[hackerspaces] pick and place..?

[Bob Baddeley]

I've looked into it for our space (Sector67, Madison, WI). Our original 
plan was to make our own, using LinuxCNC and a modified CNC. There are 
some open source/hardware projects (openpnp) trying to come up with 
designs, but the project is still in its early stages.

There are some really challenging problems with making your own, though. 
Problems like alignment, reel advancing, even pulling the tape off the reel.

Next, it's only good for SMT components, which involves a lot of other 
tools for the rest of the process. If you're going to have a pick and 
place, then you'll need a way to make PCB stencils (laser cutter), and 
you'll need either a hot plate or a modified toaster oven or a real 
reflow oven. It can all be done, it's just so much work. The reality is 
that unless you're doing a pretty decent quantity of boards, it's not 
going to be used very much, and if your runs are large enough, it's 
probably better to outsource it.

So yes, it's on our wish list, but it's not that high on the list.

Bob Baddeley

On 06/24/2013 12:32 PM, Kan . wrote:
> echoing this to here for some opinions..
>
> Hello All,
>
> Was wondering if you could help me out?
>
> 1. Does anyone else in Canada <or not canada> have a Pick n' Place at 
> their space?
> 2. Is a Pick n' Place on the wish list of your Hacker/Makerspace?
>
> We're looking at making some decisions about the Pick n' Place machine 
> at Protospace, I would like our decision to be an informed one.
>
> 3. any other comments on pick and place machines in spaces like usage 
> vs floor space/etc?
>
>
>
>
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