Patent ID: 7121199

Claim:
A stencil printer for printing viscous material on a substrate, the stencil printer comprising: a frame; a stencil coupled to the frame; a print head, coupled for the frame, to deposit and print viscous material over the stencil; and a substrate supporting and clamping assembly to support and clamp a substrate in a print position, the substrate supporting and clamping assembly comprising at least one support member to support the substrate in a print position, a pair of rail members, coupled to the frame, adapted to engage opposite edges of the substrate, and a clamping mechanism, coupled to the frame, to move at least one of the rail members against the substrate to clamp the substrate, said clamping mechanism being configured to move the at least one of the rail members between a first position in which the rail member is spaced away from one of the opposite edges of the substrate and a second position in which the rail member engages one of the opposite edges of the substrate to clamp the substrate between the rail members during a print operation, said clamping mechanism comprising a pressure regulator to control a clamping force applied to the rail member against the edge of the substrate.