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Christmas Comes Early
by Emcee Grady |
December 07, 2009 |
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We're having an IRC chat tonight, Wednesday the 9th! Got an idea or question? Join us at 4PM MST and chat with Nate and the rest of the SparkFun gang.
SparkFun must have managed to stay off Santa's "naughty list" because Christmas came early this year.
This past week, SparkFun production got a serious upgrade with a new pick and place machine - the Manncorp MC384. It can place up to 4000 parts per hour and has a special vision system that allows for non-contact, on-the-fly alignment of SMD components before placing them onto the PCB. It cost us just a little over $52k, but it's going to make our production process even smoother.
We have to give a shout-out to MannCorp for their great service in getting this thing. We made our order the first week of November and had the machine by December 4th - a four week turn-around time, which in industrial equipment is pretty darn good. Kudos, MannCorp!
In the spirit of the holiday season, I offer the SparkFun Pick-n-Place poem. {ahem}
SparkFun must have managed to stay off Santa's "naughty list" because Christmas came early this year.
This past week, SparkFun production got a serious upgrade with a new pick and place machine - the Manncorp MC384. It can place up to 4000 parts per hour and has a special vision system that allows for non-contact, on-the-fly alignment of SMD components before placing them onto the PCB. It cost us just a little over $52k, but it's going to make our production process even smoother.
We have to give a shout-out to MannCorp for their great service in getting this thing. We made our order the first week of November and had the machine by December 4th - a four week turn-around time, which in industrial equipment is pretty darn good. Kudos, MannCorp!
In the spirit of the holiday season, I offer the SparkFun Pick-n-Place poem. {ahem}
T'was three weeks before Christmas
and all through SparkFun,
Not a soldering iron sizzled, nor a hot air gun.
Our multimeters were hung by our labcoats with care
in hopes our new pick-and-place would soon be here.
SparkFunners were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Arduinos danced in their heads.
Nate was in his office, working late hours,
Matt was in too, building PCB towers.
When out in the lot there arose such a clatter,
They sprang from their desks to see what was the matter.
Away to the window they flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash
The moon shined down on the fresh Boulder snow,
gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to their wondering eyes should appear,
but a MannCorp truck - the pick and place was here!
With a friendly driver, so lively and quick,
They knew in a moment it wasn't a trick!
He hauled the pick and place in its big wooden crate,
they both exclaimed quickly, "This will be great!"
"Now, uLog!, now, WiTilt! now, Nordic! now, XBee!
On, Breakouts! on, Sensors! on, Classes! on, Tracking!"
The driver sprang to his truck, and gave a quick whistle,
And away he flew like the down of a thistle.
But we heard him exclaim, with a smile on his face,
"Merry Christmas to all, enjoy your pick and place!"
and all through SparkFun,
Not a soldering iron sizzled, nor a hot air gun.
Our multimeters were hung by our labcoats with care
in hopes our new pick-and-place would soon be here.
SparkFunners were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Arduinos danced in their heads.
Nate was in his office, working late hours,
Matt was in too, building PCB towers.
When out in the lot there arose such a clatter,
They sprang from their desks to see what was the matter.
Away to the window they flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash
The moon shined down on the fresh Boulder snow,
gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to their wondering eyes should appear,
but a MannCorp truck - the pick and place was here!
With a friendly driver, so lively and quick,
They knew in a moment it wasn't a trick!
He hauled the pick and place in its big wooden crate,
they both exclaimed quickly, "This will be great!"
"Now, uLog!, now, WiTilt! now, Nordic! now, XBee!
On, Breakouts! on, Sensors! on, Classes! on, Tracking!"
The driver sprang to his truck, and gave a quick whistle,
And away he flew like the down of a thistle.
But we heard him exclaim, with a smile on his face,
"Merry Christmas to all, enjoy your pick and place!"
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Greeting from Holland, And marry Christmas
Live video feed of this would be amazing! Please let us see at least a days worth of action!!! THANKS!!!!!!!!!
Also requesting videos!
Ha ha! Rojas, are you hearing this? ;)
They added a $200 prize to a contest about freeday.
Also, if you would like, I can remove the old one from your premises free of charge ;)
Ok, so we really just wanted to play in the box it came in :)
And no you can't have the old one. We're still using it!
Mowcius
[m]
two days, or even more warning MIGHT make it possible for me to schedule an early end of day to correspond with 4pm MST
https://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9255
So plan on it January 13th!
On the fly vision? HA! You're better off placing by hand...
Sorry. Long day/year fighting with mine. A little bitter I left my multi-million dollar Panasonic PNP for more money.
What component package types give you the most trouble? We may have a trick or two figured out that we can share with you.
Also, Manncorp is all we've ever known. What features do other manufacturer's PNP machines offer that set them apart from Manncorp's and how much more should one expect to pay for those features?
This uses a laser alignment component tracking which gives EXCELLENT placement without the need to move the component over the up facing camera (hence fast). It can place 0.65mm PSOPs without any trouble and can do 0402 with a modified nozzle.
I have some very dense boards which it manages with no problem.
It took a while for me to reverse engineer the file format since the base software is not very user friendly, but once I got past that it was plain sailing.
The big issue I have at the moment though is getting my re-flow profile correct. It would be really useful to see a guide on re-flow issues and debug :) :) :)
My discrete components re-flow great, but the larger PSOPs don't seem to be flowing well (look like dry joints).
It is a joy to watch running though :) a LOT quicker than my hand placement !!!