Method and apparatus for blending air bearing sliders

摘要

A method and apparatus for "blending" air bearing rails of a magnetic air bearing slider used to carry a recording mechanism over a magnetic recording medium. In accordance with the present invention, a slider is held at a fixed angle with respect to a at least one essentially flat, abrasive blending surface, preferably configured as an elongated bar having a blending surface. The relative angle of the slider with respect to the plane of the blending surface causes an edge of a slider rail to make contact with the blending surface. A relative motion of the blending surface with respect to the slider in two generally orthogonal directions abrades the edge of the slider rail, generating a contoured edge, or "blend" on the slider rail which allows the slider to fly at approximately the same height over a disk medium over a broad range of skew angles and radial distances.