APEX2006 product preview - part three

Here are some of the products being showcased at APEX in just over two weeks, listed is alphabetical order by company name.

If you would like your product release included in the next APEX product preview, send you information by email to editors@emsnow.com

Assembleon - Booth 2117

Assembleon further extends its advanced M-Series range of mid- to high-volume SMD placers with the new MG-2 chipshooter, which will be launched at Apex 2006.

The MG-2 provides the ultimate in high-speed, high-mix, high-accuracy production for applications such as automotive, memory boards and PC peripherals.  It can be used standalone to deliver chipshooting speeds up to 40k cph at lowest cost per placement.  Or it can be used alongside the MG-1 and/or MG-8 multifunctional machines to boost line performance in applications requiring additional chipshooting capacity.

The MG-2 features a high-precision dual-gantry system carrying four beams, each with six heads.  It places components from 01005 to CSP, BGA, PLCC and QFP with a maximum size of 14mm2, with placing accuracy of 50 micron at 3 sigma for chips.

Benefits of the MG-2 include a small footprint and functional flexibility within the M-Series range.  The MG-2 uses the same user interface, feeders, feeder trolleys and spare parts as the MG-1 and MG-8.  In fact, the M-Series machines use the same interface and feeders as their counterparts in the GEM XII range, providing a cost-effective upgrade opportunity for existing Assembleon users.

For further information visit www.assembleon.com

AVANTEC Performance Chemicals  - Booth 613

Avantec recently finished its participation in the EFSOT (Environmental Friendly Soldering Technology) project, in partnership with European and Asian companies. Avantec was the only solder paste manufacturer developing SnAgCu alloy based solder pastes using class 3 SAC powders and producing new organic part formulations to fulfill the various industrial partners' solder joint and production needs.

The outcome of this was portrayed in the development of EcorelTM Easy 305 and 405 solder pastes yielding excellent results at fine pitch assemblies aligned with the RoHS directive which also answer the demands of current and future needs of the Electronic industry.

More information can be found at:  www.efsot-europe.info.

Bliss Industries - Booth 857

Bliss Industries Inc., provider of material handling carts and racks for PCB assembly, will release its new Vertical PC Board Cart at APEX.

This cart is available in a variety of standard sizes, and is infinitely adjustable. It offers custom slotted ESD-safe plastic panels on the shelves to fully protect the edges of PC boards and the sheet metal panels attached to high-end PC boards. The panels feature a "fish mouth" entrance to the slot to make it easy for the operator to slide PC boards into the shelf. The carts are available for single-sided applications as well as double-sided. Hundreds of PC boards can be stored in this new style cart, and fully enclosed models are available.

"Many of our customers in the medical products and the high-end communications market asked us to create a Bliss solution for storing and handling large, high-end boards that cannot be laid down flat in our trays. Once again, we have exceeded the customers' expectations and created a new industry standard," said Ken Bliss President and CEO of Bliss Industries.

Bliss Industries will also launch its family of Chassis Carts. These carts are the ideal solution for 19" chassis handling for box build. The carts offer fully adjustable rails to fit all chassis sizes. Bliss also offers an open-top cart design to accommodate vacuum lift heads to place chassis in and out of the cart.

Also available is Bliss ESD Softsurface material on the top, bottom and side of the rails, and front vertical post edges of the cart. This completely protects the chassis from scratches and dents during handling. The cart can hold up to 1,000 lb.

In addition, the company will display BlissLift. A lift in itself is not news - however, the BlissLift is news because of some key features new to the lift industry.   The lift features a patent pending, easily adjustable leg assembly.  No tools required and it takes only about 30 seconds to make an adjustment.

The BlissLift makes it easy to move large heavy PC boards, backplanes, PC board magazines, totes, bins and is ideal for chassis handing.

"The BlissLift took far longer to develop than any previous product, but it was worth it," said Ken Bliss President and CEO Bliss Industries.  "We have delivered to the industry a complete solution for lifting and moving items around a factory, quickly and efficiently. We plan to utilize this patent pending technology to access other markets as we expand our market base in line with our business plan for the next few years.

Cogiscan - Booth 1063/2443

Cogiscan will introduce its revolutionary concept in offline feeder storage.

