Non-industrial design and manufacture of radio devices and devices is associated with a huge number of technical problems, including the lack of necessary technological elements, limited choice of materials and components, lack of experience or professional skills. Industry today offers a wide range of assistive devices, greatly simplifying many of the tasks facing amateur radio designers. Vacuum tweezers are one of them.
Appointment
The device is very popular among professionals and amateurs to perform work related to the accurate positioning of rather small or fragile parts.
In the usual view, tweezers (from French pincette) are a device with two jaws for gripping and carrying objects, tactile contact with which is undesirable or impossible. Unlike a simple spring metal, vacuum tweezers do not require any additional force to fix the element. This duty is assigned to air, or rather its absence - a vacuum.
Scope of the device
The scope is determined by the need to perform delicate work. In jewelry, the device is used for the precise installation of precious stones (inserts) in wax model molds. An element plunges to the necessary depth without violating the structural integrity of the model.
In the electronics industry and in amateur workshops, tweezers make it easier to grab and hold radio components, miniature plastic and metal parts. Another important property is that most devices have an antistatic design. Microelectronics today is characterized by an incredible density of active components in the chip chip. Despite the small size of the electrostatic discharge, the consequences for the internal structure of the integrated circuit can be critical. And this, in turn, does not exclude the failure of everything, sometimes expensive, electronic equipment.
Vacuum tweezers will be a good help when manipulating parts of clockworks, with elements containing hazardous chemicals.
Mechanical devices
More affordable devices with a mechanical (manual) drive. In the simplest case, the tweezers are a rubber bulb with a suction cup at the end. Such a tool (for example, Bubl-Vac (USA), is capable of holding up to 115 grams). It is the most economical solution, but it’s not very convenient for them to work with very small details.
FFQ939 vacuum tweezers have an already more advanced and sleek design. The maximum weight of the lifting part is 40 g. It is equipped with three heat-resistant suction cups of different diameters (4, 6 and 10 mm). Reliable and easy to operate. In fact, this is the same rubber bulb, but hidden in a beautiful silver cylinder (a little thicker than an ordinary pencil), ending with a needle-like nozzle.
The Vampire manipulator (Elme, Italy) has a similar design, but instead of a pear, it has a piston. The classic equipment looks somewhat richer. Vacuum tweezers suction cups are presented in various versions: power - for mounting microcircuits in sockets, heat-resistant - for removing hot chips during desoldering.
A significant drawback of such devices is the gradual depressurization and, as a consequence, the weakening or complete loss of fixation of the part.
Homemade Vacuum Tweezers
Now, even in a remote province, using the services of the World Wide Web, you can order any tool in online stores with delivery to the nearest post office. But if there is not enough strength to wait (it burns the thirst for creativity), it is possible to make the simplest vacuum tweezers with your own hands in just five minutes. All that is required for this is purchased at the nearest pharmacy and hardware store:
- medical disposable syringe (2-5 ml) with a needle;
- Dropper (system for blood transfusion);
- Silicone sealant or fum tape.
Instead of a piston in the syringe, with the seal of the connection, the end of the plastic tube from the dropper starts up - and the vacuum tweezers of our own production are ready!
Everyone in childhood drank cocktails through a straw, so the mechanism of action of the device is not difficult to understand. He brought up the needle, sucked in air through the second end of the tube and the element was fixed.
Electric drive
The design of electric vacuum tweezers is huge. If desired, everyone can choose a tool based on financial capabilities - from democratic models of domestic or Chinese production to complex technical complexes of Western monsters of the electronic industry.
Discharge on the working bodies of such devices (150-600 mbar) is created by electric pumps (compressors) of diaphragm type, with a power of 5 to 30 watts. Replaceable antistatic heat-resistant suction cups of various diameters and end needles of several configurations are usually supplied in the kit. Able to hold parts weighing up to 200 grams. It is worth noting that all manufactured devices are quite compact and low noise.
Browse Popular Models
Vacuum tweezers "Master" produced by the Saratov scientific and technical center of the same name - a small-sized and ergonomic tool. The weight of the device is only 40 grams, the electric power is 3 W, the discharging force is 150 mbar. It is completed with silicone suckers of three standard sizes: 3, 6 and 9 mm.
Another representative of Russian production - VM-0.8 (NTF TERMOPRO LLC, Moscow) is positioned as a super-powerful, fast and convenient tool recommended for serial installation of radio components. Comfortable operation of the operator is ensured by the foot pedal for pumping air out. The vacuum value has a smooth adjustment from 200 to 450 mbar. Power consumption - 5 watts. The set includes three suction cups (5, 8 and 13 mm) and four needle fittings.
