Patent ID: 11858090
Assignee: DISCO CORPORATION
Field: Machine tools (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 5:
6. A method of driving a grinding apparatus including a cassette rest base for placing thereon a cassette for housing a workpiece unit that includes a workpiece and a tape affixed to a surface of the workpiece, a chuck table for holding the workpiece unit thereon, a delivery mechanism for delivering the workpiece unit between the cassette and the chuck table, a first measuring unit for measuring a value of a thickness of the workpiece unit held by the delivery mechanism or a value to be used to calculate the value of the thickness of the workpiece unit held by the delivery mechanism, a grinding unit for grinding the workpiece unit held on the chuck table, and a control unit for controlling the chuck table, the delivery mechanism, the first measuring unit, and the grinding unit, wherein the control unit includes a storage section for storing values of respective thicknesses of the workpiece and the tape,
the method comprising:
a first unloading step in which the delivery mechanism delivers the workpiece unit from the cassette placed on the cassette rest base;
a first measuring step in which the first measuring unit measures a value of the thickness of the workpiece unit held by the delivery mechanism or a value to be used to calculate the value of the thickness of the workpiece unit held by the delivery mechanism, wherein the workpiece unit includes an upper surface and a lower surface opposite to the upper surface;
a first deciding step in which the control unit decides whether the workpiece unit is a target to be ground or not depending on the value of the thickness of the workpiece unit that is obtained from a result of the measurement performed in the first measuring step, wherein in the first deciding step, the control unit decides whether a desired tape has been affixed to the workpiece or not by comparing a sum of the values of the thicknesses, stored in the storage section, of the workpiece and the tape and the value of the thickness of the workpiece unit that is obtained from the result of the measurement performed in the first measuring step with each other; and
a loading step in which, if the control unit determines in the first deciding step that the workpiece unit is a target to be ground, then the delivery mechanism delivers the workpiece unit to the chuck table, and if the control unit determines in the first deciding step that the workpiece unit is not a target to be ground, then the delivery mechanism delivers the workpiece unit back into the cassette.