Z-AXIS has made major investments in PCB assembly equipment to support growing demand for our U.S. electronic contract manufacturing (ECM) services. Our ISO 9001:2015 certified company provides electronics design, ECM, and printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) services at our Rochester, New York area facility.
Today, our equipment investments are supporting increased throughput and continuous quality improvements in our manufacturing processes for surface mount technology (SMT) assembly and mixed-technology PCBA assembly (PCBA).
The following sections describe our PCB assembly equipment. You’ll also find a complete equipment list on our website.
Apollo Seiko J-CAT Stellar Robotic Soldering System
This system is used to solder selected components to boards, usually after SMT pick-and-place and solder reflow. Z-AXIS’ programmable robotic soldering system enables a much more controlled and repeatable process than the “soldering fountains” typically used by mid-sized contract manufacturers for this work. It also allows the assembly team to process multiple customer projects simultaneously, automatically running the correct pre-defined soldering sequence for each board placed in the system, with no manual intervention and zero change-over time. This supports Z-AXIS’ high mix, high throughput manufacturing model.
Hot-Bar Reflow Soldering System for PCB Assembly
This system is used to solder flexible printed circuits (FPCs) or flexible flat cable (FFCs) to printed circuit boards (PCBs). Hot-bar soldering eliminates the need for a connector between the board and FPC. This reduces the component count and size of the finished assembly. At Z-AXIS, the hot-bar reflow soldering system is used commonly to connect LCD screens to printed circuit boards.
Epilog Fusion CO2 Laser
Z-AXIS uses this 75-Watt CO2 laser to cut and engrave custom components used in its electro-mechanical assemblies, and to create custom packaging.
“The ability to anticipate our customers’ changing needs and find innovative ways to satisfy their unique requirements is central to our success as the preferred contract manufacturing partner for leading commercial, medical and industrial equipment companies. Continuous re-investment in new manufacturing technology is a key part of this. It also contributes to making Z-AXIS a great place to work.” – Michael Allen, President of Z-AXIS
Xeltek SuperBot II Automated IC Programmer
This robotic system automatically picks up, places, and programs integrated circuits (ICs) such as flash memory and microcontrollers used in Z-AXIS PCB assemblies. An upgrade from the company’s previous generation SuperBot, the new system features machine vision for IC alignment, resulting in higher throughput and the ability to handle smaller components.
NuClean PolySMT 318XL Board Cleaner for PCB Assembly
This linear board washer replaces a smaller board washer to deliver higher throughput and more thorough cleaning of water-soluble flux from printed circuit boards, particularly around fine-pitch components. It is is part of a controlled process for preparing PCBs for conformal coating.
Gensonic GEN3 Stencil Cleaner
This ultrasonic cleaner thoroughly cleans the metal stencils that are used to apply solder paste to PCBs prior to component placement. It removes all solder paste from the very small apertures needed for fine-pitch SMT parts such as 0201s and micro BGAs.
Fisnar F4200N Dispensing Robot
This automates manual dispensing of a wide range of materials used in PCB assembly including gel conformal coating, adhesives, and SMT component underfill. The automated system improves process control, reduces waste and labor costs, and delivers higher throughput.
About Z-AXIS
Z-AXIS, Inc. provides quality design, prototyping and manufacturing services for complex electronic products and electromechanical assemblies. We offer fast design turnaround, competitive NRE charges, rapid production and low freight costs at our ISO 9001:2015 certified design and manufacturing facility near Rochester, NY. Z-AXIS also designs, manufactures and sells commercial, industrial and medical power supplies under its BEAR Power Supplies brand.
Visit our Manufacturing Services page for more information about Z-AXIS electronics design and contract manufacturing services in the USA.
