 4542
4828
4200 & 4778
4200
6062
5954
4200
6221: Part 2
6221: Part 2
6221
4999
6516: Part 1
4200: Part 4
4200
6001
5704
5722
5554
5490
5549
5788
5836
5764
6146
6045
6458
6329
6348
Standards
195
A2.9 US Department of Defense Military (MIL) Standards

Standards number
MIL-C-5
MIL-R-ll
MIL-R-19
MIL-C-20
MIL-R-22
MIL-C-25
MIL-R-26
MIL-T-27
MIL-C-62
MIL-C-81
MIL-C-92
MIL-C-93
MIL-C-94
MIL-STD-105
MIL-STD-202
MIL-HDBK-27IE
MIL-STD-242
MIL-STD-275
MIL-STD-414
MIL-STD-454
MIL-STD-46l & 462
MIL-STD-470
MIL-STD-47I
MIL-STD-78I
MIL-STD-785
MIL-STD-810
MIL-STD-883
MIL-STD-1772
Title
General specification for capacitors, fixed, mica dielectric

General specification for resistors, fixed, composition
General specification for resistors, variable, wirewound
(low operating temperature)
General specification for capacitors, fixed, ceramic
dielectric (temperature compensating). Established and
non-established reliability
General specification for resistors, variable, wirewound,
power type
General specification for capacitors, fixed, paper
dielectric, direct current (hermetically sealed in metallic
case)
General specification for resistors, fixed, wirewound,
power type
General specification for transformers and inductors
(audio, power and high-power and high-power pulse)
General specification for capacitors, fixed, electrolytic (dc,
aluminum, dry electrolyte, polarized)
General specification for capacitors, variable ceramic
dielectric
General specification for capacitors, variable, air dielectric
(trimmer)
General specification for resistors, fixed, wirewound
(accurate)
General specification for resistors, variable, composition
attributes
Test methods for electronic and electrical component
parts
Reliability Prediction of Electronic Equipment.
Supersedes edition 'd' which is now out of date
Electronic equipment parts - selected standards
Printed wiring for electronic equipment
variables for per cent defective
Standard general requirements for electronic equipment
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) requirements and
procedures
Maintainability programme requirements
Maintainability verification/demonstration/evaluation
Reliability tests, exponential distribution
Requirements for reliability programme
Environmental test methods
Test methods and procedures for microelectronics
Certification requirements for hybrid manufacturing
196
Standards number
Title
MIL-C-3607
General specification for connectors, coaxial, radiofrequency, series pulse

General specification for connectors, coaxial, radiofrequency, series HN
General specification for connectors, coaxial, radiofrequency series LC
General specification for connectors, plug and receptacle,
electrical (coaxial series twin)
General specification for connectors, plug and receptacle,
power (bladed type)
General specification for switches, toggle, environmentally
sealed
General specification for capacitors, fixed, electrolytic
(non-solid electrolyte) tantalum
General specification for connectors, electrical, circular
threaded. AN type
General specification for relays, electrical, for electronic
and communications equipment
Systems electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)
requirements
General specification for relays, electromagnetic, including
established reliability (ER) types
General specification for switches and switch assemblies,
sensitive and push, snap action
Quality programme requirements
General specification for meters, electrical indicating,
panel type, ruggedized
General specification for resistors, fixed film, high
stability
General specification for capacitors, fixed, mica dielectric,
button style
General specification for capacitors, fixed, ceramic
dielectric, general purpose
General specification for capacitors, fixed, glass dielectric
General specification for capacitors, feed through, radio
interference reduction, ac and dc, hermetically sealed in
metallic cases, established and non-established
reliability
Plastic sheet, laminated, copper clad, for printed wiring
Maintenance engineering analysis
Maintainability requirements for weapon systems and
subsystems
Printed wiring assemblies
Inspection system requirements
General specification for printed wiring, flexible
Printed wiring boards
Department of Defense Index of Specifications and
Standards 1985
MIL-C-3643
MIL-C-3650
MIL-C-3655
MIL-C-3767
MIL-S-3950
MIL-C-3965
MIL-C-5015
MIL-R-5757
MIL-E-6051
MIL-R-6106
MIL-S-8805
MIL-Q-9858
MIL-M-10304
MIL-R-10509
MIL-C-I0950
MIL-C-lI015
MIL-C-11272
MIL-C-11693
MIL-P-13949
MIL-M-24365
MIL-M-26512
MIL-P-28809
MIL-I-45208
MIL-P-50884
MIL-P-55110
1985 DODISS
Standards
197
Standards number
Title
MIL-HDBK-338
Electronic reliability design handbook extensive update

