JP2003016754A - Gimbals for magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gimbals for a magnetic head of which both the impact resistance property and the follow-up ability are enhanced in a good balance at a low cost. SOLUTION: The head attaching section 22 to which a magnetic head 21 is attached and an arm attaching section 23 to be attached to a magnetic head carriage 10 are joined via a first gimbals joining section 24. The first gimbals joining section 24 is formed less thick than other sections (the head attaching section 22 or the arm attaching section 23).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic head gimbal for mounting a magnetic head for recording / reproducing on / from a magnetic disk to a magnetic head carriage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic head is mounted on a magnetic disk device for recording / reproducing on / from a magnetic disk such as a floppy disk (flexible disk). In the magnetic disk device, a magnetic head is supported by a magnetic head carriage via a gimbal, and the magnetic head carriage is driven in the radial direction of the magnetic disk and the magnetic disk is rotationally driven, so that the magnetic head can be recorded and reproduced. Can be accessed at any position on the magnetic disk.

Here, the gimbal provided in the conventional magnetic disk device is, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a head mounting portion 101 to which a magnetic head 100 is mounted and an arm mounting portion 10 to be mounted on a magnetic head carriage.
2 and 2 are joined via a pair of gimbal joints 103. These head mounting portion 101 and arm mounting portion 10
2 and the gimbal joint 103 are formed by, for example, etching or pressing a plate material formed of a metal material.

In the conventional gimbal, since the portion where the gimbal joint 103 is formed has appropriate flexibility, the magnetic head 100 can be appropriately rotated about the gimbal joint 103 as a rotation axis. Can be
It has a function of improving the follow-up characteristic of the magnetic head 100 with respect to the magnetic disk.

[0005]

By the way, in recent years, a magnetic disk device equipped with a gimbal as described above has been
The size and weight have been remarkably reduced, and there are increasing opportunities to be used for so-called mobile applications, for example, for carrying along with notebook computers. Therefore, there is an increased risk of receiving a large physical shock from the outside, for example, by accidentally dropping it.

When the gimbal is deformed when an external impact is applied in this way, the magnetic head 10
0 cannot run stably on the magnetic disk, which may make normal recording / reproducing operation difficult. Therefore, the gimbal needs to have a predetermined rigidity in order to ensure impact resistance. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of enhancing the followability of the magnetic head 100 to the magnetic disk and performing stable recording / reproducing, it is desirable that the gimbal joint 103 has high flexibility, and the plate thickness is thin. It is desirable to do.

The gimbal needs to satisfy such contradictory requirements, but in reality, it is difficult to improve both the impact resistance characteristic and the magnetic head following characteristic, so that the gimbal is used within the allowable range of both. It is the current situation. Specifically, it is desirable that the gimbal plate thickness is about 0.10 mm or more when the impact resistance property is important, and the plate thickness is about 0.05 mm when the magnetic head following property is important. Is desirable.

However, in the conventional gimbal, the head mounting portion 101, the arm mounting portion 102, and the gimbal joint portion 103 are integrally formed by processing a single plate material and have the same thickness. There was a problem that Further, a metal plate thinner than a metal plate having a thickness of about 0.05 mm to 0.2 mm, which is used in a conventional gimbal, is extremely expensive because it is difficult to roll with high precision. There's a problem.

Further, as described above, the head mounting portion 10
In order to cope with different desirable mechanical characteristics between the arm mount portion 102 and the arm attachment portion 102 and the gimbal joint portion 103, if they are not integrally formed as in the conventional structure but are formed by combining different members, the assembly is easy. Since the required man-hours increase, there arises a problem that the manufacturing cost rises.

Therefore, the present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and it is possible to improve both the impact resistance characteristics and the follow-up characteristics of the magnetic head in a well-balanced manner and to realize them at low cost. An object is to provide a possible gimbal for a magnetic head.

[0011]

A gimbal for a magnetic head according to the present invention includes a head mounting portion to which a magnetic head for recording and reproducing is mounted on a magnetic disk, and a diameter of the magnetic disk supporting the magnetic head. In a gimbal for a magnetic head, wherein an arm attachment portion attached to a magnetic head carriage that is movable in a direction is integrally joined via a gimbal joint portion, wherein the gimbal joint portion includes the head attachment portion and the arm attachment portion. It is characterized in that it is formed thinner than the portion.

