Insertion mount machine
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An insertion mount machine or inserter is a device used to insert the leads of electronic components through holes in printed circuit boards.
Machine configuration
An insertion mount machine often has a rotary table on a X- and Y-axis positioning system which moves the board around to the necessary position for the component to be inserted into the board. The machine can be configured as a stand alone machine were a workboard holder is used on the rotary table to hold the boards that are to be populated or be inline of a production line with board handling assemblies which transfer the board via conveyor systems from the upline, populate the board and then transfer downline.[1][2]
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 sequence 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 inward towards each other.
Radial insertion
A radial inserter takes radial leaded through-hole components from a reels which are fed into dispensing heads that cut the component from the reel and places 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 in opposite direction of each other.
Dual in-line package insertion
A dual in-line package (DIP) inserter takes integrated circuits from tubes which are loaded into magazines and a shuttle mechanism picks from the magazines the component needed to be inserted and dropped 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 sockets and outward for IC's.
Due to the transition from insertion mount technology (through-hole) to surface-mount technology, these machines are no longer being newly manufactured.[citation needed]
Obsolete configurations
Axial Inserters used to consist of a stand alone sequencer machine which cut and sequenced the parts onto a reel which that reel was then tranferred over to a stand alone axial inserter to insert the components. This is all done on one machine today.