Advent designed, built and installed a system to automatically populate a 10 x 7 array of circuit boards with pins and lug-screws. In summary the system consists of the following stations:

• Load Station – A stack of empty boards is placed into this station by the operator. Each board is automatically picked up using suction cups and transferred into the lug-screw insertion station.
• Lug-screw Insertion Station - The lug-screw insertion station includes a feeder bowl which automatically feeds lug-screws to a pick and place mechanism. Small flat sides exist along the round barrel so that the bottom of the lug could be inserted into the correct rotational orientation into a square hole. Once inserted, the lug-screw is swaged in position using a pneumatic multi-stage press.
• Pin Insertion Station - The pin insertion station also includes a feeder bowl that automatically feeds pins to an escapement. The escapement drops the pin directly into the swage nest. Again, a pneumatic multi-stage press swages the pin into the circuit board.
• Eject Station – Completed 10 x 7 arrays are ejected into a completed boards bin where they accumulate until removed by the operator.

The system used an x-y table to move the circuit board arrays under each of the automatic insertion workstations. After the circuit boards are correctly positioned, both workstations simultaneously insert and swage the lug-screw and pin. After the system has completed swaging components into each circuit board in the array, the x-y table returns to the home position and a pneumatic overhead pick and place device engages each board and indexes them to the next station.