<<1) When the wire thread broke or got tangled when the machine burped or power sagged or the thermal bonding fuser burned out, what were you all instructed to do with the scraps?>>
Only one word - RECYCLE. Really the scrap was VERY low in oz terms. Across all 16 Abacus II bonders running 18 hours X 6 days a week we scrapped 1.7 oz total.
<<2) How tough was it to thread one of those things with a new dia wire when job specs changed?>>
Ours were dedicated job bonders - the job simply did NOT change. Did you notice there were very few different dia wire? Once in a great while the operator would have a problem & the bond at the change-over point between old & new spool of wire & a tech wouold have to come lend a hand & we'd have an hour's production loss 0 the production loss was far greater cost than the minor scrap that resulted.
<<3) Were there ever any applications where, due to cost, that platinum or palladium fused wire was substitued? That would have required a higher temperature for the thermal fusing process, yes? No?>>
No, Never, production costs are forced down the cycle runs from gold to copper then to aluminum - though there are & were trials of a silver alloy. Remember, the wire carries electricity, platinum or palladium are NOT the best conductors.
<<5) How many "miles" were on one of those spools of gold wire thread?>>
700 ft. or 1000 ft. depending on vendor, but I believe there are now are also 5000 & 1000 foot rolls. Remember, the wire is VERY fine dwarfed by a human hair. and a unit used 20 loops per
<<6) How heavily guarded were the employees in that application "room"/cubby?>>
Limited / controlled access to the large room - Need to know / go only. Supervisor & group leader + engineering & planning support only. Really, security was out job in planning. If scrap ran up on any machine I knew it. Our inventory control was so damn tight that we caught a identified a gal who was wrapping a few inches a night around a gold tooth. While I'm sure someone got away with a bit here or there, any large amount was noticed and the problem was fixed. I was told far later every gold buyer in the area was on "the payroll". For anyone to sell any they would have needed to sell it far away from home. |
