Equipment & Engineering Experience
This is an archive of equipment our staff has worked on over the years and is used as a sample of our broad professional experience. Check out automation equipment by industry from selections on the right. Lots of multimedia, click on the pictures to enlarge, or to play video clips of equipment in action.

Semiconductor
 Hard Disk Media
 Hard Disk Drives
 Fiber Optic
 General Industrial Machinery
 Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical

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Hard Disk Media

{short description of image} {short description of image}Loader/Unloader for Speedfam Polisher. Disk media. Singulates and loads over 20 disks onto plate surface simultaneously from cassettes. Unloads back into cassettes. Large cylinder removes disks embedded into wafer nests on wet platen slurry polisher, and completes a full transfer of polished disks off and fresh disks on in less than 8 seconds. Full integration of existing polisher.

1.4 MEG, 10 second movieDisk Container Batching Transfer Machine. Hard disk media. System accepts conveyor full of 30-disk-slot shipping cassettes, laser bar code scans for database verification and tracking, then removes lid. Machine then scans for existing disks and lifts up to 25 disks and places into a 25-slot process cassette. Attempts to fully load process cassettes even with impartially or randomly loaded shipping cassettes. Completed cassettes, both empties, fulls, and database rejects are presented to an operator via conveyors. Full interface to host computer for data base tracking. System is instantly configurable for reverse batching (25-pak process disks into 30-pak shipping cassettes). Conversions for 130mm and 65 mm disk sizes. Uses SKF conveyor and framework. Class 100 clean room compatible.

{short description of image}1.1 MEG, 7 second movie sorter a sorter c Disk Sorting Systems. Hard disk industry. Two types of robotic handlers picks up both cassettes or disks. Uses database information to transfer incoming disks to output sort categories. Conveyor transfer in/out of cassettes from workcell envelope.

{short description of image}EDC Hard Disk Handler. Hard disk media industry. Single cassette, dry, automation handler for tape texturing. Singulates a single disk from a process cassette and loads/unloads the texturizer automatically. Interfaces the tape texturing machine. Disk scanning for skipping of slots without disks. Full internal diagnostics. Integral frame structure bolts to existing tape texturing support frame for very easy retrofit and servicing. Optional frame for tape texturing competes price wise.

FTP Automation. Disk media. Automated handler for Speedfam FTP burnishers using U shaped conveyors to feed process cassettes in and out of singulation area. High precision placement of disks onto spindle. Full communications to controlling host computer. Bar code scanning of cassettes and upload to host of tracking info.

Click for Drawing Lathe Handler. Disk media. Automated handler for loading and unloading Akebono mill lathes with aluminum disk blanks for edge chamfer milling. Conveyor accepts cassettes full of disks, singulates disks, and places and removes disks onto mill spindle with double end-effector. Linked to mill electronics to simulate human operator during mill cutting. Double end effector grippers removes risk of damaging completed disks and increases unload to load time. High speed transport is accurate at spindle placement to within 0.00025 inches (0.25 mils). Disks accepted in stacks also, with or without paper separators.

{short description of image}Handler for Adelphi Disk Certifier. Disk media. Automated loader and un-loader for Adelphi certification units. Full frame unit holds and locates the certifier spindle. Sliding table accepts an input cassette of disks, and two empty output cassettes used for sorted disks after certification. Unique pivoting, dual gripper assembly allows high speed disk-to-disk transfer (<3 seconds) and high precision spindle placement (1 mil). Alphanumeric display alerts operator to system loading status. Certified for Class 100 clean room conditions. Electrically RFI isolated. Complete interface to certifier (certifier software modified) for pass/fail and sorting operation.

Handler for Accord Serializer. Disk media. Automated loader, same as above (for Adelphi Certifier), for the Accord disk serializer. Places disks onto the serializer for physical numbering of disk at ID.

Tape Lapper Handler. Disk media industry. Automated handler for Seagull disk tape lapper. Accepts conveyor fed 230mm disk cassettes, singulates disks, and transfers into the lapper. Class 100 clean-room design and materials. Special controlled motions to eliminate disk banging and handling damage. Ethernet interface to host computer for bar coded scan tracking of disks and SPC archived data upload.

