Importance

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Abstract

A disk drive system includes a base, a disk stack rotatably attached to the base, and an actuator assembly movably attached to the base. A ramp assembly includes a set of ramps for loading and unloading the transducing elements to and from the disks in the disk stack. The ramp assembly is attached to the base. The ramp assembly has a series of fixed ramps which are either formed as one integral unit or formed of separate portions. The actuator assembly includes a set of arms. Attached to each arm is a suspension. Attached near the free end of each of the suspensions is a transducer. Also attached to the suspension is a load tang. The load tang rides over the surface of the ramp when the transducers are loaded to or unloaded from a disk surface. The load tang includes a plastically deformable portion which may be irreversibly deformed during assembly of the drive and more particularly, deformed when all of the heads are unloaded from the disk to the ramp assembly for the first time. The deformable portion would allow for z-height adjustment and attitude adjustment of the arm necessary to adjust for stack up tolerances of the various components of the disk drive. The load tang could be finely adjusted and properly mated with the ramp as installed in the disk drive. The deformable region of the load tang could be a formed feature in the body of the tang, or a plastically deformable material within the body of the load tang. Still another embodiment includes a thermoset polymer to be attached along a portion of the load tang. After plastic deformation and adjustment to allow the actuator arm to properly mate with the ramp structure, the thermoset polymer can be heated to allowed to cool while engaged to permanently set the adjustment between the load tangs and the ramps of the ramp assembly.

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First Claim