S-300B Radial Lead Molding and Taping Machine

Nine stations between the bulk bin and the sealed tape

The station list below follows the machine walkthrough on the shop floor and the supplier manual for this machine class. It describes the order parts travel in, not the physical layout of the cabinet.

• Bulk feed. A vibratory bowl lifts loose components out of a bulk bin and orients them onto a linear track. A bowl eye stops the bowl when the track is full and a track eye slows the machine when the track runs short, so the machine tracks the feed rather than fighting it.
• Lead spread. A spreader opens the two leads apart before anything else touches the body. Doing this first is what keeps the die from closing on a crossed lead, and it is why the machine can run parts straight out of a bag with no pre-sorting.
• Lead forming. An integrated moulding die presses the leads to the formed pitch - 2.5 mm, 3.5 mm or 5.0 mm as standard. The die is one piece, so a pitch change is a die change, and the die comes off with four screws.
• Polarity test. The part is measured for polarity. For a radial electrolytic capacitor, an LED or a diode this is the difference between a board that works and a board that comes back, and it is checked before the part is committed to the tape.
• Re-orientation. If the polarity is the wrong way round for the tape the machine is building, a re-orientation station turns the part rather than rejecting it. Both directions are selectable, so the tape can be built positive-lead-first or negative-lead-first to match what your inserter expects.
• Value test. With the matching tester fitted, the machine reads capacitance and resistance and compares them with the window you set. This is the station that catches the mixed bag - a wrong value that would otherwise be taped, boxed and shipped as a good part.
• Lead trim. Over-long leads are cut to length before taping. Parts within the standard lead range pass through untouched; long-lead parts are trimmed at the station so the finished tape height is uniform instead of varying with the incoming lead length.
• Reject ejection. A gate holds open for a good part and drops a failed part into a chute. Rejects leave the machine through a tube into a scrap container, physically separated from the good stream, so a failed part cannot be re-introduced by a tired operator at the end of a shift.

Where the money goes inside the machine

Three things decide whether a taping machine is still running in year ten: what drives it, what the moving parts are made of, and whether you can still get the fixtures. All three are stated in the product sheet, and all three are visible in the machine photographs.

• Servo control instead of a clutch. The drive uses a servo control system in place of the traditional mechanical clutch. The clutch is the assembly that wears, slips and eventually seizes on this class of machine, and it is the single largest source of unplanned downtime. Removing it removes the failure mode, not just the symptom.
• Imported cams, ground to 0.01 mm. All cams are imported originals with a grinding accuracy of 0.01 mm. At 180 parts a minute the cam set is what determines whether the machine runs quietly or shakes itself apart: 0.01 mm is the difference between consistent lead forming and a die that closes a fraction early on every thousandth part.
• Special-material fixtures and an integrated die. The square-rack feeder, the precision fixtures and the moulding die are made of special materials on an accurate centre line. The die is integrated rather than assembled, so the forming dimensions stay true and the changeover is fast and does not damage the product. Two fixture sets cover Ф4-Ф6 and Ф8-Ф10.

Where the documents disagree

A specification table that quietly picks one of two numbers is worth less than one that shows both. Six parameters below do not agree across the supplied documents, or are stated in only one of them. Confirm each against the current drawing for your configuration before you order.

What 180 components a minute is worth over a shift

The published band is 180 ± 20 components per minute. The table converts that band into volume per hour, per shift and per month, so the number you plan with is a number you chose rather than one you were given.

What is configured, not just what is listed

A taping machine is only useful if the die, the fixtures and the tape all match the component you actually run. These are the items to settle with the order rather than after it.

• Moulding die for your formed pitch. 2.5 mm, 3.5 mm and 5.0 mm dies are standard. 7.5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and above are ordered separately. A die change is a four-screw operation, so a plant running two pitches can hold both.
• Second fixture set for the other diameter band. Ф4-Ф6 and Ф8-Ф10 each use their own fixture set. If your component mix spans both bands, order both sets with the machine instead of discovering the gap on the first changeover.
• Coiled output instead of boxed. Boxed (ammo pack) is the standard output. Coiled on a reel is the configuration to specify if your inserter takes reels - see the open points table, because the two supplied documents treat it differently.
• Capacitance and resistance tester. The testing and sorting function works when the matching tester is fitted. Without it the machine still forms and tapes; with it, the machine also rejects out-of-window parts before they reach the tape.
• Non-standard tape hole pitch. 12.7 mm is standard. Other hole pitches are customised on request, and 15 mm appears as an option in the supplier documentation for this class - confirm against your inserter's tape specification.
• Bowl and track tooling for your component. The bowl and the linear track are tooled to the component body. Send the drawing and a sample of the part, because a bowl that runs a 6 mm electrolytic will not necessarily run a square MKT of the same diameter.

Six steps from your component list to a validated tape

The order of work matters more than the speed of it. Most taping-machine problems that get blamed on the machine are a tape specification that was never agreed before the die was cut.

• Agree the tape specification. Before anything is built: lead pitch, polarity direction, taping height, hole pitch, paper width and thickness, top tape width, boxed or reeled. This single document decides the die, the fixtures and the consumables.
• Confirm the component. Send the component drawing and a physical sample. Body diameter, body height, lead diameter, lead length and body shape all move the fixture and the bowl tooling.
• Prepare the bench, power and air. 220 V single phase at 1.6 kW, 4-5 kg/cm² of clean dry air, and a level floor for a machine in the 700-900 kg band. Allow access on all four sides - the bowl, the reject tube and the output end all need to be reachable.
• Tune the bowl and the track. Bowl amplitude, track eye positions and the spreader are set against the real component, not against a drawing. This is the step where a bad sample shows up as a rate problem three weeks later.
• Validate the first tape. Run a full tape, then measure it: pitch, taping height, polarity direction, hole positions, and pull the sample against the component drawing. Keep the measured tape as the reference for the life of the machine.
• Hand over with a maintenance card. Operator training on the touch panel, the parameter pages and the alarm list, plus a written maintenance card with the lubrication points and the cam and eye inspection intervals for your own records.

What happens after the machine lands

A taping machine is a tooling project as much as a machine purchase. These are the four parts of the service that decide whether it stays running.