The Cogiscan RFID Smart Feeder Cart expands the concept of intelligent feeders from SMT placement machines and feeder banks to storage carts.

This new product will be demonstrated at two different locations during APEX:

#1063 : Cogiscan
#2443 : Hover-Davis (Cogiscan technology partner)

Benefits:
Track feeders and components offline.
Provide real-time inventory.
Eliminate human intervention.
Eliminate bar code scanning.
Reduce waste of time and materials.

The Cogiscan RFID Smart Feeder Cart system can be used in combination with Cogiscan software applications (Line Set-up Control, Traceability, Inventory Tracking, etc.) or alternatively, with third-party software applications. It can also enhance existing systems by eliminating manual barcode scanning.

ESSEMTEC - Booth 2433

ESSEMTEC AG, will display SP200-AV, a fine-pitch printer with automatic vision adjustment, at APEX 2006.

Solder paste printing is a significant process step in the SMT production chain. Bad quality produced at this step cannot be corrected later, neither by the pick-and-place machine nor by the reflow oven. Therefore, the quality and reproducibility of the printing operation is very important.

The stencil printer SP200-AV is an easy-to-operate semiautomatic printing machine that controls and regulates all printing parameters. The only manual task is to slide the PCB into the machine. All other operations, including the positioning of the PCB, are fully automatic and reproducible.

SP200-AV offers users numerous benefits including a fast two-point vision system, automatic PCB positioning with vision, automatic printing process, automatic stencil cleanliness check and fast PCB loading with side drawer. Additionally, the printer provides an unlimited number of printing programs, an integrated operation manual, simple changeover between jobs and easy operation with Windows XP software. As an additional benefit, all printing parameters are programmable.

Also on display will be WS330, a professional wave soldering machine for the production of small and midsize batches. WS330 is a compact, professional wave soldering machine for small and midsize volumes in standard and lead-free technologies. The solder width of up to 330 mm (13") and the universal pallet transport system allow users to work with a large variety of PCBs. The system also is equipped with a dual-wave technology, allowing both THT and SMT components to be soldered.

Finetech - Booth 1481

Finetech Inc., announces that it will highlight the Fineplacer®: CRS 10, a compact rework system, at the upcoming APEX 2006 trade show and exhibition.

Finetech's complete rework station is designed specifically for customers needing a fixed configuration. Quick set up and easy operation make this machine a reliable instrument. The rework system is most useful for small- to medium-scale series assembly or highly precise rework of soldered components on medium to large size SMD boards.

Applications include BGA, CGA, CSP, microBGA, MLF, QFP, TSOP, PLCC, small components (such as 0201, 0402, 0603 and connectors), RF-shields, shielding frame, flip chip rework as well as customized applications.

The rework station features a Plug-and-Work design, eliminating the need for time-consuming cabling.

Very high accuracy (better than 10 µm placement accuracy) allows the system to be used for the smallest components with pitches down to 100 µm. On the other hand, the large field of view makes it possible to align large components, e.g., Super BGAs with side lengths of up to 45 mm, without additional optics.

Finetech will also highlight the versatile Fineplacer®: Pico system, FINETECH's most versatile base module.

It can be used in a wide field of applications for reflow/rework and different kinds of micro assembly, e.g. Flip Chip bonding.  On one hand, the Pico for micro assembly offers the highest accuracy of 5 µm (0.2 mil) placement accuracy, allowing the smallest die with a pitch down to 50 µm to be bonded. On the other hand, the Pico rework configuration offers enough accessibility to be used for nearly all large standard surface mounted components.

Humiseal / Concoat - Booth 900

APEX 2006 will see the North American launch of the HumiSeal UV40 range, where Concoat Limited personnel will be available to discuss the significant advancements they have made in the field of UV curable conformal coating materials.  

Concoat personnel will also be available to discuss their unique range of water-based coatings, designed to be friendly to the environment and to protect electronics assemblies at temperature extremes far beyond that of existing resin-based alternatives.

HumiSeal UV40 is easy to process and wont "crack" under thermal cycling, offering manufacturers a genuine alternative with none of the problems normally associated with these materials.

For the first time, high volume users in fields such as automotive and consumer electronics can gain access to the popular UV curable coating class (because of its rapid cure speed) with a level of processing ease and thermal cycling resistance never before achieved with UV materials.

