Probe Industries, Inc. : Machinery Repairs

As with any CNC machine, and Excellon is no exception, it is wise to make sure operators keep the hammers and pry bars away from the table tops. Operators seem to continually try to challenge the structural integrity of the machines by placing tools on top of the tables or in the path of machine carriages and powered XYZ assemblies, and then decide to hit the park button or typing a high speed jog command into the keyboard. Loud thumps can be heard clear across the production floor. More than one machine has taken a crash over the years. Actually, this type of crash is a very common occurrence in the life of a drill and rout cnc machine. Even cnc milling machines and other types of automated servo controlled equipment and robotics have been known to take a hit or two from someone leaving a tool on the table or getting it wedged between the XYZ moving parts. Excellon drilling and routing machines only had spindles to contend with, on the z axis overhead assembly, a crash was much easi...

With the cost to purchase new drilling and routing machines at hundreds of thousands of dollars, it makes economical sense to provide oil free, and dry air to the equipment. With the new synthetic oils being used to lubricate the internal mechanical parts of compressor systems today, many overlook the fact that these oils that help compressors run efficiently are the same oils that contaminate and destroy the rubber "O" rings, seals, and solenoids used throughout the entire manufacturing facility when compressors are not functioning at top performance. Many times, years later, equipment that has been run with contaminated compressed air will have a life long list of problems that seems to never go away. "O" rings and seals are not the only items that can become damaged with poor air quality. The air hoses themselves can become rotten from the inside out. Many of the synthetic oils actually breakdown the rubber hoses to the point where they become super soft in which...

Spindle Runout Problems Can Be Your Hidden Quality Issues In Building Reliable Printed Circuit Boards The simple definition of spindle radial runout is how much wobble a spindle produces at the nose. Axial runout is the measurement of how much play there is perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The reading is represented by Total Indicated Runout, TIR, which means the distance measured between the largest plus direction and the largest minus direction for a total indicated amount. A spindle can be measured either dynamically (at speed) or statically. The dynamic measurement is by far, the most accurate and requires special non-contact measuring devices. Today's air bearing spindles have gotten faster with higher precision than the ball bearing spindles of the past. Air bearing PCB spindles can typically be found running in the 120K RPM through 180K RPM ranges, with some spindles running up at 300,000 RPMs. Since the spindle air bearings are floating on air, no mechanical contact...

Everyone wants a great deal on Excellon machines or any used equipment. With many circuit board shops closing down, and their equipment being auctioned off, it is wise to have the machines checked out before buying. The Tale Of The Uninformed Used Equipment Purchase Excellon, Kennard, PDA, Pluritec, Hitachi, Mania, Klingelnberg, Advanced Controls, Trudrill, ESI, Dynamotion, ATI, Wessel, DAC, and other PCB drilling and fabrication equipment, that supposedly were running before being shut down have cost thousands of dollars to the unsuspecting buyer when buying blindly online through an auction or even the buyer looking at the machine in person. Instead of having a qualified and experienced service technician inspect the machines, buyers go it alone. Buyers think they are getting a great deal, but many times what they are getting is a big boat anchor. The outside of the machines can look all beautiful and cleaned up, while the inside is falling apart. We have seen machines that looked l...

Watch a 4 spindle Excellon Mark 5 DR (Driller/Router) routing a stack of printed circuit boards. See how the automated process works. Circuit boards are typically manufactured in a step and repeat layup, and held in place on the machine with tooling pins through the circuit board and into the soft tooling plates. Stack height varies depending on board thickness and material type. Cutter bits for cutting PCBs are typically solid tungsten carbide, with a diamond cut geometry design. Table feed presented in the video is typical for a .093 inch diameter bit. For more information related to service, maintenance, repairs, and preventative maintenance go to Excellon Machines . For informative articles related to drilling and routing, take a look at the postings published at Probe Industries Blog . Read the article: Understanding TIR and Measuring Spindle Runout . To get help with all your drilling and routing equipment service needs contact Probe Industries today.

Great Article in Circuitnet From an Insider Perspective On The History of The Circuit Board Industry Striving for Functionality: Ralph Robinson and the Beginnings of PCB Manufacturing in Northern California In the mid-1950's, 'printed circuit' manufacturing technology was in its infancy, so much so that even though the manufacturing techniques were evolving, the available materials were not up to snuff. It was nearly impossible to build working circuit boards in any volume, certainly not enough to make any money on it. Article in Circuitnet This article gives great insight into the early days of printed circuit boards. If you ever get a chance to talk with Ralph Robinson, he is a great guy and can probably fill a ton of books with all the stories and information about circuit board manufacturing. Probe Industries, Inc. Drilling and Routing Machines Repairs And Maintenance

Watch A Single Spindle Air Bearing Excellon EX 110 DR Driller/Router Machine Drilling Circuit Boards Probe Industries, Inc. is a full service PCB CNC Machines Repair And Maintenance Company. We are available to travel anywhere in the world to fix or maintain your machines. Contact Probe Industries on the web today.