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The first DIY Pick n Place video I love enough to share — Parallax Forums

The first DIY Pick n Place video I love enough to share

WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
in General Discussion
Really loved this video. Very good explanation of a DIY PNP machine. I was unaware of the intelligence accomplished with OpenPNP. Been involved with "real" PNP machines since 1991, but definitely not DIY.
A colleague and I are wrapping up a custom Shapeoko CNC build and he just sent me this. So, now it's on our list for the machine as well.....


Jon Oxer and his Pick & Place Machine
From "State of Electronics", filmed at linux.conf.au 2016 (LCA2016) in Geelong Australia.

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    That's pretty cool! For me, the eye-opener was the fact that you don't need to use reel feeders, but simply to adhere cut tape to the platen. That's an enormous simplification for small runs.

    -Phil
  • TtailspinTtailspin Posts: 1,326
    Inspiring, now I would like to build one like it.
    I like the servos, seems simpler somehow, I wonder if a blue one would work even better? No wait, a Yellow one...:)

    -Tommy
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    Very nice indeed! And a good price too!
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    Phil, it is amazing that the concept of fixed tape strips over feeders took so long to be mastered. The pnp machines at work (Juki 2070, Juki 2080, and Juki JX-100) can handle trays of components in the same manner, so you would think someone would have copied that setup years ago.

    Tommy, my issue with the servo setup for z axis is the appearance of over pressure with the placement of parts. On our machines, we control the "z-height" very accurately for several reasons. In the video, it appears that the full nozzle weight is being applied to the part as it is placed into the paste. We control z-height so that the part is positioned at a specific height so that it is nestled gently into the paste. You want a firm enough placement to allow the paste to hold the part in place during conveyance on the line, but not so firm that you are displacing paste so that it causes bridging or other defects.

    I am really amazed at how far OpenPNP has come. When I first looked at it in 2011, I wasn't impressed. Now, I can't believe how many features it has close to our JX-100. It's definitely far from a commercial machine, but from a DIY perspective, it's remarkable. The setups for vibratory tube feeders are identical to those on a Juki.

    I will be at APEX in Vegas next month, would be awesome to see an OpenPNP machine there....
  • hazletthazlett Posts: 35
    Your video is rich in information. I wish I can do that too.
  • pjvpjv Posts: 1,903
    .... fixed tape strips over feeders took so long to be mastered.... has been done for years, but it's rather ineffective for anything but *very* short runs.

    ...... pressure with the placement of parts..... our very old Excellon machines use a pressure sensor to set the Z placement. Interestingly, the Neoden 4 we have just taken delivery of (and still going through the set-up process) uses a very nice arrangement of a stepper motor driving a rocker arm which alternately pushes one, and then the other of two nozzle plungers. It has considerable force, and of course very precise Z displacement. But the real beauty of the 4 nozzle head is the soft spring loaded over-travel on each nozzle. So, the nozzle bodies are brought down by the steppers to a fixed height, while the nozzle tip collapses into the nozzle body as contact is made with the board. Very smooth and light pressure.

    I beleve, however, that for any PnP machine to be considered even close to *real*, it must have vision capability. Our old Excellon have mechanical squaring jaws to align the component after pick-up, but they leave a bit to be desired, and will not reliably center the component without frequent tweaking. Vision gets rid of all that. It just needs to *roughly* pick up, then view the skew optically and adjust the placement coordinates and rotation accordingly. A much better and forgiving arrangement.

    I believe that very soon even most DIY machines will have optical capability..... it is simply a *must*.

    Will get comments out about the Neoden 4 when we've had some time to exercise it, but first impressions are actually quite encouraging.

    Cheers,

    Peter (pjv)
  • Martin HodgeMartin Hodge Posts: 1,246
    In case you didn't already know, there's a long thread on the EEVBlog about the NeoDen 4. It appears to have some problems.
    http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/neoden-4-pick-and-place/
  • T ChapT Chap Posts: 4,223
    I am loving the neoden 3.
  • RS_JimRS_Jim Posts: 1,764
    Finally got to my laptop where I could watch this. Very Cool!Thanks for posting.
    Jim
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