Application Notes
Three proven spot-curing processes from the assembly lines we supply every week. Each note covers the production problem, the spot-curing approach, a typical process sequence, working parameters, and a recommended setup you can order today.
PCB & Component Tacking
Populated boards leave no room for process heat. A hand-soldered jumper or fine magnet wire on a transformer bobbin will shift during depaneling, conformal coating, and test unless it’s staked, but a 30-minute oven pass to cure a staking epoxy thermal-cycles every joint on the assembly, and masking for a selective process adds labor without fixing the underlying problem. Connectors and tall electrolytics that see board flex need reinforcement at exactly one point, not a bulk cure of the whole board.
A spot cure puts energy only where the adhesive is. Dispense a small dot of UV acrylate over the wire, connector shoulder, or coil termination, bring a 3–8 mm spot onto it, and the dot reaches handling strength in one to four seconds while neighboring components stay at ambient. On automated lines, a 4-channel LED controller like the SkyBeam stakes four points per index with PLC handshaking; for benchtop work and short runs, the broad-spectrum SunSpot 2 covers any staking chemistry, including older broadband-cure formulations.
Adhesive Bonding & Potting
Structural bonds between glass, metal, and engineering plastics rarely tolerate the clamps-and-oven cycle of a heat-cure epoxy: fixtures tie up work-in-progress for hours, dissimilar-material joints build stress as they cool, and throughput is capped by rack space. Encapsulating a sensor or bare die by dam-and-fill raises a second problem, the fill has to cure through millimeters of depth without cooking the part underneath, and any adhesive the light can’t reach stays wet.
UV spot curing fixtures the part for seconds instead of hours. The SunSpot 2’s 200 W arc delivers >18 W/cm² of UVA plus UVB and visible content across 275–650 nm, that broad spectrum penetrates thick encapsulant sections and fully cures surface-inhibited and dual-cure chemistries that single-wavelength LEDs leave tacky. One lamp splits across up to four light-guide poles, so a four-point bond line or a full dam-and-fill perimeter cures in a single timed exposure.
Medical & Optical Assembly
Needle bonding, catheter tipping, lens fixing, and fiber termination all share one constraint: the process must be validated once and then repeated, exactly, thousands of times. Operator-held lamps introduce dose variability that no quality system can paper over, hot filament sources add infrared that shifts optical alignment as the joint warms, and an undocumented cure is an audit finding waiting to happen.
An LED spot system makes dose a programmed, logged parameter instead of an operator skill. Each of the SkyBeam’s four channels holds its own wavelength head (365 nm is the workhorse for medical-grade adhesives), intensity setting, and exposure timer, store the recipe and every part sees the same energy, up to 11,000 mW/cm² with virtually no IR heating. Per-channel LED life logs plus routine radiometer checks close the loop for ISO-style process validation, and RS-232/PLC I/O ties the cure record into your line controller.
Spec it right the first time
Tell us your adhesive, substrate, and cycle time. Our US-based application engineers will recommend the exact system, light guide, and accessories for your process, with a written quote back within one business day.
