PAYBACK TIME
The up-front investment needed to start making tape in house can be surprisingly low . Adaptsys ’ Re-flex II system comes at a price that enables companies to recoup their investment in as little as 12 months , depending on usage . The latest model incorporates upgrades to the motor-control system that allow tape speed up to four metres per minute thereby ensuring high throughput . Its compact footprint , measuring just 75cm x 35cm occupies minimal realestate in a factory or packing area and the system requires only a standard AC supply and compressed air .
The system can handle tapes up to 88mm wide and gives users the flexibility to create pockets in standardised or custom dimensions simply by changing the tooling . The pockets may be simple shapes , such as a square , rectangular , or rounded recess , or may be specifically shaped to fit a particular component or provide certain functions such as protecting vulnerable pins or protrusions . Adaptsys can help customers create custom tooling where required and has successfully developed solutions for various special components such as small electronic modules and electrical connectors .
The system is designed to allow tooling to be designed and produced quickly and cost effectively . Changing the tooling to a different tape design in a production setting requires no special skills and takes just a few minutes , enabling users to produce pocket designs in almost any quantity
from low and medium to high volume . In addition , Re-flex II provides quality inspection and traceability of each formed pocket .
Re-flex II can be used with any standardsize input and output reels up to 22 ” ( 560mm ) in diameter , taking flat tape from the input reel and delivering formed pocketed tape to the output reel . It is also possible to create pocketed tape in realtime to be fed directly into a component taping process for packaging large numbers of components .
Here is a simple example . The Re-flex II supply reel can contain up to 1000 metres of flat tape . In contrast , the same size reel can carry only about 40 metres of pre-formed carrier tape assuming a pocket depth of 6mm . If the taping process operates at 2 metres of parts every minute , the operator needs to change both the supply and output reels every 20 minutes . When feeding the taping process directly from the Re-flex II system , the supply reel only needs to be changed once every eight hours – equivalent to once per shift , or less - thereby greatly reducing stoppage times and raising the overall productivity of component taping .
EFFICIENCY-BOOSTING OPTION
While Re-flex II is intended primarily for feeding pocketed tape directly into a component taper , the new Crosswinder option now enhances owners ’ flexibility to produce tape onto reels to be stored for later use .
With the Crosswinder , Re-Flex II gives extra flexibility to store more components on a reel by increasing the reel width . Crosswinder neatly winds tape of a standard width , say 12mm , across a 100mm-wide reel to increase the storage capacity by a factor of 8 compared to an ordinary 12mm reel . In the end-customer ’ s factory , a crosswound reel can supply significantly more parts to a high-speed component taper before needing to be replaced thereby reducing changeovers . The Crosswinder ensures the tape is neatly ordered to unwind smoothly , which helps avoid problems that may otherwise require the taper to stop . Crosswound reels are available in various widths to provide high maximum capacity .
CONCLUSION
Tape and reel packaging is a proven solution widely used to protect parts such as electronic components during shipping and present the parts for automated assembly . In fact , the packaging is suited to a wide variety of component types across many industries .
The Re-flex II offers a compact and affordable tape-forming solution , capable of operating at high speeds to synchronise with downstream component-taping equipment . Delivering the flexibility to produce pocketed tape on demand , to custom or standard designs , and in almost any quantity , the equipment is easily able to repay the initial investment within a year .
For further information , please visit www . adaptsys . com | https :// reflex-odt . com / thank-you-metal /
Issue 51 PECM 99