Show r
Title
oundup: APEX survives the downturn
Show roundup:
APEX survives the
downturn
Given the economic climate, many had low expectations for this year’s
APEX/IPC Expo in Las Vegas. The result was certainly a drop in
visitor numbers, but those that did make the trip were serious buyers,
and a number of vendors made sales from their booths.
There were a number of innovative new hind in the innovation stakes as witnessed BTU exhibited the Pyramax 100A. The
product introductions. My favourites were by their multiple industry awards. This eight-zone oven has a 100-inch conveyor
from Milara, Valor and Aqueous Technolo- year they introduced the fourth generation and a maximum operating temperature of
gies. Here is a selection from the booths I Trident Duo defluxing system. The process 350°C. BTU’s famous closed-loop system
visited: consists of up to five cycles including pre- offers manufacturers the lowest cost of
Valor launched two new modules for wash, wash, rinse, cleanliness testing and ownership.
their V-Plan platform. The vManage is a drying. Prewash, if selected, may consist of Nihon Superior celebrated the 10th
dashboard style production monitoring a steam soak, high-pressure DI water spray, anniversary of their legendary SN100C
system that offers a quick reference to all or chemical spray and soak. The wash cycle lead free solder, which has become the
the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). uses environmentally responsible deflux- world’s leading lead free solder. Available
Valor also introduced a test module called ing solutions, neutralizing and solublizing in bar, wire and paste formats, SN100C is
vCheck. vCheck monitors the test data flux and other residues. The rinse cycle distributed through a network of licensees,
from AOI, AXI, ICT and functional test to is controlled by the built-in cleanliness including FCT in the US, Balver Zinn in
produce an SPC log and supporting data tester in which rinse cycles are added or Germany, DKL in the United Kingdom
that can be used for quality assurance. subtracted from the process automatically, and WKK in China.
Milara upgraded their existing Touch- based on the user’s selected cleanliness VJ Electronix displayed the Vertex
print stencil printer. This is virtually a requirements. The dry cycle uses a unique Series A x-ray system. Designed to handle
redesign from the ground up, and the combination of radiant and convection large board sizes up to 20” x 24”, the
manufacturers should have given it a new heat for rapid throughput. Aqueous also system can be configured with a range of
name. Touchprint TD2929 still retains all displayed a range of inline cleaners for the different tubes and image intensifiers to
the unique features of the original—vibrat- first time. suit the application.
ing squeegee and ultrasonic under-stencil JUKI demonstrated their high-speed MIRTEC unveiled a major upgrade to
cleaner—but now it has linear motors and FX3 placement machine. The 60,000 the popular MV-7L AOI system. The latest
encoders for greater speed and accuracy, cph chipshooter is aggressively priced and version is now fitted with five cameras,
full AOI inspection using SimuTech™ comes with JUKI’s infamous three-year one 4-megapixel on the top and four side-
technology and an Asymtek dispenser unit parts and labor warranty. JUKI also gave mounted 2-megapixel cameras. This up-
for dispensing glue dots or even solder a sneak-peak at some tantalizing new tech- grade enables higher resolution and faster
paste. nology in their ‘Secret Room.’ All will be throughput of board test assemblies.
Aqueous Technologies are never far be- revealed later this year. Everett Charles Technologies (ECT)
32 – Global SMT & Packaging – May 2009
www.globalsmt.net
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