Automated Soldering of Ice Tray Assemblies is a Cool Process.

Application:

Ice trays used in large, industrial ice cube machines manufactured by IMI Cornelius of Mason City, lowa.

The soldering story: Hotels, motels, restaurants, and other commercial and industrial businesses look to IMI Cornelius to make sure they never run out of ice. IMI Cornelius looks to Lucas-Milhaupt products to ensure the ice cube trays inside their equipment consistently deliver the cold goods. In the tray assembly process, a metal grid used to form the actual cubes is joined to the inside of the tray, and a serpentine coil that delivers coolant to the grid is joined to the tray back. Soldering is the metal joining method used for both steps which are performed simultaneously. To join the metal grids to the tray, IMI uses tin silver solder paste filler metal, a step-saving product that includes flux. A tin silver foil is used to join the coil to the tray back. Lucas-Milhaupt provides the foil in sheets cut to match the width of the trays, and IMI trims to the desired length. An operator-controlled process applies both the paste between the metal grid and the tray, and the foil strips and flux between the tray and the coil. The tray then moves on a conveyor into the furnace for the soldering process.

1. The completed ice cube tray parts.
2. A coating of filler metal paste is applied to the tray.
3. The tray is positioned on the pre-cut and trimmed foil.
4. The coils prior to soldering.
5. An operator positions the ice cube tray parts on a conveyor for soldering.