Completes the review of Quick 381A (PRC). Power consumption - 15 watts. A vacuum of 250 mbar allows you to manipulate parts weighing up to 120 grams. The weight of the device itself is about a kilogram. It is equipped with interchangeable suction cups, needles and a foot control pedal.
Professional equipment
Quite complex and expensive systems are manufactured for industrial use. They can be either single-channel (with one vacuum output for tweezers), or multi-channel systems serving several workplaces at once. Professional products are generously equipped with interchangeable nozzles, additional accessories and many useful features.
For example, the V8-100A vacuum device from Virtual Indastries (Colorado, USA) is equipped with 9 sizes of suction cups and 16 needles of various configurations, a mass of supports, holders and brackets. A manual or foot switch can be used for control . The vacuum pump turns on and off automatically when the grip is removed from the holder. Comfortability of work is guaranteed by a large-area magnifying glass on a movable bracket and LED backlight.
How to make electric from a manual vacuum
Many hams make do-it-yourself electric vacuum tweezers from an unnecessary aquarium compressor. However, the whole alteration consists in tightly connecting its inlet (air intake fitting) to the inlet of an improvised or acquired (same FFQ939) clamp. For the connection, the notorious plastic transparent tube from the dropper is used. If you use rubber shock absorbers from an unnecessary computer keyboard or DVD drive as a suction cup, and at the same time achieve tightness of all connections, you get a good vacuum tweezers.
The aquarium compressor in power fits perfectly and will provide the required vacuum value. You can control the vacuum by drilling a hole of 2-3 mm in the body of the tweezers. And further improvement of the device is a matter of personal initiative and technical creativity. There is always something to strive for in this area.
Work with SMD components
The use of SMD elements guarantees an increase in mounting density. In mass production, the technological chain of manufacturing printed circuit boards is simplified (the operation of drilling holes falls out). Therefore, SMD parts are gradually displacing traditional ones with wire leads, both in industry and in amateur radio electronics.
Surface mount elements are convenient but tiny. Vacuum tweezers for SMD mounting are not a luxury, but a necessity. It allows you to quickly and accurately place parts on the board.
BGA components
Further improvement of the technology of surface mounting of radio components, the desire of developers of electronic devices to minimize the linear dimensions of their products led to the creation of microchips in the BGA package (the abbreviation from English is an array of balls ). Mounting ball contacts are located along the entire bottom surface of the microcircuit housing, which significantly increases the density of installation. In addition to the gain in size, BGA components are characterized by increased heat dissipation. By reducing the length of the conclusions, the influence of background noise is significantly reduced, which allows to increase the value of operating frequencies and the speed of information exchange.
The only negative is the complexity of the repair work. The dismantling, reballing (restoration of solder contact balls), installation of BGA-elements require not only great experience, special skills, strict adherence to technology, but also the availability of professional equipment and accessories. Vacuum tweezers for BGA - an indispensable attribute of such a set.
As part of systems
Radio amateurs in their arsenal, in addition to vacuum tweezers, should have a certain solder, flux, solder mask, infrared soldering station or a good hot air gun.
Professionals use special complexes to perform such tasks. For example, TF-550 is a convection system designed to work with BGA-elements with a distance between pads up to 1 mm. This is a rather complex intelligent device with a task for the thermal profile of convection flow, lower heating of the circuit board, etc. I would like to dwell on the device of a thermal soldering iron. It is a very ergonomic tool, which also includes adjustable vacuum tweezers (grip), located with the nozzle on the same axis.
In the process, the tweezers not only fixes the element, but also serves as a support for the soldering iron. This eliminates the need for the radio installer to monitor the constancy of the gap between the nozzle and the element housing.
Brief Summary
For most hams, the question of the need for vacuum tweezers in the arsenal of equipment has long been resolved - definitely needed! Although there are skeptics who object that surface mount elements are remarkably positioned with fingers. As they say - they have the right.
But even if someone likes to burn their hands, modern technologies dictate their conditions. The density of parts on electronic circuit boards is approaching such values that not only fingers - miniature branches can not get between them. Vacuum tweezers for microcircuits in QFP cases also have no alternative. Thin planar findings along the perimeter of the chip are easy to bend or damage with any other tool.
But what model to choose, everyone decides for himself, based on the nature and volume of work performed. The range presented on the modern market makes it easy to do.