{"id":2792,"date":"2017-02-28T21:55:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T02:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/?p=2792"},"modified":"2018-12-20T12:55:30","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T17:55:30","slug":"peek-inside-our-pcb-assembly-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/?p=2792","title":{"rendered":"Peek Inside Our PCB Assembly Facility"},"content":{"rendered":"

2016 has been a very busy growth year for Dishtronix \/ Ten Tec and Alpha.\u00a0 Ten Tec and Alpha have been transitioned from a company that outsourced everything to a company that once again assembles as much as possible in house.\u00a0 At Dishtronix, we moved into our new Surface Mount Facility where all the boards are \/ will \/ can be made for the Ten Tec, Dishtronix, Alpha and Emtron products.\u00a0 Here is a view of the front door. I know it is not all that impressive, but I have worked a lot of hard years to get to this point.<\/p>\n

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Welcome to the Dishtronix \/ TEN TEC \/ ALPHA SMD Assembly Facility<\/p><\/div>\n

Dishtronix has always assembled our own circuit boards and here you can see some of our old Contact Systems machines which have been taken off the flight line<\/p>\n

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Contact Model 3xx Assembly Machines<\/p><\/div>\n

A big problem with Assembly machines is the removal of the SMD plastic cover tape. A company in Sweden called MYDATA has solved this problem with their Agilis Feeder system which reduces setup time from hours and days to minutes.\u00a0 This system is the absolute best for high mix, medium to high volume assembly.\u00a0 When Ten Tec assembled their own boards in Sevierville, they had an older MY9. Fortunately they archived all their assembly files so I was able to get things back in production with only a slight learning curve. The RX340 contracts enabled me to finally purchase my first MYDATA machine on the used market.\u00a0 Here she is, what a beauty.<\/p>\n

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MY9 with Agillis Feeder System<\/p><\/div>\n

The white cartridge is the Agilis feeder magazine and the black boxes are earlier magazines that are not Agilis. They use cover tapes.\u00a0 This particular machine can hold a total of 96 8mm tapes.\u00a0 You can see that 16 reels of parts fit into one magazine.\u00a0 This machine assembled all our RX340s last summer in about a month!\u00a0 A magazine cost around 7K and one of the sixteen feeders it can hold costs around 500 USD.\u00a0 To compound the issue there are five different sizes of feeders you will need depending on if you are placing very small 0201 parts or large 1210 parts.\u00a0 Just feeders and magazines can easily cost more than your home, let alone the machine cost which is definitely more than a nice home.\u00a0 As if that isn’t enough 96 tapes is a little limiting. The largest machine they make is a MY19 capable of holding 256 8mm tapes.\u00a0 I just had to have one.<\/p>\n

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MY 9 and MY19 Hydra SMD assembly lines<\/p><\/div>\n

I can’t even fit the MY19 into my camera, so here is a shot of it on the right side. What you are seeing is our two independent SMD assembly lines. A stencil printer deposits solder paste on a PCB which is then transferred to the placement machine where the components are plucked from the reels and put where they belong.\u00a0 The MY9 on the left has one head and can shoot around 6K chips per hour.\u00a0 The MY19 on the right in addition to the single head is equipped with the mighty HYDRA 2D head, which plucks EIGHT, yes EIGHT components at a time and places them on the board!\u00a0 It is all done with visual on the fly recognition.\u00a0 This is a POWERFUL TOOL. You find these on the floor of BIG defense contractors like some famous companies along Florida’s space coast.\u00a0 I’m sure we are the only amateur radio company running a MY19.\u00a0 It is of course Agilis equipped.\u00a0 Every little extra bit of money I have I buy an Agilis something whenever I can.\u00a0 I skimp on groceries and don’t eat out. that is how committed I am to building you the finest equipment in the world.<\/p>\n

You can see the stencil printers in the foreground, and in the back ground is the next step of the process, which is the reflow ovens. The Blue machine is the big wave solder machine.<\/p>\n

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Reflow Ovens and Wave Solder Machine<\/p><\/div>\n

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Electrovert Bravo 8105 8 zone lead free BGA capable reflow oven<\/p><\/div>\n

The Bravo 8105 is a great oven!\u00a0 It has a chain conveyor over a mesh belt conveyor so we can process double sided SMD without knocking the bottom side components off. It is lead free capable and has 8 zones so we can properly mount lead free BGA.\u00a0 You can see the three phase fume extractor on the wall.\u00a0 We have a couple of smaller ovens and two wave solder machines so we can run different profiles and different solder pastes at the same time. You use a different melting point solder on the top side as compared to the bottom side when processing double sided SMD.\u00a0 We also have two regular wave solder machine and a lead free machine awaiting 15K USD of SAC 305 solder to arrive. Needless to say I’m not filing that up any time soon!<\/p>\n

