I bought a Neoden4, my experiences.

[luiHS]

.

A few days ago I received my Neoden4, with internal rails, working table, 25 x 8 mm feeder, 2 x 12 mm,  3 x 16 mm,  1 x 24mm, 11 x standard nozzles and 4 x custom nozzles (to place  aluminum capacitors).

Today I started to assemble the working table.

[ascarrul]

Tip: Buy some sand bags from the hardware store and put them inside the hollow portion of the working table. This will provide much needed stability to the machine.

[luiHS]

Today I installed the machine, hard to remove it from the wooden box, but finally it is ready on the working table. Now it's time to install the motorized rails, the vibration feeder, connect keyboard / mouse / monitor and start working with the software.

[time-control]

Can you make pictures of custom nozzles?
Where are the trays for the single components?
Where did you order the parts, what did it cost?

[luiHS]

Can you make pictures of custom nozzles?
Where are the trays for the single components?
Where did you order the parts, what did it cost?

I do not have receive yet the custom nozzles, the supplier forgot. He say need 5 days to do it, then they send to me by courier. The customized nozzles are shorter, to be able to pick up high components, such as aluminum capacitors.

There are two custom IC Tray for my components, TQFP100/144, power inductors, Aluminum capacitors, SD sockets, XL4015 switched regulators. Picture attached.

Order to Neoden (China), 8K Eur (internal rails, working table, 25 x 8 mm feeder, 2 x 12 mm,  3 x 16 mm,  1 x 24mm, 23 x standard nozzles, 4 x custom nozzles to place  aluminum capacitors, 2 x custom IC tray, freight cost to Spain by TNT).
).

[luiHS]

I see you have also a Neoden4, may be we can share experiences and problems.

This is what I have created to apply solder paste, it is an acrylic with four 4 mm metal bolts, they are in the base, the PCB and the stencil, so I do not waste time aligning the PCB with the stencil to apply the solder paste.

Years ago I bought a Stencil printer, a pretty big and heavy tool, and at the end for convenience I no longer use it, it was faster to put the PCB on the table, the sntecil at the top and align it with the magnifying glass.

Now with this "invention", I do it very quickly, everything is perfectly aligned to apply the solder paste in a very short time.



In this picture, a pair of 5mm thick methacrylate pieces, each for a different PCB, both with four 4mm holes, to insert cylindrical metal bolts. They enter well giving them with the hammer taps, and they are very firm.







One of the pins inserted in the holes of the methacrylate. These are bolts that are sold as metal spacers, in this case 4mm in diameter, 12mm long.





Now we insert the PCB, on the 4 metallic bolts that we placed previously. Everything enters as very tight, we can help with a few hammer taps, or try to throw some lubricant in the bolts, or make the holes a little larger, say 4.1mm instead of 4mm, although against tighter fit, the alignment will be more perfect.









Insert the stencil, which also has the same four 4mm holes, and fit perfectly over the bolts, just like with the PCB, very tight, you have to help yourself with some small hammer gobs.







Final step, put weight on the stencil so that it is firmly stuck to the PCB, essential so that the solder paste does not expand under the stencil, especially if we give more than one pass to extend the solder paste. I bought some time ago these four weights of 2 kg each that can be seen in the photo, which I put on the ends and they are perfect.








The alignment is PERFECT and instantaneous, this is important when we have very fine pitch chips, such as TQFQ100 or 144, because there small misalignments do not drop the solder paste where it should and then can produce shorts between pins or pins that do not solder.

[iabarry]

How do you get the 4mm holes in the PCB and stencil?  This must be very accurate.  You must be having the PCB fab shop place the holes in the PCB and similarly the stencil shop.  I do panels of 3-6 PCB at a time.

[Stavos122]

>>Tip: Buy some sand bags from the hardware store and put them inside the hollow portion of the working table. This will provide much needed stability to the machine.

Clever.  I was thinking of a way to get some stability.   

[luiHS]

How do you get the 4mm holes in the PCB and stencil?  This must be very accurate.  You must be having the PCB fab shop place the holes in the PCB and similarly the stencil shop.  I do panels of 3-6 PCB at a time.

On the PCB, simply place the holes and on the stencil, replace the holes with a custom round test pad (image attached). If the holes are identical in diameter to the bolts, it is a bit hard to insert everything, so better to do the holes 4.1 mm (for 4mm bolts), so everything fits perfectly.

I do all my PCBs and stencil in JLCPCB, with very good quality and precision.

I already have this system, in three of my big PCB, and it works perfectly, now I apply solder paste to my PCB very fast, I do not waste time lining up PCB and stencil. Also, if I need to make several boards, the same board several times, I do not need to clean the stencil between boards, and it saves more time still.

[luiHS]

>>Tip: Buy some sand bags from the hardware store and put them inside the hollow portion of the working table. This will provide much needed stability to the machine.

Clever.  I was thinking of a way to get some stability.   

With the total weight of machine and working table, seem its enough, all works very well.

[Seph.b]

luiHS, I bookmarked your post for the next time I make stencil.

I am waiting on a tub of paste before I can use my first one. In the mean time I have been thinking about how to CNC a jig to align the board into the frame of the stencil. I your approach removes the need to mess with that.

[luiHS]

 
About Neoden, at this time, good after-sales service.

They already sent me the 4 custom nozzles for high components (aluminum capacitors), and also a custom metal plate (for free), to allow to place narrow and personalized IC trays to be able to place my wide PCBs using the motorized rails.

I ordered my machine with 15 nozzles (11 standard + 4 customized), but they sent me 27 nozzles.

The only thing I do not like about Neoden4 is that the video output is VGA and the operating system is Windows XP. Since I want to control everything from my PC computer, I bought a VGA to HDMI converter, a 5m HDMI cable and a 5m USB extension cable, to share monitor, mouse and keyboard.

[SMT-Ellie]

Hello Luis,

Thanks for sharing your buy experience on blog. And thanks again for your trust.
If you need any help, pls send me email and contact with me on Skype.

BR
Ellie Wang

[flasonsmts]

I know this Neoden4 , at last time shenzhen exhibtion at April, their booth is near our booth, they offer a full solution for small output SMT assembly line solutions and now it seemed got a good effect and customer are satisfied with their machines.