[sdiy] What's is this tool called?

[tu at alphalink.com.au]

Hi Mark,

I believe its called a loading frame. 

We used to use these at a company I worked at for small production runs of hand soldered, 
through hole boards. If the production run was a bit higher then the loading frame was just used 
for inserting components and then the boards would be sent through the wave soldering machine. 

For hand soldering, the process basically goes that you insert the lowest components (such as 
resistors and diodes), clamp the foam down, flip it over and solder. Then you flip it back, remove 
the foam and load the next highest components (such as DIP ICs). You continue this until its all 
done. 

Because of the rails used to clamp the circuit boards in place you can load and solder many 
smaller boards at a time. This works best when the boards are identical as you can compare the 
boards side by side to check you loaded the same components on each. Another advantage is 
component pins can be precut to length because the foam is preventing then falling out when you 
flip it over to solder.

/Tristan


Saturday, December 20, 2008, 9:17:04 AM, you wrote:

mv> Hi guys,

mv> I once saw a tool for PCB assembly that was like a vice that held the
mv> PCBs, then folded a foam covered plate down over the component side  
mv> and could be rotated so the solder side was then up. The parts were  
mv> secured in place for soldering. Did I imagine this? I can't find it  
mv> in any catalogs I look in. What would that be called? Where can I get
mv> one?

mv> Otherwise, does anyone have any tips for speeding up the through hole
mv> assembly process. I get really annoyed when I stuff all the  
mv> resistors, then have to hold the PCB sideways, hoping the resistors  
mv> don't slip out while I'm soldering, only to have to go back through  
mv> and heat up/push some of them down.

mv> thanks,

mv> Mark
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