Yamaha CL Feeder for SMT Machine 8mm

The Yamaha CL Feeder is a family of tape-and-reel component feeders designed for use on Yamaha and Philips/Assembleon SMT pick-and-place machines. "CL" stands for Compact Loader — a long-running, robust mechanical feeder platform that has served as the standard component-supply system across multiple generations of Yamaha YV- and YG-series surface mounters. It remains one of the most widely used feeder formats in the SMT world today, both on active production lines and on the large installed base of second-hand Yamaha equipment.

Each CL feeder is a self-contained tape-handling unit that loads onto a slot in the machine's feeder bank. It holds a reel of carrier tape with components, and on each placement cycle it advances the tape by one pitch so that the next component is presented in the pickup window for the placement head. The advance is driven by a ratcheted sprocket-and-pawl indexing mechanism, actuated pneumatically by the host machine's compressed-air supply — there is no motor or onboard electronics in the feeder itself, which is what makes the CL platform mechanically simple, lightweight, low-cost, and easy to maintain. Cover tape is peeled away and collected on an integrated take-up reel, and a manual feed button on the body allows operators to step the tape forward during setup.

CL feeders are available in a full set of tape widths to cover essentially every standard SMD component package on the market:

• 8 mm — for 0201, 0402, 0603, 0805, 1206 chips, SOT-23, small diodes, MELFs, LED beads (3014/3528). Available in 2 mm pitch (small passives) and 4 mm pitch (mid-sized passives).
• 12 mm — for larger passives, medium SOT/SOP, small connectors, LED 5050/5630/5730. Adjustable pitch: 4 / 8 / 12 mm.
• 16 mm — for SOIC, larger SOPs, small QFPs. Adjustable pitch: 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 mm.
• 24 mm — for QFP, larger ICs, medium connectors, electrolytic capacitors. Pitch adjustable in 4 mm steps.
• 32 mm — for large QFP, BGAs, larger electrolytic capacitors. Pitch adjustable in 4 mm steps.
• 44 mm, 56 mm, 72 mm, 88 mm — for large connectors, power components, shielded modules, and other oversize parts. Pitch configurable to match the tape carrier.

Reels up to roughly 15″ / 382 mm in diameter are supported on the integrated reel holder, with tape thickness up to about 1 mm.

CL feeders are the native feeder format for legacy Yamaha YV-series and YG-series machines, including (among others) the YV100II, YV100X, YV100XG, YV180XG, YV88XG, YG100, YG200, and YG300. Because Philips/Assembleon machines of the same era share the CL feeder bank interface, these feeders are also commonly used on Philips/Assembleon mounters. Yamaha's newer YS- and YSM-series machines have transitioned to the electric SS, ZS, and ALF feeder families, but the CL platform continues to dominate on the huge installed base of mid-2000s through mid-2010s Yamaha equipment that is still in active service worldwide.

On the machine bank, the 8 mm CL feeder occupies one slot, while wider variants take additional slots — typically 12 mm and 16 mm CL feeders take 3 slots for the first feeder and 2 slots for each adjacent one, and 24 mm CL feeders take 3 slots. This means an 8 mm-heavy setup maximizes total part-number capacity, while wider feeders trade slot count for the ability to feed larger components.

Yamaha-original CL feeders carry part numbers in the KW1-Mxxxx-xxx series, with the leading digits identifying the width and the trailing digits identifying the pitch and revision. The main numbers in the family are:

• KW1-M1100 / M1200 / M1300 / M1400 / M1500 — 8 mm variants (different pitches and component sizes)
• KW1-M2200-300 — 12 mm
• KW1-M3200-10X — 16 mm
• KW1-M4500-015 — 24 mm
• KW1-M5500-010 — 32 mm
• KW1-M6500-000 — 44 mm
• KW1-M7500-000 — 56 mm
• KW1-M8500-000 — 72 mm
• KW1-M9500-000 — 88 mm

Some variants are easily distinguished by colour-coded handles (e.g. green for 8×2 mm 0201 versions, black for 16 mm). Both original Yamaha units and high-quality compatible clones manufactured by various SMT-parts specialists are available on the market, and the two are generally interchangeable on the machine.

A populated Yamaha YV/YG-class mounter will typically run anywhere from a few dozen to well over a hundred CL feeders simultaneously, with the mix heavily weighted toward 8 mm and 12 mm widths for everyday passives and small ICs, and a smaller number of 24 mm / 32 mm / 44 mm feeders supplying ICs, connectors, and larger parts. Properly maintained CL feeders are extremely long-lived; the most common wear items across the family are the press cover, the feed pawl / bird-beak assembly, the sprocket gear, and the take-up reel mechanism — all of which are stocked as spare parts by major SMT-supply distributors.