Materials and deposition took center stage on day one in Munich. Asymtek rolled out a jet-based dispenser, while ERSA and Mydata showed off new printers, the latter also a jet design.

Asymtek’s SC-400 PreciseCoat Conformal Coating Jet applies coating materials to selective areas. The machine is designed for coating small substrates or substrates with high-component density, and when there are tight tolerances between coated and uncoated areas. It uses a needle design with jetting action and fast pulse-width modulated control to deliver line widths down to a reported 1.2 mm (0.05″) wide. It even eliminates masking, the company says, because the flow is so closely controlled. A dual-valve configuration is available.

ERSA, known for its soldering equipment, has entered the printer world. The Versaprint, which made its worldwide debut Tuesday, integrates traditional printing capability with a complete post-print AOI. The line scan camera nested in the printer is capable of images for type recognition and AOI. Novel software eases setup, operation and process optimization. The SEMI E95-1101 GUI eases operator training. Versaprint includes a substrate positioning and triple rail transport to enhance speed and accuracy.

Mydata Automation’s second-generation MY500 jet printer offers offline programming said to permit setups and changeovers in seconds. The machine now permits adjustments on-the-spot, in three dimensions, and comes with 2-D inspection and repair. The paste syringe and ejection technology has “snap-to-machine” loading, said to permit quick paste refill as needed or switches from lead to Pb-free solder paste in seconds. The company has also settled earlier IP issues with Asymtek.

Among other introductions, the two major suppliers of cleaning materials both made announcements. Kyzen launched AQUANOX A4651US, a low pH ultrasonic immersion cleaner said to be compatible with all the latest flux formulations and capable brilliant solder joints with no sump side additives and consistent cleaning results with minimal bath monitoring.

And Zestron presented its new Fast Acting Surfactant Technology (FAST), featuring shorter, more agile surfactant structures said to move faster and clean more efficiently than traditional surfactants. Zestron recommends FAST for high pressure spray-in-air applications.

In other news, Siemens has raised the placement bar, with a pick-and-place machine said to be capable of 100,000 cph rates per IPC-9850. The X4i placement machine, based on the company’s X-Series platform, comes with a dual conveyor, configurable to use the space remaining between boards as a third track. Boards in the so-called “Productivity Lane” are passed through the placement area, to be processed on one of the other machines down the line. That way, the company says, two or more machines can place the same contents simultaneously. Another function treats two boards as one and populates them simultaneously. Good stuff.

More from Munich tomorrow.