Optical disc drive apparatus, flexible printed circuit board joint structure, and joint structure of flexible printed circuit boards for optical pickup

An optical disc drive apparatus comprising:

• an optical pickup device main body on which a semiconductor chip component is mounted;
• an optical pickup case on which the optical pickup device main body is mounted and which is moved horizontally linearly in a reciprocative manner between inner and outer circumferential sides of an optical disc;
• and
• a first flexible printed circuit board manufactured by being divided from a second flexible printed circuit board and fixed to an upper surface of the optical pickup device main body, the first flexible printed circuit board being formed of a base film, a cover film and a wiring conductor sandwiched between the base film and the cover film, the second flexible printed circuit board being formed of a base film, a cover film and a wiring conductor sandwiched between the base film and the cover film and inserted into a drive side connector;
• wherein the wiring conductor located at a first joining end of the first flexible printed circuit board and the wiring conductor of the second flexible printed circuit board located at a second joining end are overlapped each other for positioning at a position near an end of an upper surface of the optical pickup case and bonded together using a bonding material to form a joint;
• and
• wherein the joint is configured such that an end face of the base film at the joining end of the first flexible printed circuit boards extends outward from an end face of the associated wiring conductor and an end-face of the base film at the joining end of the second flexible printed circuit boards extends outward from an end face of the associated wiring conductor.