In the gimbal for a magnetic head according to the present invention having the above-described structure, the head mounting portion, the arm mounting portion, and the gimbal joint portion are integrally formed, and the gimbal joint portion is thinly formed. Therefore, it is possible to provide impact resistance characteristics sufficient to prevent deformation due to impact from the outside, and improve elasticity at the gimbal joint to improve the follow-up characteristics of the magnetic head.

Further, in the gimbal for a magnetic head according to the present invention, the gimbal joint portion is formed to be thinner than the head attachment portion and the arm attachment portion by performing etching or pressing. Is desirable. Thus, it is easy and low-cost to process only a portion of the metal plate integrally formed with the head attachment portion, the arm attachment portion, and the gimbal joint portion to have the gimbal joint portion to have a desired thinness. Can be achieved with.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The gimbal for a magnetic head according to the present invention is mainly used by being mounted in a magnetic disk device, and is used for attaching a magnetic head for recording / reproducing to / from a magnetic disk to a magnetic head carriage that supports the magnetic head. Therefore, in the following, first, the overall configuration of the magnetic head carriage will be described.

Further, the case where the present invention is applied to a magnetic disk device for recording / reproducing on / from a floppy disk (flexible disk) will be described below, but the present invention is not limited to this case. It goes without saying that the present invention can be widely applied to a gimbal for a magnetic head used by being mounted on various magnetic disk devices such as a hard disk device, for example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the magnetic head carriage 10 includes a lower carriage 13 to which a lower magnetic head 11 for recording / reproducing is mounted on a lower surface side of a magnetic disk via a lower gimbal 12 and a lower carriage 13. An upper carriage 1 in which an upper magnetic head 14 for recording / reproducing on / from the upper surface side of a disk is attached via an upper gimbal 15.
6, and the lower carriage 13 and the upper carriage 16 are connected at the ends opposite to the ends to which the lower magnetic head 11 and the upper magnetic head 14 are attached, respectively.

Further, the magnetic head carriage 10 has a lower magnetic head 11 when mounted on a magnetic disk device.
The magnetic disk is sandwiched between the upper magnetic head 14 and the upper magnetic head 14, and is movable in the arrow direction in FIG. The magnetic disk device drives the magnetic head carriage 10 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 while rotating the magnetic disk by a spindle motor during recording and reproduction, thereby moving the lower magnetic head 11 and the upper magnetic head 14 onto the magnetic disk. A so-called seek operation can be performed by accessing an arbitrary position.

Next, a gimbal for a magnetic head to which the present invention is applied will be described. The present invention may be applied to only one of the lower gimbal 11 and the upper gimbal 14 described above, or may be applied to both of them. Therefore, in the following description, the lower gimbal 11 and the upper gimbal 14 are collectively referred to simply as the gimbal 20.

As shown in FIG. 2, the gimbal 20 includes a magnetic head 21 (a lower magnetic head 11 or an upper magnetic head 1).
Equivalent to 4. ) Is attached to the head mounting portion 22
And an arm attachment portion 23 attached to the lower carriage 13 or the upper carriage 16 of the magnetic head carriage 10 are joined via a pair of first gimbal joint portions 24.

These head mounting portion 22 and arm mounting portion 2
3 and the first gimbal joint portion 24 are integrally formed by a thin metal plate. And gimbal 20
Has appropriate flexibility at the portion where the first gimbal joint portion 24 is formed, so that the magnetic head 21 can be appropriately rotated about the first gimbal joint portion 13 as a rotation axis. Is possible.

As shown in FIG. 2, the head mounting portion 22 includes an outer frame portion 30 and an inner frame portion 31 to which the magnetic head 21 is mounted. The outer frame portion 30 and the inner frame portion 31 are A pair of gimbal joints 2
It is configured to be joined by a pair of second gimbal joint portions 32 formed at positions orthogonal to the formation position of No. 4. As a result, the gimbal 20 moves to the second
The magnetic head 21 can be appropriately rotated about the gimbal joint 32 as a rotation axis.

That is, the gimbal 20 supports the magnetic head 21 rotatably in two directions with both the first gimbal joint portion 24 and the second gimbal joint portion 32 as rotation axes, whereby the magnetic head is supported. The trackability of the magnetic disk 21 is secured.

As shown in FIG. 3, the gimbal 20 is located at a first gimbal joint portion 24 and a second gimbal joint portion 32 (hereinafter, both are collectively referred to simply as a gimbal joint portion). The concave portion is formed, and the thickness is formed thinner than the portion where the head mounting portion 22 (the outer frame portion 30 and the inner frame portion 31) and the arm mounting portion 23 are formed. Note that FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view in the vicinity of the surrounding portion A shown in FIG.