"We are very proud of the performance we have managed to achieve with this new product family," comments Phil Kinner, Chief Chemist at Concoat, who was the technical driving force behind the development of HumiSeal UV40.
 
One of the key benefits of the new UV material is its low viscosity. "This dramatically eases processing challenges in terms of being able to uniformly and quickly coat a board and ensure the coating spreads over all required areas," says Kinner."

Indium Corporation - Booth 433

Indium Corporation of America's exhibit will feature advanced technologies in Pb-Free electronics assembly with cutting edge materials. This includes Indium's award-winning NF260 No-Flow Underfill, as well as its new 5.1 Series of Pb-Free No-Clean Solder Pastes.

NF260, winner of the Global Technology Award, is the world's first Reworkable, Air Reflowable, Pb-Free No-Flow Underfill.  It is designed for Chip Scale Packaging (CSP) and BGA or Flip-Chip assemblies using a single reflow process. NF260 offers both a fluxing and underfilling capability for the chip while providing increased reliability and environmental protection.

The Indium 5.1 series of Pb-Free No-Clean Solder Pastes features:
Industry leading "response-to-pause" printability
Excellent wetting to all common Pb-Free metallizations
Low voiding across a wide variety of reflow profiles
Unsurpassed print transfer efficiency through small apertures

Kester - Booth 1085

Kester will provide numerous lead-free resources, technologies and products at the APEX trade show and exhibition.

Kester will be featuring numerous products from its Lead-Free Solutions (products and services) portfolio to help companies beat the July 1, 2006 RoHS Directive deadline. Among products being featured are EnviroMark 907 lead-free no-clean paste and its low-cost Ultrapure K100 lead-free bar solder alloy, along with Kester's technical services to help manufacturers assemble lead-free. As an additional resource, Kester's new interconnecting materials catalog featuring its entire lead-free line will be debuted at APEX.

Kester is also proud to sponsor the most practical Lead-free RoHS Information Sessions at APEX. Its Lead-Free RoHS Information Center will feature five must-hear lead-free sessions with key industry leaders speaking from Kester, Vitronics Soltec, OK International, MacDermid and Fischer Technology Inc.

Kester will also showcase EnviroMark 907 (EM907) - a new no-clean, lead-free solder paste to the electronics industry.

Kester's EM907 No-Clean Lead-Free Solder Paste is designed to exceed customers' expectations for high-yield lead-free manufacturing. EM907 is a newly engineered product specifically for the higher thermal demands of assembling with higher melting temperature lead-free alloys, such as the family of SnAgCu (SAC) alloys.

As always, Kester's global lead-free team of technical engineers will be present to answer all lead-free questions that companies may have about lead-free assembly. Be sure to stop by booth 1085 for more information.

KIC - Booth 363

KIC will display the updated version Wave Surfer, a wave application fixture, in booth 363 at the upcoming APEX 2006 trade show and exhibition.

Wave Surfer is an easy-to-use, self-contained measurement system for wave solder machines that provides critical data on wave solder machine setup and its process. 

As a wave solder machine profile fixture, Wave Surfer has five embedded thermocouples, and works in conjunction with the SlimKIC 2000 for quick and easy profiling and setup. 

Made of a material similar to typical wave solder pallets, the Wave Surfer can withstand thousands of passes. The fixture holds the SlimKIC in place during each run to measure the pertinent process data in the wave solder machine including peak temperature, dwell time, parallelism, and conveyor speed. 

The KIC Wave Surfer joins a host of recent KIC introductions that have enabled the transition of the powerful and easy to use SlimKIC 2000 from primarily a reflow tool to a universal thermal process tool that covers other applications such as cure, rework and wave solder. 

Novatec - Booth

Novatec, a key research laboratory that develops new technologies for the electronics assembly industry, will display an innovative new assembly tool for board support - VacuNest Shape Memory Tooling at the upcoming APEX 2006 trade show and exhibition.

Board support is critical within any printer, dispenser and pick-and-place machine in order to run a repeatable process.

VacuNest shape memory tool combines the benefits of a custom tooling plate with the versatility of pins. An antistatic membrane covers a foam former surrounded by polymer granules.

