a tape feeder for precisely advancing a component - carrying tape to present sequential electronic components disposed at a pitch in the tape to a pick - and - place machine . a feed sprocket and an encoder disc are operatively associated with each other and rotatably disposed on a common axis within a housing . a motor is operatively connected to the feed sprocket to repetitively rotate the feed sprocket over an angle corresponding to the pitch of the component - carrying tape . an encoder is disposed to read the encoder disk and provide a feedback signal indicating the angular position of the feed sprocket .