Patent ID: 8186563

Claim:
An automatic soldering apparatus comprising a heat treatment portion that performs a heat treatment on a circuit board at a predetermined temperature, a solder processing portion that performs solder processing on the circuit board on which a heat treatment is performed by the heat treatment portion, and a conveying portion that conveys the circuit board from the heat treatment portion to the solder processing portion, wherein the conveying portion includes: plural conveying hooks that hold the circuit board therebetween; conveying chains, each being provided with the conveying hooks, which drive so that the conveying hooks holding the circuit board therebetween are movable from the heat treatment portion to the solder processing portion; a pair of first frames that have a first sliding portion and guide the conveying chains slid by the first sliding portion along the heat treatment portion; a pair of second frames that have a second sliding portion that slides the conveying chains continuously transferred from the first sliding portion, are continuously provided to the first sliding portion and guide the conveying chains slid by the second sliding portion along the solder processing portion; and an absorbing member that is provided between each of the first frames and each of the second frames and absorbs an expansion and contraction based on difference of any thermal expansion between the first and second frames and the conveying chains chains, and wherein each first frame has an end that is toward an end of a corresponding second frame and each first frame and each second frame are respectively provided with a recess at said end, each absorbing member comprises a shaft having a first end and a second end, a first bushing provided inside the first frame at said end of the first frame, and a second bushing provided inside the second frame at said end of the second frame, and the first and second ends of the shaft are disposed in the first and second bushings respectively.