Carrier Tape Options for Mill-Max Discrete Pins & Receptacles
If your line runs on automated pick and place, a part that only ships in bulk is a problem. Mill-Max has packaged precision turned pins and receptacles on tape and reel for the better part of 20 years, and we keep expanding what we can tape, for both through hole and SMT discrete components.
We handle every step in house, from tape pocket design and manufacturing through to packaging the parts on the reel. That integration keeps tooling costs and lead times down, and it means an unusual part shape is a design problem we can solve rather than a reason to say no. All Mill-Max tape and reel packaging is designed to meet the guidelines of the EIA-481-D standard.
The following are some examples of the many styles of pins and receptacles we are able to package on tape and reel.
Traditional Style Receptacles (Typical Orientation)
Sometimes referred to as PCB sockets, micro-plugs or connector jacks, the traditional Mill-Max receptacles are the most amenable to tape and reel packaging. These parts are typically larger at the top and smaller at the bottom, allowing the part to sit snugly in the pocket with minimal lateral movement. Mill-Max receptacles with no tail and a closed bottom, or open bottom fibre plug type, fit into this category.
SMT Receptacles for Bottom Entry (Inverse Orientation)
As design engineers are challenged to reduce product size they often come up with creative ideas to make connections board to board or component to board. One example is to use a reversed receptacle designed for through hole applications and literally turn it on its head so the top of the receptacle is SMT soldered to the board while the body is standing above the board. In these applications the mating lead passes through a hole in the board, from the bottom, and plugs into the surface mounted receptacle on the top side of the board.
Nail Head Pins
Pick and place equipment has become more sophisticated in terms of the types of parts that can be picked up and the accuracy with which they can be placed. Due to these developments, some of the more popular pins we have been packaging are nail head pins in various diameters and lengths. Nail head pins are often used to connect multiple boards together in a through hole fashion. For these applications, the head of the pin is positioned at the top of the tape pocket where it is available to be picked up by the vacuum nozzle and delivered to the board.
Some customers use nail head pins as SMT interconnects, with the head soldered to the board surface. That puts the head at the bottom of the pocket, which makes pocket design, pin loading and pick-up stability far harder. Our tooling design and packaging techniques have met those challenges successfully.
Double Tail Pins
Double tail pins are used for through hole mounting, typically, in board stacking situations. They can be tricky both for packaging on tape and reel and picking and placing into the PCB by the end user. These pins tend to be on the longer side (greater than .250” / 6,35 mm) and often have small diameters (less than .030” / 0,76 mm) requiring the tape pocket to be deep drawn and designed to protect the pin during handling.
Horizontal Surface Mount (HSMT) Pins and Receptacles
Horizontal Surface Mount (HSMT) pins and receptacles are typically used for mating boards or components in a horizontal orientation and for continuous connections (daisy chaining), commonly used in LED strip lighting. Since these parts are typically characterized with flat surfaces and have low profiles, they are ideal for tape and reel packaging. Our design experience and advanced precision machining techniques enable us to manufacture HSMT style products economically, with tight tolerances and in large volumes. We offer standard pins, receptacles and spring-loaded pins in this style.
Spring-Loaded (Pogo) Pins
Discrete spring-loaded pins have become ever more popular for uses such as board to board interconnects, docking stations for battery charging, and even power applications. Naturally, the demand for them packaged on tape and reel has grown. There are many different spring pin designs available and some are not suitable for tape and reel packaging. For these designs we offer individually insulated spring-loaded pins and spring-loaded pins with removable caps, both of which accommodate tape and reel processing efficiently.
Target Discs
Target Discs are featureless flat “pins” that provide a durable surface and precise height profile as the mating components for spring-loaded pins. They are used in place of surface mount PCB pads allowing the design engineer to choose spring pins and target discs to tailor the interconnect height accurately. The low profile of these targets makes them ideal for tape and reel packaging as the pocket design is simple and the high quantity per reel results in fewer reel changes during production.
Need a part on tape that is not offered that way yet?
Pocket design and tooling are done in house, which is what lets us tape parts that would otherwise ship in bulk. Tell us the part and your placement equipment and we will tell you honestly whether tape and reel is workable or whether another approach serves you better.