THE increased use and variety of surface mount ICs supplied in stick/tube packaging format have posed a number of new technical and economic challenges for SMT assemblers. Autotronik Smart Stick Feeders were designed in response to these issues, resulting in the industry's most flexible, reliable, and cost-effective solution for presentation of SMDs packaged in sticks or tubes.
The model KFTB-2 accepts up to 10 tubes of variable width, while the KFTB-4 can handle up to 20 tubes. Both models utilize a set of DB-9 interface connectors on their front end and easily mount to either the 48-port FR-48K or 32-port FR-32K Smart Feeder Bases on BS Series Pick and Place Systems. Smart Stick Feeders can be positioned directly adjacent to Autotronik Smart Tape Feeders and, like the tape feeders, utilize the interface connection for communication between the BS Control Software and the memory modules built into the Smart Stick Feeders.
The memory modules store a unique ID numbers that link the individual lanes of the feeder hardware with assigned feeder position data, component data, belt indexing increments, and even on/off time control settings for the vibratory/gravity feed portion of the feeder.
