An insertion mount machine or inserter is a device used to insert the

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of electronic components through holes in

printed circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB), also called printed wiring board (PWB), is a Lamination, laminated sandwich structure of electrical conduction, conductive and Insulator (electricity), insulating layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes ...

Machine configuration

An insertion mount machine often has a

rotary table A rotary table is a precision work positioning device used in metalworking. It enables the operator to drill or cut work at exact intervals around a fixed (usually horizontal or vertical) axis. Some rotary tables allow the use of index plates ...

on a X- and Y-axis

positioning system A positioning system is a system for determining the position of an object in space. Positioning system technologies exist ranging from interplanetary coverage with meter accuracy to workspace and laboratory coverage with sub-millimeter accuracy. ...

which moves the board to the necessary position for the component's insertion into the board. The machine can be configured to be standalone machine.

Axial insertion

An axial inserter takes axial leaded through-hole components from reels which are fed into dispensing heads that cut the parts onto a chain in the order of insertion; transferred from the sequence chain to the insertion chain, which brings the component underneath the insertion head which then cuts the leads of the component to the correct length for lead length and insertion span; bends the leads 90°; and inserts the component leads into the board while a clinch assembly underneath cuts and bends the leads towards each other.

Radial insertion

A radial inserter takes

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A ...

leaded through-hole components from a reels which are fed into dispensing heads that cut the component from the reel and place it onto the chain in sequence of the order of insertion. The component is brought to a component transfer assembly behind the insertion head and is transferred to the insertion head, then inserted into the board while a clinch assembly underneath cuts and bends the leads opposite to each other.

Dual in-line package insertion

A dual in-line (DIP) inserter takes

integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

s from tubes which are loaded into

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. A shuttle mechanism picks the needed component needed from the magazines and drops it into a transfer assembly. The insertion head picks the component from the transfer assembly and inserts the IC into the board while a clinch assembly underneath cuts and bends the leads either inward for

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s or outward for ICs. Due to the transition from insertion mount technology (through-hole) to

surface-mount technology Surface-mount technology (SMT), originally called planar mounting, is a method in which the electrical components are mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB). An electrical component mounted in this manner is referred ...

s, these machines are no longer being newly manufactured.

Obsolete configurations

Axial inserters used to consist of a stand-alone sequencer machine which cut and sequenced the parts onto a reel. That reel was then transferred over to a standalone axial inserter to insert the components. This is all done on one machine today.

References