Lapping apparatus and lapping method

Abstract

A lap platen has a lapping surface contacting a surface of a work piece. A lap base has a support surface brought into contact with and supported by the lapping surface. An adapter has a first support part, a second support part and an arm part. The first support part is supported by the lap base. The work piece is attached to the second support part so that a surface of the work piece to be processed contacts the lapping surface. The arm part extends between the first and second support parts. A height adjusting mechanism adjusts a height from the lapping surface to the first support part. An inclination detector is provided to the adapter to detect an inclination of the adapter. The inclination of the adapter relative to the lapping surface is adjusted by adjusting the height of the first support part by the height adjusting mechanism.

1 . A lapping apparatus for lapping a work piece, comprising:
 a lap platen having a lapping surface to be brought into contact with a processing surface of the work piece to be processed;   a lap base having a support surface that is brought into contact with and supported by the lapping surface;   an adapter having a first support part, a second support part and an arm part, the first support part being supported by the lap base, the second support part being attached with said work piece so that said processing surface of said work piece contacts said lapping surface, the arm part extending between the first support part and the second support part;   a height adjusting mechanism that adjusts a height from said lapping surface to said first support part of said adapter; and   an inclination detector provided to said adapter to detect an inclination of said adapter,   wherein the inclination of said adapter relative to said lapping surface is adjusted by adjusting the height of said first support part by said height adjusting mechanism.   
   
   
       2 . The lapping apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said inclination detector includes a pair of inclination sensors arranged at symmetrical positions with respect to a center of a swing action of said work piece. 
   
   
       3 . The lapping apparatus as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein each of said inclination sensors is a magnetoresistive element type inclination sensor. 
   
   
       4 . The lapping apparatus as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein said inclination sensors are provided in a vicinity of a position where said work piece is attached in said second support part. 
   
   
       5 . The lapping apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said work piece is attached to said adapter so that a short side direction of a configuration of the processing surface of said work piece coincides with an extending direction of said arm part of said adapter, and the short side direction of said work piece is adjusted by the height adjustment by said height adjusting mechanism. 
   
   
       6 . The lapping apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said height adjusting mechanism includes a pivot provided in said lap base and a linear actuator provided in said first support part of said adapter, and the linear actuator is in contact with and supported by the pivot. 
   
   
       7 . The lapping apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising a left and light difference correcting mechanism that corrects an inclination of said work piece attached to said second support part in a longitudinal direction of said work piece, wherein the left and right difference correcting mechanism includes a plurality of actuators arranged in a longitudinal direction of said work piece to press said arm part from above so that the left and right difference correcting mechanism corrects the inclination of said work piece in the longitudinal direction by partly pressing a portion where said work piece is attached. 
   
   
       8 . The lapping apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a holder to which said work piece is fixed so that said work piece is brought into contact with said lapping surface by the holder being attached to said second support part in a state where said work piece is supported by said second support part; and   a bend correcting mechanism that corrects a bend of said work piece in a longitudinal direction by partly pressing said holder along the direction of said surface of said work piece to be processed   
   
   
       9 . A lapping method for lapping a work piece, comprising:
 attaching said work piece to a second support part of an adapter so that a processing surface of said work piece to be processed contacts a lapping surface of a lap platen;   adjusting an inclination of said processing surface of said work piece by adjusting a height of a first support part of said adapter supported on a lap base slidable on said lapping surface; and   detecting an inclination of said adapter during a lapping process and adjusting the inclination of said surface to be processed during the lapping process based on a result of detection of the inclination.   
   
   
       10 . The lapping method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the inclination of said surface to be processed is adjusted during the lapping process by adjusting the height of said first support part based on the result of detection of the inclination of said adapter. 
   
   
       11 . The lapping method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the inclination of said adapter is detected at said second support part of said adapter. 
   
   
       12 . The lapping method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein a lapping is performed while swinging said work piece by swinging said adapter, and an inclination is detected at two points symmetrical with respect to a center of the swing at second support part so as to acquire the inclination of said adapter based on the inclination at the two points. 
   
   
       13 . The lapping method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the inclination of said adapter is acquired by averaging a sum of detected values of the inclination at said two points. 
   
   
       14 . The lapping method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein a height of said first support part is adjusted by a height corresponding to an inclination angle of said adapter equal to or smaller than 0.001 degree. 
   
   
       15 . The lapping method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein a bend of said processing surface in a longitudinal direction is corrected and an inclination of said processing surface is corrected after correcting the inclination of said processing surface of said work piece during a lapping process. 
   
   
       16 . A lapping method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein a lapping load is temporarily reduced when correcting the inclination of said processing surface. 
   
   
       17 . A lapping method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein a rotation speed of said lap platen is temporarily reduced or the rotation of said lap platen is temporarily stopped when correcting the inclination of said processing surface. 
   
   
       18 . A processing method of a magnetic head, comprising lapping the magnetic head having a read element and a write element according to a lapping method, the lapping method comprising:
 attaching a work piece to a second support part of an adapter so that a processing surface of said work piece to be processed is brought into contact with a lapping surface of a lap platen;   adjusting an inclination of said processing surface of said work piece by adjusting a height of a first support part of said adapter supported on a lap base slidable on said lapping surface; and   detecting an inclination of said adapter during a lapping process and adjusting the inclination of said processing surface during the lapping process based on a result of detection of the inclination.