and revision of the 1986 handbook
Standard general requirements for electronic equipment
Test methods and procedures for microelectronics. Major
update and revision of previous edition
Soldering technology, high quality/high reliability
Part and component mounting for high quality/high
reliability and soldered electrical and electronic
assemblies
Criteria for high quality/high reliability soldered
technology
General purpose soldering
Search and retrieval index to EOS/ESD symposium
proceedings from 1979-1984
Non-electric parts reliability data
Analysis techniques for mechanical reliability
Electronic Equipment Reliability Data
Surface Mount Technology: A Reliabiliy Review
ESD Control in the Manufacturing Environment
MIL-STD-454K
MIL-STD-883C NOTICE 4
DOD-STD-2000-1
DOD-STD-2000-2
DOD-STD-2000-3
DOD-STD-2000-4
TRS-4
NPRD-3
NPS-l
EERD-21986
SOAR-5 1986
SOAR-6 1987
A2.tO US Electronic Industries Association (EIA)

Standards number
Title
RS-161
RS-162
RS-186
Unit standards for ceramic-based printed circuits

Test standard for ceramic-based circuits
Standards test methods for passive electronic component
parts, general instructions and index of tests
Definition and register of printed wiring
Test point location for printed wiring assemblies
Standard test for adhesion of printed wiring
Test to determine the temperature rise as a function of
current in printed conductors
Solderability of printed wiring boards
General document for connectors, electric printed wiring
boards
General requirements for soldering of electrical
connections and printed board assemblies
Lead taping of components in hybrid radial lead
configuration for automatic insertion
Lead taping of components in the radial lead
configuration for automatic insertion
Taping of lead less components for automatic insertion
RS-208
RS-213
RS-216
RS-25 I
RS-319
RS-406
RS-445
RS-467
RS-468
RS-48 I
198
Al.ll US National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) standards

Standards number
Title
ICS
ICS
ICS
ICS
General standards for industrial control and systems

Industrial control devices, controllers and assemblies
Industrial systems
Terminal blocks for industrial control equipment and
systems
Resistance welding control
Enclosures for industrial controls and systems
Definitions
Purpose of enclosures
Type designations
Materials
Operating mechanisms
Legends
Enclosure applications
Non-ventilated and ventilated enclosures
I
2
3
4
ICS S
ICS 6
-110.01
-110.02
-110.03
-110.04
-110.0S
-110.06
-110.07
-110.08
A2.12 US Institute of Printed Circuits (lPC)

Standards number
Title
IPC-IM-lOO
IPC-CP-ISO
IPC-FC-218
Technical manual: Specification and standards

Copper foil for printed wiring applications
General specification for connectors, electric flat cable
type
Specification for single-sided flexible printed wiring
Dimensions and tolerances for single- and two-sided
printed wiring boards
Printed boards, rigid, single- and double-sided. Endproduct standard
Printed wiring design guide
General specification for connectors, electrical, printed
wiring board type
Design and end-product requirement for discrete wiring
boards
Guide to the acceptability of printed wiring boards
Guide to the acceptability of printed board assemblies
Test methods manual
Suggested guidelines for printed wiring board assemblies
Guidelines for printed circuit board component mounting
Solderability test methods for printed wiring boards
General requirements for soldering or electrical
connections and printed board assemblies
Design and end-product specification for rigid multilayer
printed boards
IPC-FC-240
IPC-D-300
IPC-D-320
IPC-D-330
IPC-C-40S
IPC-DW-42S
IPC-A-600
IPC-A-61O
IPC-TM-6S0
IPC-R-700
IPC-CM-770
IPC-S-804
IPC-S-8IS
IPC-ML-910
Standards
199
A2.13 Standards Council of Canada

