Title
Show roundup: APEX survives the downturn
a massive 40,000 sq. ft factory in Hunts- Pillargen 40 Nitrogen Generator for use or it can pick odd-form components plus
ville, Alabama, seems to be bucking the with selective soldering systems. The sys- six chips in mixed mode, to maintain the
recession by setting an all-time record tem produces 50 ppm purity nitrogen gas. line speed. This negates the need for a
for training projects through the month YesTech introduced new 5-megapixel slow odd-form placement unit after the
of March. STI are world leaders in IPC cameras into its top of the range AOI/x- chipshooter and makes balancing the line
training programs and also do a range of ray system, giving a speed increase of 4x easier. The Multistar offers a placement
training courses for NASA. over its predecessor. The new camera also rate of 24,000cph.
The Flex Conveyor from Bliss Indus- provides higher magnification to inspect Essemtec added to its wide inventory
tries was one of the neat new innovations 01005 components without any speed of printers and placement machines with
at APEX this year. It’s difficult to imagine tradeoff. YesTech also introduced a new the SP150V printer. The semi-automatic
how you could make conveyors sexy or benchtop model. The B3 AOI system has a unit is competitively priced at under $30k.
interesting, but Bliss have introduced a top camera and four side cameras. ZESTRON introduced two new
modular, quick-change system that requires Asymtek’s Spectrum 920 can inspect products. The Zestron Bath Analyzer Kit
no tools and can change factory configura- fiducials on the fly and measure the z offers an alternative to refractive index
tion in hours, instead of days or weeks. height without stopping. This has resulted for bath concentration monitoring. Their
The box build system is all mounted on in a 5x increase in throughput. Another new neutral defluxing agent, the first of its
wheels, and the company has just sold their new addition at Asymtek is a 30° tilt on kind, addresses the issue of compatibility
first major order to Encore Systems. the coating head of the Select Coat 940E. with materials that are on the components
Dage introduced the new This helps the coating head to navigate bet- and assemblies.
XD7600NT100 at the show. Using Dage’s ter around densely populated boards and Well, that wraps up the equipment and
new tube and anti-vibration system, the create sharper line definitions. materials I saw at the show. I am sure there
new x-ray system can analyze samples such Henkel displayed three new products. are some I missed, but these are the high-
as cracks in wires down to 100 nm @ 4 The Hysol UF3800 is a fast flowing, lights. Recessions always drive innovation
watts in less than three minutes. The ad- halogen-free, reworkable CSP/BGA under- and we were not disappointed. A major
ditional power also lets the XD7600NT100 fill that cures at room temperature. The emerging trend this year was the integra-
penetrate heavy heatsinks and large multi- Multicore LF700 SAC alloy is a Pb-free sol- tion of SPI, AOI and dispensing into other
layer boards. der paste with a high humidity resistance. equipment on the line (see my Editorial on
Pillarhouse launched the Jade Handex And finally, from their new acquisition, page 2).
selective soldering system. This mid-range Emerson & Cuming CF3366 isotropic APEX will be held in Las Vegas for one
system uses a turntable to manually load conductive film. The film exhibits good more year, next year. Let’s hope by then
boards up to 18” x 20” and can use a range adhesion at both room temperature and in our economy and our industry will have
of nozzle tips up to a 4” mini-wave. The high temperature environments. returned to normal and we will all have
Jade Handex has a modular pump and Siemens introduced the new Multistar survived the downturn.
bath assembly with preheated auto nozzle placement head. The 12 revolver heads
changeover. Pillarhouse also unveiled the can pick 12 components, then place 12 —Trevor Galbraith.
Find even more at APEX Show Central
Visit
http://apex.globalsmt.net to watch the discussion panels that were held at
The Vendor Forum on the APEX show floor—and don’t miss our visits to vendor
booths to learn about the new technologies they brought to the show.
34 – Global SMT & Packaging – May 2009
www.globalsmt.net
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