Eutect GmbH Develops Special Gripper for Reliable Soldering of Large Panels in Mini Wave Soldering Process

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Eutect GmbH, a specialist in selective soldering automation, has engineered an innovative solution for soldering large printed circuit board (PCB) panels with towering through-hole technology (THT) components. In response to a customer's request, the company developed a special gripper equipped with lateral gripper arms and hold-down devices, ensuring stability during the soldering process of bulky THT capacitors. This specialized tool enables the precise and reliable soldering of complex assemblies, which are challenging in a standard inline mini-wave process.

The process specialists at Eutect therefore developed a special gripper that both holds the components in position and prevents the PCB from bending. "Our customer specified that no bending force should act on the components. It was, therefore, necessary to feed the assembly straight to the respective processes," recalls Lars Iwers, sales representative at Eutect, and continues: "The special feature here is that the panel arrived on the conveyor belt in the process cell without a workpiece carrier. However, as the component spacing was positioned too close to the belt, we could not solder directly under the belt. The panel therefore had to be picked up from the belt." During pick-up, the PCB is pressed against spacers from below and thus held straight in the gripper. The upright capacitors were also pressed against component-specific hold-down devices. The gripper then moves to the IW 1 mini wave soldering module with a specific soldering nozzle using an axis system. A titanium mask was mounted above the nozzle of the mini-wave soldering module to protect the circuit board, which is moved to the soldering position using a spring base mechanism.

"The fact that we had to move a PCB panel without a workpiece carrier in this project required the gripper to have a special configuration. After all, a panel like the one in this case is relatively unstable, which is not very helpful for a reproducible soldering process," continues Fehrenbach. Therefore, attention was paid to ensuring that the gripper feeds the PCB panel into the soldering process in a stable and horizontal position. In addition, the gripper we developed allowed us to avoid the need for a soldering frame, which in other cases stabilizes the panel during the soldering process. "This allowed us to fully meet the customer's specifications. Thanks to the special gripper, it is now possible to guarantee a reproducible and cycle time-optimized process," says Fehrenbach.

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