Patent ID: 6267288
Filing Date: 2001-07-31
Classification: B23K,B25B,H05K,Y02P

Abstract:
A pallet for supporting a fab in a surface mount manufacturing operation wherein manufacturing a double sided PCB requires mounting a first group of components on one side of a fab and mounting a second group of components on an opposite side of the fab using the techniques of:(i) printing a pattern of solder paste on each side of the fab;(ii) placing the first and second groups of components on the respective sides of the fab;(iii) heating the fab to a temperature where the solder paste melts enabling each group to adhere to the fab when the temperature is reduced to ambient temperature;said pallet comprising:a panel having a frame area (14) surrounding a depression area (16);a shoulder (18) having a shoulder surface and located on a perimeter of said depression area;said depression area and shoulder dimensioned to support the fab positioned on said shoulder surface with a top surface of said fab coplanar with a top surface of said frame area and defining a space between a surface of said depression area and an area of the fab extending over said depression area;a finger (24) formed by cutting out a portion of the frame area (14) at the edge of the depression area (16);said finger (24) having one end (28) integrally joined to said frame area (12) and a free end (26) biased toward the depression area providing that the fab on said shoulder (18) over depression (16) is retained on said shoulder (18) by said finger pressing against said fab.