Photonic Surface Scanner. Disk media industry. Automated inspection system to spin a hard disk with retroreflective optical scanner to detect, chart and record surface anomalies. Uses A/D conversion card in a PC to acquire massive amount of data. Software compresses data into a visible and printable chart highlighting specific data areas of interest and computes process related values. Used in the analysis of disk texturizing and burnishing operations as related to optical reflectance intensity.

{short description of image}Transition Table. Hard disk media. 5 foot table top nests accept 6 cassettes of hard disks, bar code scans cassettes and singulates a specific disk up and into a gripper for ultimate transfer to another process machine or handler. Linear transfer of disk is very fast and precise. Gold disk standard cassette. Unit executes host computer commands for unattended operation via GPIB. Class 100 clean room compatible.

1.5 MEG, 11 second movieCambrian Certifier Handler. Hard disk media. Double end effector automated system for accepting 230mm disks and servicing a Cambrian certification system with vertical spindle. Interfaces via a host GPIB communications link. Linear transfer to the far end of the certifier granite for transfer to other automation. Precision location at spindle. Class 100 clean room compatible.

Luber Loader. Hard disk media. Very large automated system for removing 4 cassettes worth of 130mm diskettes, raising upwards 6 feet, traversing 9 feet linearly, and lowering the disks into a lubrication tank. The integral tank lid then separates from the transfer mechanism. Due to lubrication requirement of ultimate stillness during processing, automation has its own frame structure surrounding, but not touching, the lube tank. Linear transfer uses large pneumatic cylinder with special pneumatic cushioning stops for the absolute ultimate in slow smoothed motion of the disks out of the tank. Provides interface to lube tank electronics. Class 10 clean room certified and installed.

{short description of image}Luber Loader. Hard disk media. Similar system as above (Luber Loader) but for different type of tank.

888K, 7 second movieRVA/Glide Certifier Automation. Hard disk media. Accepts 6 cassettes and feeds a certifier. When complete, sorts disks back into cassettes. System of 3 PC AT's controls the complete certifier interface and is itself controllable fully automatically by an Ethernet interface. Bar code tracking of cassettes. Automatic switch over to manual operation and SPC data archival if host computer recedes. Gold disk test references may be substituted for any cassettes. Class 100 clean room compatible.

Disk Container Batching Transfer Machine. Hard disk media. Same as above except specially re-designed for 48 and 65mm disks only.

Disk Container Batcher, Simple Model. Hard disk media. Same as above (Disk Batching Transfer Machine), except only 2 conveyors and no laser bar code scanning.

Disk Batcher: 1/4" to 1/2" Slots. Hard disk media. Automated system loads 25-slot process cassettes with disks spaced at standard 1/4" spacing into special sputtering cassettes with disk slots spaced at 1/2". Uses comb fixture to raise every other disk, then pick and transfer to output cassette, then repeat for remaining disks. Two-pass, fast operation. Conveyor fed. Class 100 clean room compatible.

1.1 MEG, 6 second movieDisk Batcher: Random to Fully Loaded, Under DI Water. Hard disk media. Accepts randomly loaded process cassettes, scans for disk locations, then picks and transfers disks into output cassette, fully loading that cassette. Conveyor and transfer mechanism works underwater inside a large Plexiglas tank of de ionized water.

{short description of image}Pod Interface Module Handler. Hard disk industry. Automated handler accepts Asyst clean room environmental SMIF pods and transfers pods into pod unloading modules. Very high speed large transfer mechanism travels linearly up to 12 foot lengths along the pod nest areas to select a pod to be used. Full communication control via SECSII to pod arms. Linked with host computer for bar code tracking. Light curtain safety shield implemented.

Spin Coat Luber. Hard disk media. Automated process and handling machine to singulate a disk onto a spindle, then process the disk using a precision controlled spin rate pattern to lubricate the surface of the disk. Proprietary processing parameters and technique. For glass substrate disks.

Laser Texturizer. Hard disk media industry. Processes 4 cassettes of disks and laser texturizes at a rate of 300-360 UPH.
 


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