Method to align a flexure tail having bent alignment tab feature to a flex cable of a head gimbal assembly
View Patent ↗A novel method and device to align a flexure tail of a head gimbal assembly (HGA) to a flex cable of a head stack assembly (HSA) is disclosed. An alignment pin is passed through a first alignment hole in the flex cable, and a second alignment hole in the flexure tail. The second alignment hole is disposed in a region of the flexure tail that lies in a flexure tail plane that is approximately parallel to the flex cable plane adjacent the first alignment hole. A novel head gimbal assembly (HGA) has a flexure tail that includes a first bend line. The flexure tail is bent out-of-plane about the first bend line to create a residual bend angle in the range 10° to 80°. The first alignment tab is abutted against a first guide surface of an alignment fixture.
1. A method to align a flexure tail of a head gimbal assembly (HGA) to a flex cable of a head stack assembly (HSA), the method comprising:
passing an alignment pin through a first alignment hole in the flex cable, the flex cable defining a flex cable plane adjacent the first alignment hole;
passing the alignment pin through a second alignment hole in the flexure tail, the second alignment hole disposed in a region of the flexure tail that lies in a flexure tail plane that is approximately parallel to the flex cable plane;
bending a first alignment tab of the flexure tail out of the flexure tail plane about a first bend line in the flexure tail; and
abutting the first alignment tab against a first guide surface of an alignment fixture.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first bend line comprises a plurality of co-linear etched perforations in the flexure tail.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the bending precedes the abutting.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the bending is a simultaneous consequence of the abutting.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the bending comprises forming a residual bend angle in the range of 10° to 80° about the first bend line.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising
bending a second alignment tab of the flexure tail about a second bend line in the flexure tail;
abutting the second alignment tab against a second guide surface of the alignment fixture, the first and second guide surfaces at least partially facing each other.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the alignment fixture includes the alignment pin.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the HSA includes the alignment pin.