Simply place a golden board onto the modules, press down, pull a vacuum and the memory of the board shape profile is held. The chambers are profiled to the shape of the underside of the board  on activation of the vacuum this shape is now held. Simple, secure and a custom board support is created within seconds. The shape will be held for weeks/days/months until the vacuum is released, whereupon the modules return to their original form, awaiting a new set up for the next version of board.

VacuNest offers users numerous advantages, including no risk damage to a component due to the pin/printing pressure, the support forces are evenly spread over the entire board, the tooling provides firm and precise support, ease of use, no dedicated tooling and short payback period, and the shape tool can be simply reset when a board version changes.

Additionally, this flexible tooling features many cost benefits. Several VacuNest systems are already in use in France, Germany and the United States.

For more information on VacuNest, visit the company at www.novatec-eap.com.

OK International - booth 815
 
OK International will launch its MFR Series -Multi Function Rework System at APEX 2006.  Utilizing its powerful 'Smartheat' technology, the system is said to meet all of today's lead-free soldering challenges.
 
With a single bench-top unit even the most complex electronics assemblies can now be soldered, desoldered and reworked using a comprehensive array of tools that set a new standard for flexibility, capability, reliability and value.
 
The MFR Series - Multi Function Rework System has a compact power unit which offers two ports to which any of the MFR Series tools can be attached quickly and easily for rework applications, SMT tasks and through-hole soldering and desoldering. For heavier or more varied workloads, multiple units can be interlocked to power as many tools as necessary.
 
The MFR Series offers a choice of heater tips or tip cartridges.  The heater tips are designed to provide a cost-effective option to meet the demands of point to point production soldering; while tip cartridges are suitable for high performance soldering and rework applications. 

Siemens - booth 443

The Siemens SIPLACE Platform - Innovation leadership through seamless interaction of hardware, software and services

At APEX 2006 the Siemens SIPLACE placement machines will once again prove their advantage and demonstrate that they provide the best foundation for optimized and maximum efficiency in electronics manufacturing.

The modular SIPLACE platform - which ranges from the SIPLACE Compact Series, preferred by the mid-range market, to the SIPLACE X-Series, which is capable of reliably placing even 01005 components - provides maximum investment protection.  Siemens focuses on real-life applications on innovative line configurations with SIPLACE equipment, ranging from the "Extreme Performance Line" to the "Extreme Flexibility Line".  Equipped with features like the Productivity Lift, the Dual Conveyor System and intelligent software, the SIPLACE team demonstrates how its lines can be adapted to changing requirements within the shortest period of time.

Switching out hardware was yesterday.  Today, product changeovers are accomplished more efficiently via software and data management.  SIPLACE software is easy to operate and expertly controls and synchronizes machines and lines.  It not only maximizes your throughput and machine utilization, it guarantees it and provides critical benefits in terms of productivity, reliability and traceability.

Siplace services help electronics manufacturers to improve their overall line efficiency with customized packages.  And the global SIPLACE service network, with 90 company locations makes sure that it stays that way for the life of the SIPLACE machines at predictable terms and without unpleasant surprises.

www.siplace.com

Speedline Technolgies - Booth 1207

Coming off a highly successful global launch at Productronica in November, the VectraElite soldering system makes its North American debut at this year's Apex show. 

As the next generation of Vectra, the VectraElite expands upon the proven core subsystems of Speedline's Vectra wave soldering system.  In addition to highlighting improved system wide access, a new rollout solder pot design, and an advanced control system, the VectraElite on display at this years show will feature numerous advanced technologies available only from Speedline Technologies. 

Examples include its UltraFill(TM) nozzles, upper High Velocity
Convection (HVC) preheat module and its revolutionary ServoJet(TM) fluxing system.  Speedline will also preview its new Post Wave Cooling (PWC) module and the Optima ultrasonic spray fluxing system featuring Ultra-Spray®: technology. Collectively, these and other advanced technologies specifically designed for today's lead-free wave soldering process demonstrate Speedline's continued wave soldering process and technology leadership.

Speedline will also preview a host of exciting new options for its revolutionary MPM Accela printing system as well as spotlight an array of its best-in-class MPM printing, Camalot dispensing, and Electrovert soldering and cleaning solutions at its booth.