Patent ID: 7987781

Claim:
A stencil printer for printing viscous material on a substrate, the stencil printer comprising: a frame; a stencil coupled to the frame; a substrate support coupled to the frame to support a substrate in a print position; and a print head, coupled to the frame, to deposit and print viscous material over the stencil, the print head comprising a squeegee blade configured to engage the stencil, a squeegee blade mount configured to house the squeegee blade, a squeegee blade movement mechanism configured to move the squeegee blade mount in a z-axis direction from a raised position in which the squeegee blade is spaced from stencil and a lowered position in which the squeegee blade engages and applies a force on the stencil, and a connector assembly configured to pivotally connect the squeegee blade mount to the squeegee blade movement mechanism, the connector assembly comprising a pivot plate pivotally connected to the squeegee blade mount, a load cell coupled to the pivot plate and configured to measure force of the squeegee blade against the stencil, and a rear block disposed to connect the load cell to the squeegee blade movement mechanism.