Designing a depanelization fixture

A depanelization fixture holds the panel and boards securely in place during the milling process. In addition to the fixture walls (which are automatically calculated), support pedestals and suction cups need to be placed at appropriate locations for each board in the panel.

Select the placement of the dust removal nozzle (for connection to a vacuum cleaner) and the vacuum hose nozzle (for connection to a vacuum pump). Then specify the dust and vacuum nozzle diameters. Note: Changing these parameters will delete all support pedestals and suction cups.

• Suction cups: Each board, each cutout and the panel frame should have one or more suction cups to hold the material in place during routing. These must be located at points where there the suction cup will have complete contact with the lower side of the board. (No via holes, components or component pins.)
  For each of the suction cup diameters, an estimated suction force is shown. We recommend a suction of at least 10g per cm² of board area and at least 10g per cm spacing between suction cups (or 20g pr cm from cup to board edge).
• Hole support pedestals: These may be placed at any through-hole with a diameter of at least 2.0 mm. There must be at least 1.5 mm clearance around the hole for the shoulder of the pedestal.
• Slot support pedestals: These may be placed at any slot (though we recommend a slot width of at least 2.0 mm). There must be at least 1.5 mm clearance on each side of the slot for the shoulder of the pedestal. Note: If a slot support pedestal is placed on a curved slot or on a slot that is not long enough, then a hole support pedestal will be placed instead.

Note: Around the foot of each support or suction cup pedestal there should be an additional 2 mm clearance for components with a component height within 5 mm of the specified maximum component height.

Each board should have enough support pedestals to remain immovable, both vertically and horizontally, throughout the milling process.

If the panel is a regular array of a single product which has been created by the Macaos Panel Module, then the lower left board in the panel will be highlighted with a yellow rectangle when placing suction cups or hole support pedestals. A suction cup or pedestal placed within this board will automatically be duplicated to all of the other boards.

You should also specify the Component height of components mounted on the underside of the boards. Note: If you specify less than 10 mm as the maximum height of underside components, then a value of 10 mm will be used, in order to allow sufficient height for the suction cup pedestals.

The fixture will be manufactured in white photopolymer plastic. If desired, you may specify that the fixture be coated with Anti-static paint.

Use the Publish button to upload the fixture to the Macaos Repository. Initially, the fixture may only be viewed as a 2D schematic drawing. Once an order has been placed for the fixture, a Macaos engineer will generate a 3D model of the fixture, which may then be viewed in the product browser.