Since the gimbal 20 is formed with a thin gimbal joint, the elasticity at this portion can be improved, the magnetic head 21 can be supported more flexibly, and the follow-up characteristic to the magnetic disk can be improved. Can be made. Further, since the gimbal 20 is formed so that each of the other parts is thicker than the gimbal joint part, sufficient rigidity is ensured as a whole so as to have sufficient impact resistance.

Therefore, the gimbal 2 having such a structure
The magnetic disk device in which 0 is mounted can reduce the possibility that the gimbal 20 will be deformed even when a shock such as a drop is applied, and sufficiently improve the tracking characteristic of the magnetic head. You can

When forming a recess as shown in FIG. 3 in the gimbal joint to reduce the thickness, for example, etching processing using a half etching technique or the like,
Alternatively, it can be realized at low cost and with high accuracy by press working or the like. Further, the etching process and the pressing process are suitable for mass production.

The gimbal 20 can freely and easily set the balance between the follow-up characteristic and the impact resistance characteristic of the magnetic head 21 by appropriately setting the depth of the concave portion formed in the gimbal joint portion. . When forming the recess in the gimbal joint at a desired depth,
For example, the etching time and the pressure during pressing may be adjusted.

The gimbal 20 has a head mounting portion 2
2, the arm mounting portion 23, and each part of the gimbal joint portion are integrally formed by a thin metal plate, and the concave portion is formed in the gimbal joint portion. Is unnecessary, for example, it is a low-cost standard product that is commercially available,
A metal plate having a plate thickness of 1.0 mm or 2.0 mm can be used.

Specifically, for example, a metal plate having a plate thickness of 0.15 mm is used to form a slit part for separating each part of the gimbal 20 by press punching,
After this, the plate thickness is 0.
The gimbal 20 can be manufactured by forming a recess by half etching so as to have a thickness of 05 mm. By the way, the metal plate with a thickness of 0.05 mm is
The cost is about 3 to 4 times higher than that of a standard metal plate having a plate thickness of 1.0 mm or 2.0 mm.

Therefore, by applying the present invention, it is possible to realize a highly reliable magnetic disk device in which both impact resistance characteristics and magnetic head follow-up characteristics are improved in a well-balanced manner at a cost equivalent to that of a conventional gimbal. be able to.

In the above description, it is assumed that the concave portions are formed at the positions of both the first gimbal joint portion 24 and the second gimbal joint portion 32 to reduce the thickness. The configuration is not limited to this, and for example, only one of the first gimbal joint portion 24 and the second gimbal joint portion 32 may be thinned. Further, the thickness of each gimbal joint may be constant, or may be different between the first gimbal joint 24 and the second gimbal joint 32, for example.

[0032]

The gimbal for the magnetic head according to the present invention is
The head mounting part, the arm mounting part, and the gimbal joint are integrally formed, and the gimbal joint has a thin thickness, so the impact resistance is sufficient to prevent deformation due to external impact. It is possible to improve the following characteristics of the magnetic head by improving the flexibility of the gimbal joint portion. Further, since the head mounting portion, the arm mounting portion, and the gimbal joint portion can be integrally formed from a metal plate having a predetermined thickness, they can be manufactured at low cost.

Therefore, by using the gimbal for a magnetic head according to the present invention, it is possible to realize at low cost a highly reliable magnetic disk device in which both the shock resistance and the followability of the magnetic head are improved in a well-balanced manner. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of a magnetic head carriage to which a gimbal according to the present invention is attached.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration example of the gimbal.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of an essential part showing a recess formed in a gimbal joint portion of the gimbal.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration of a conventional gimbal.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Magnetic head carriage 11 Lower magnetic head 12 Lower gimbal 13 Lower carriage 14 Upper magnetic head 15 Upper gimbal 16 Upper carriage 20 gimbal 21 magnetic head 22 Head mounting part 23 Arm mount 24 First Gimbal Joint 30 outer frame 31 Inner frame 32 Second Gimbal Joint

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A head mounting portion for mounting a magnetic head for recording / reproducing on / from a magnetic disk, and an arm mounting for mounting on a magnetic head carriage which supports the magnetic head and is movable in a radial direction of the magnetic disk. And a gimbal joint part that are integrally joined via a gimbal joint part, wherein the gimbal joint part is formed thinner than the head mounting part and the arm mounting part. Gimbal for magnetic head. 2. The gimbal joint portion is formed to be thinner than the head attachment portion and the arm attachment portion by performing etching or pressing. The gimbal for a magnetic head according to 1.