Siborg Systems Inc.'s digital LCR-meter and electronics tester, Smart Tweezers, is now available in over 27 countries with new distributors. The ingenious tool has gained new websites, including the Smart Tweezers Blog, the first centre for calibration in Europe has opened, and development on a new model has begun.
Smart Tweezers handheld LCR-meter from Canadian Siborg Systems Inc., is now available on 5 continents from new distributors. The device has recieved new websites, each adapted for users in various regions, a news blog, as well as the first calibration facility in Poland for European users. Development has begun on a new model with help from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Smart Tweezers are the composite of a small display, a set of sharp tweezers and a highly accurate LCR-meter that rivals bench type testers in speed and accuracy. Designed specifically for Surface Mount Technology, which is becomming the industry standard for manufacturing electronics, Smart Tweezers are able to automatically identify and measure for Inductance (L), Capacitance (C) and Resistance (R) with just a touch of the tips to a component. Able to get full contact with the tiny components, the device revolutonializes testing and troubleshooting electronics. The newest model, the ST5 features designated ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) measurements, component sorting and continuity and diode testing, with a basic accuracy of 0.2% an estimated 6 times higher than previous models.
With a patented mechatronic design, the device offers users very low and well defined parasitics that are easily removed using Smart Tweezers' semi-automatic offset subtraction. With the parasitics removed, the tool is able to measure as low as 1 picofarad and 1 milliohm for Capacitance and Resistance, as well as a fraction of microhenry for Inductance measurements.
Introduced over 10 years ago, Smart Tweezers have gained worldwide recognition as a professional grade tool, essential for component sorting, in-circuit and on-board impedance testing, and quick component evaluations. New distributors agree that Smart Tweezers are an undisputable tool for electronic manufacturing, repair and testing.
"From the very first look at Smart Tweezers it was clearly a perfect match to our line of products," says Czeslaw Ruszowski, CEO at Bokar International, "We manufacture equipment for production, rework and repair of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) densely packed with SMT components, as small as 0.3 mm. It makes debugging of a faulty PCB virtually impossible with the use of conventional LCR-meters. Smart Tweezers™ light-weight design integrating high-precision SMT probes, accurate digital LCR-meter and an LCD display makes it easily usable by just one hand leaving the other free for taking notes or holding other tools."
"We have been looking for such device for a long time," says Anatoly Klimenko, Director of Marketing at SIBBIS International, "Modern medical equipment may contain a number of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) densely packed with SMT components. It makes debugging of a faulty PCB virtually impossible with the use of conventional LCR-meters. Smart Tweezers™ is an integration of a pair of high-precision SMT probes, accurate digital LCR-meter and an LCD display into nearly a pen-size 2 Oz unit. It can be easily handled by just one hand leaving the other free for taking notes or holding other tools."
These new distributors have brought Smart Tweezers into new markets, offering the device in countries including electronic manufacturing hubs. These distributors include; KT International (Indonesia), SIBBIS International (USA), Advance Tech Services (India), Van Device (Japan), Dipaul (Russia), CF System Technology (Malaysia), Production Solutions (Poland), GoldTek (China), Newly-Tsuchiyama (Japan), SIBBIS International (USA) and PrinTec (Netherlands). These new partners offer lines of products for manufacturing, reworking and repairing electronics with Surface Mount Technology, and agree unanimously that Smart Tweezers is a good fit among their product lines.
For European users that require their equipment to be calibrated annually in order to stay ISO compliant, Siborg has placed the first calibration centre in Poland. With help from Bokar International, the facility is available at Production Solutions in Warsaw. With this facility, European clients needn't send their devices abroad, to one of the 3 existing facilties (in Canada, USA, or India). Sending the device away can be a long and costly procedure, many companies resorted to a third party calibration method which doesn't actually calibrate the device by changing coefficients, but just proves that Smart Tweezers are accurate by comparing measurment values to the values of standard components. This new facility allows clients a closer-to-home option for their devices to be calibrated.
Smart Tweezers Blog has been launched as a collective for all the news about the device, as well as multiple websites offered to customers in new regions (USA, Canada, China, India, etc.). Adapted for these regions, the sites start with a video introduction to the device, as well as user tips.
Development has begun on a new model of the popular device with help from the Institute of Automaton and Electrometry of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk, Russia. Siborg began working with Valentin Litvintsev after meeting at a electronics show.
"During one of many exhibits that we attend every year I met Valentin Litvintsev, an expert in analog circuit design who suggested a new way of creating a test signal for LCR-meter that would require significantly fewer number of components thus reducing the manufacturing cost." says Michael Obrecht, the Director of Siborg Systems.
"I liked the device (Smart Tweezers) from the very first glance. It is a very good product that is useful in many electronic applications. The only disadvantage it has is a relatively high price. I think we can manufacture a similar type of device with a bit lower accuracy but more affordable." says Valentin Litvintsev, Team Lead at the Institute of Automation and Electrometry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk.
The new model will feature a lower manufacturing cost without losing all the features that have become synonymous with Smart Tweezers.
Undeniable and unrivalled, Smart Tweezers are a professional grade tool currently being used by many major high-tech companies worldwide, and the current users of the device agree that Smart Tweezers are indispensable when working with electronics.
For further information please contact:
Dr. Michael S. Obrecht , Director
Siborg Systems Inc.
24 Combermere Crescent
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 5B1 Canada
Tel 519-888-9906
Fax 519-725-9522
E-mail info@siborg.ca
Web www.siborg.com
