SMART MOVES SPOTLIGHT
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Galil Smart Moves Partner
·
Galil Motion Control, Inc.
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800-377-6329
DC's innovative products and
timely response to customer
needs have made it a world-
wide industry leader. And a key
ingredient in EDC's success has
been its use of Galil motion con-
trollers as standard components in
its disk surfacing equipment.
In the hard disk manufacturing
process, the preparation of the disk
surface is a critical step. The initial
smooth substrate surface of the disk
must be textured for maximum effi-
ciency. A surface that is too polished
produces stiction that causes disk
heads to crash or stick to the surface.
To accomplish this exacting task,
EDC has developed a series of
mechanical and laser texturing
machines that automatically create the
precise amount of roughness needed
to enhance the smooth surface of the
disk. EDC's latest generation mechani-
cal surface finisher, the EDC 1800A,
achieves maximum flexibility for tex-
turing or burnishing the disk surface.
EDC products include not only
mechanical texturing/burnishing equip-
ment, but also a full range of process
equipment for cleaning, spin rinsing/dry-
ing, laser texturing, polishing, grinding,
and sputtering of disks and substrates.
EDC and Galil Create Precise,
Cost-effective Surface
Finishers for Storage Disk
Makers.
In the increasingly sophisticated world of data storage, Exclusive Design
Company provides a vital service -- it produces the automated equipment
that prepares the surface of rigid disks.
Galil's DMC-1040 ISA bus
motion controller is used in the
EDC 1800A to automatically con-
trol the motion needed in this precision
process. One axis rotates the spinning
disk. Another axis controls the axial
movement of the disk resulting in an
oscillation-type movement that creates
a "cross angle" motion for surface
finishing. The other two axes position
the two magazines that contain the
abrasive component. The entire opera-
tion must be precisely controlled.
Surface finishing accuracies down to
+/-1 angstrom are achieved.
The on-board processor on the Galil
DMC-1040 allows the controller to cal-
culate and process data points on the
fly. The processor allows for changes in
position without delays and frees the
host computer for other tasks.
Galil motion controllers also offer
many features that accommodate
EDC's machine enhancements. The
Galil DMC-1040 controls both step
motors and servo motors on the same
board. And the extra encoder feed-
back for each axis allows EDC prod-
ucts to read an additional encoder
without adding more hardware. The
pulse-width-modulated output of the
controller (± 10 volt output is also
available as a standard feature) allows
the motor command signal to be
input directly to EDC's own h-bridge
amplifiers, eliminating extra compo-
nents and saving cost.
Founded in 1978, EDC is a pri-
vate corporation located in San Jose,
California in the heart of Silicon
Valley. The company is an integrated
supplier of process equipment for the
data storage products industry in the
United States and ten other coun-
tries, including Japan, Singapore,
Malaysia and Germany.
A key ingredient to EDC's success has been
its use of Galil motion controllers as standard
components in its disk surfacing equipment.
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