There are three national bodies in Canada that have issued a limited number of standards and
specifications related to electronic production:
Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB),
Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC).
In general, USA MIL documents are used widely.
Standards number
Title
CGSB 105-GP-l
CGSB 105-GP-2
CSA ClOS.l
Inspection by attributes
Guide to the use of 105-GP-I
Electromagnetic interference measuring instruments CISPR type
Limits and methods of measurement of electromagnetic
interference from alternating currents
Limits and methods of measurement of electromagnetic
interference from radio-frequency generators
Electromagnetic emissions from data processing
equipment and office machines
Printed wiring boards
CSA CIOS.3
CSA ClOS.6
CSA CIOS.S-M
ULC C796
A2.14 Federal German Republic DIN Specifications

IEC and CECC publications are now being accepted widely by the German Electrotechnical
Commission (DKE). In many instances, these are easily identifiable because the IEC forms the
bulk of the DIN document number, e.g. DIN IEC 319: Presentation of reliability data on
electronic components or parts. However, this is not necessarily the case with CECC document
numbers, as shown in the following listing.
Standards
number
Partl
Section
DIN 40 040
DIN 40 OSI
DIN 40 OS2
Teil 1
Teil2
Teil3
Teil4
DIN 40 S03
Teil 1
DIN 41494
Title
Applicability classes and reliability figures of electronic

components. Limited values and classification of
environmental conditions
Guide to the reliability of electronic components (a multipart document)
Metal-clad base materials for printed circuits
Test Methods
Specifications
Types
Tests
Printed circuits
General requirements and tests
Methods of construction of electronic equipment
(multipart document covering, racks, sub-racks, subunits, etc.)
200
Standards
number
Part/
Section
DIN 41640
DIN 41796
DIN 41797
DIN 41 848
DIN 41 850
DIN 44 480
DIN 45900
DIN 45901
DIN 45902
Teil 1
Teil2
Teil3
Teil4
DIN 45 940
DIN 57432
Teil 1
Tei12
Teil3
DIN 57 804
Teil 1
DIN 57 846
DIN 57 848
Teill
DIN 57 871
Teil6
TeilIOO
Title
Measuring methods and testing procedures for

electromechanical components (multipart document)
Analogue integrated circuits (multipart document)
Digital integrated circuits (multipart document)
Integrated thick and thin film circuits (multipart
document)
Film and hybrid integrated circuits (multipart document)
Measuring methods for integrated circuits (multipart
document)
components: basic rules (CECC. 00100)
components. A multipart document in the
CENELECjCECC series, e.g. Teil 1 =CECC 00101,
Teil 2=CECC 00102, Teil 3=00103, etc.
components (CECC)
Basic specification: environmental testing procedures
(CECC 00006)
Basic specification: sampling plans and procedures for
inspection by attributes (CECC 00007)
Basic specification: essential ratings and characteristics of
semiconductor devices and general principles of
measuring methods (CECC 00008)
Basic specification: basic testing procedures and
measuring methods for electromechanical components
(CECC 00009)
integrated circuits. A multipart document covering the
CECC 90000 series
High-voltage test techniques
Definitions and general test requirements
Test procedures
Measuring devices
Telecommunications equipment
Construction and testing of apparatus
Measuring apparatus for jUdgement of electromagnetic
compatibility
Hazards by electromagnetic fields
Methods by electromagnetic fields
Methods for measurement and calculation
Radio interference
Limits of radio interference from radio-frequency
apparatus and installations
Data-processing equipment and electronic office
machines: limits of interference and measurement
methods
Standards
Standards
number
Part!
Section
DIN 57 876
DIN 57 877
201
Title
Radio-interference measuring apparatus (multipart

document)
Measurement of radio interference (multipart document)
A2.15 French National Standards (NF)

