METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ORIENTING MINIATURE COMPONENTS

摘要

An electronic component preprocessing assembly comprises a press pin plate (28) having a surface from which at least one press pin (30) depends, a load plate (34) having at least one loading aperture (132) spatially aligned with and sized to receive the press pin (30), a pin holder plate (40) having a surface from which at least one orienting pin (42) depends, and a carrier plate (38) having at least one component passageway (134) spatially aligned with and sized to receive the orienting pin (42). The load plate (34) and the carrier plate (38) are spatially aligned so that an electronic component (32) initially placed in the loading aperture (132) can travel to the component passageway (134) while captured within a predetermined distance between the press pin (30) and the orienting pin (42). The predetermined distance is preferably sufficient to prevent unneccessary pressure on the component (32) captured therein while orienting the component in a preferred orientation during transfer.