When you process BGA is is very important to have an X Ray machine to check for defects and to develop your soldering profile. Guess what that machine hidden by the stack of RX340 boards on the left is?<\/p>\n

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X Ray Machine<\/p><\/div>\n

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Seho Compac 1025C Bench Top Wave Solder Machine<\/p><\/div>\n

This just scratches the surface. We have two wire processing (measure, cut, strip) machines that dereel wire and make exact pieces ready for wiring harness assembly. We have a PEM-sert pneumatic press for inserting all the different standoffs in our sheet metal, and we haven’t even looked at test equipment or engineering.<\/p>\n

Here is a view of manual insertion area, washing machine and some facility stuff.<\/p>\n

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Manual Insertion Area<\/p><\/div>\n

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RX340 Front Panel Boards<\/p><\/div>\n

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RX340 PCB Blank boards awaiting assembly.<\/p><\/div>\n

You can see the wire stripping and processing machine in the background. We put all the parts for building a group of SMD boards on these wire rack trollies and bring them up to the assembly machines. this is called Kitting and we use a very sophisticated computer controlled bar coding system that reads the bar code on each reel of components. When we scan in a new reel the system updates the quantities available. We then scan the feeder where the part will be loaded. Once we do that we can insert the feeder in any magazine and the magazine in any slot in any machine and the\u00a0 machine knows exactly where and how many parts it has.\u00a0 We can even load a second reel into the machine and when the first one is empty it will switch automatically and suck parts off the second reel giving us time to replace the first reel!\u00a0 The computer and machines are networked so that as the parts are removed the database inventory updates accordingly!\u00a0 You don’t find that on a machine in your garage!<\/p>\n

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RX340 Parts Kit<\/p><\/div>\n

It takes between 100 and 200K of parts to build a major product like the RX340, Eagle, Prometheus or 9500. Here the kits are lined up. Hard to believe in just a few days those shelves will be empty when the HYDRA cranks up!\u00a0 Here is a thought for you. It took me almost 5 months to get all the parts in stock, ordered, fix supplier issues, deal with vendors who were burned previously, etc, to get the parts in to build RX340s.\u00a0 May 1st 2016 this was an empty shell.\u00a0 In July we were cranking out boards.\u00a0 In addition to that I’ve moved three trailer loads of stuff from Ten Tec, and TEN TEC is also moved into her new home in Tennessee.\u00a0 We will post some of that over on the Ten Tec site http:\/\/www.tentec.com<\/p>\n

We have been criticized for not airing our dirty laundry and telling everyone in the world, including our competitors about what we are doing.\u00a0It isn’t anyone’s business what we do here. This is a VERY competitive industry.\u00a0 I own everything you see in these pictures. I am very serious and very committed to my businesses.\u00a0 I only know of one other company in North America running their own PCBs and it does not start with an E or an F.\u00a0 To the best of my knowledge, I’m the only all band HF transceiver company doing my own manufacturing.\u00a0 Ten Tec has a tradition to uphold.\u00a0 Alpha never assembled their own PCBs in house unless you count the QSC relationship.\u00a0 So for Alpha this is a HUGE leap forward.\u00a0 For Alpha, Ten Tec and Dishtronix this is all an improvement.\u00a0 What does that mean to you as a customer?\u00a0 Who do you think is more serious about supporting you long term?\u00a0 Someone who imports equipment from the Orient or former communist block countries?\u00a0 Who is making the investment in the infrastructure?\u00a0 Our stuff is PAID FOR.\u00a0 We don’t carry company debt.\u00a0 If we don’t owe anyone anything, how can anyone force us out of business?\u00a0 Isn’t this the way you operate your own personal finances?\u00a0 Sure, we move slow and steady and make progress at our own pace. But look what a difference six months makes.<\/p>\n

We recognize you have a choice with whom you do business. If you partner with us, we will be around in 10 or 20 years or whenever \u00a0you need us to repair your investment grade equipment, just like we have been around for the last 47\u00a0 years at Alpha. With your support, we will be here when your grandson needs the amplifier he remembers you getting when he was a boy.\u00a0 I know because I remember the day my grandfather got his.\u00a0 We don’t just build amplifiers and equipment at Alpha. We build family heirlooms and memories that sometimes bridge a lifetime. An unwavering commitment to excellence in everything we do is what sets us apart from those who seek to be our competitors.\u00a0 This is why my partners and I purchased this company and why you should do business with us.<\/p>\n

Good is not Good Enough if you intend to be Great. We can make America great again even if it is only one amplifier at a time. I’m trying to do my part the best I can. Would you care to join me?<\/p>\n

73 DE N8WFF<\/p>\n

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2016 has been a very busy growth year for Dishtronix \/ Ten Tec and Alpha.\u00a0 Ten Tec and Alpha have been transitioned from a company that outsourced everything to a Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2792"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3174,"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions\/3174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alpharfsystems.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}