Where NF standards are identical with CECC documents, the CECC number is added, in
parentheses, to the NF number.
Standards number
NF C80-007(CECC 00 007)
NF C86-020(CECC 90000)
NF C86-100-(CECC 90200)
NF C93-050
NF C93-700
NF C93-706
NF C93-7l5
NF C93-7l6
NF C93-7l8
NF C93-750
NF C96-020
NF C96-111
NF C96-200
NF C96-41O
NF C96883
UTE C20-3l4
UTE C83-31l
Title

components, basic specification: sampling plans and
procedures for inspection by attributes
integrated circuit
components. Sectional specification: analogue
monolithic integrated circuits
Components for electronic equipment. Basic electrical
testing procedures
Printed boards of assessed quality
Multilayer printed boards. Capability approval
Printed boards. Characteristics and acceptance inspection
of a production master
Printed boards. Conductors. Continuity and short-circuit
testing: automatic testing
Printed boards. Design and use: design of solder mask
coating
Base materials for printed circuits. Test methods
Microcircuits. General requirements
Microcircuits. Analogue integrated circuits: general
requirements
Microcircuits. Digital integrated circuits: general
requirements
Hybrid microcircuits. Hybrid and film integrated circuits:
general requirements
Selection of integrated circuits by elimination of early life
failure
Guide for the inclusion of lot-by-lot and periodic
inspection procedures in specification for electronic
components
Components for electronic equipment. Manual of detailed
specifications
Index
adept arm, 124

adhesive, 84
airknife, 157
Alliance Automatic Systems, 124
Ambotech, 48, 69, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 88, 91,
93, 98, 112, 113, 116, 128
Amistar, 48,71,90,113,116
ammopack, 34, 48, 50, 52
anti-static, 119, 120
axial, 17,30,31,33,36,44,47,50,52,75,78,
80, 83, 99, 111, 116, 142, 143
bandoliers, 8, 31, 33, 34,44,45,46,47, 52,
75, 78, 80
bed of nails, 12, 13
bend mechanism, 26
birds nest, 22
biscuit, I
boardmate, 126
cartridge, 48
cassette, 44, 45, 48, 50
clearing, 6, 10, 12, 13
clinch, 10, 24, 108, 109, 110
Computer Aided Design (CAD), 21, 86, 87,
88, 93, 161
connectors, 10
contax, 89, 91, 94
conveyor, 145, 146, 151
costs, 133
crop, 19
degreasing, 158
design, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16
digitize (r), 88, 89
double-sided, 2
Dual in-line (DIL) (DIP), 17, 22, 26, 27, 30,
31, 32, 42, 44,45, 52, 53, 75, 80, 83, 90,
91,99, 111, 116, 117, 124, 142, 143, 159
Dynapert, 71, 107, 113
EDIF,93
flux(ing), 147, 148, 158
footprint, 53, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106,
107, 110, III
FUJI, 113
goods inwards, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15
inspection, 4, 95, 96, 97
joggle, 17, 34
Just in time (JIT), 3, 55, 56, 57, 75, 114, 134,
140, 141
kit (kitting), 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 44
layout, 4, 5, 16
light guided, 15, 117, 121, 124
locating hole (position), 24
mandrel, 78, 79, 80
202
Index
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS), 120
microgrid, 117
multilayer, 2
multiprobe, 22
panel, I
placement head, 80
pre-form unit, 79, 80
pre-heat(ing), 148
probes, 79
procure(ment), 4, 6, 7, 8, 15
program(ming), 86, 87, 88
radial, 17, 27, 30, 31, 34, 36, 44, 45, 50, 75,
82, 83, 99, 111, 116, 124, 142, 143
reel (bandolier), 40, 50, 160
robot (robotic), 17, 117, 125, 126
screen printing, 20
semi-automatic, 115, 124, 125
Single in-line (SIL), 27
single-sided, 2
socket, 33, 124
203
SOle, 159
solder-cut-solder, 19
solder mask, 27
soldering, 4, 6, 10, 12, 16, 144, 148
standards, 58
surface mounted component (SMD, SMT,
SMC), 20, 29, 84, 159, 160, 161, 164
tape, 75, 79, 82, 84
TDK,71
test cell, 79
testing, 10, 12, 94
training, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132
transformers, 10, 17
transistors, 27, 124
tubes, 8, 45, 46, 52, 81, 84, 85
Universal Instruments Inc., 23, 48, 71, 74, 75,
80, 98, 99, 101, 112, 113, 114
vision (systems), 23, 28, 89, 164, 165
visual inspection, 3, 10, 11

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