Automotive manufacturer cleans up

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Three of Guyson International's Kerry Microclean SC1000 stencil cleaners are improving productivity as well as cleaning quality for an assembler of Printed circuit boards for engine management control systems, destined for a multitude of blue chip automotive customers.
The 600 x 600mm stainless steel stencils, which are used for printing solder paste onto boards before mounted circuit assembly and reflow soldering, had previously been hand wiped, but this was time consuming and gave imperfect results.
Now the operator loads a stencil into the SC1000, closes the lid, selects a program, and presses 'start'.
The 15min cleaning process is PLC controlled and fully automatic.
The operator is free to work on other tasks while the stencil is spray cleaned with an aqueous cleaning solution, purged by compressed air, spray rinsed with deionised water, air purged once more, and warm air-dried.
The stencil emerges ready for re-use, with no other finishing required.
Additionally, as the SC1000 process is much gentler than manual cleaning, stencils are protected from excessive wear and enjoy longer life.
The first SC1000 purchased was initially used on up to 20 stencils a day but proved so effective that the company now has three machines, also used for cleaning misprinted PCBs.  

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