INTRODUCTION
The Micromat has been designed to enable the drilling and routing of printed
circuit boards to be carried out quickly and efficiently by non-technical
personnel.
The machine is first taught the pattern of holes to be drilled and from then on
the same pattern can be drilled as many times as required until the machine is
re-programmed.
The teaching of these patterns can be by manually programming the machine,
loading data from cassette tape or by downloading CAD drill data from other
computer systems.
If a particular pattern will be required at some time in the future then it may be
saved on cassette tape to be fed back into the machine whenever needed.
Routing profiles can be programmed very quickly and will show a considerable
time saving over conventional sawing or pin routing methods, especially where
small irregular shapes are required.
As with any computer controlled machine, the Micromat will only do what the
operator tells it to do, so in order to obtain the best results its operation must be
fully understood by the operator and the following instructions should be read
carefully, using the machine for reference, until the procedures become
familiar. It is not necessary to actually drill anything to become aware of the
machine's capabilities since use of the CHECK mode allows programs to be
entered and visually inspected with the built in CCTV system. This not only
provides a valuable training aid, but also a necessary testing facility for any
entered programs prior to actual drilling or routing operations.
The Auto Tool Change version offers improved output and accuracy since the
boards do not have to be removed between runs of different drill sizes.
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