After a major delay, I got back into this machine. I have been pulled in every direction while this thing sat around. As my new PCB designs are proving to be going toward production, I needed to get this thing going.
On August 3, it placed it's first part. Super excited bout that. One 0805 resistor on an old PCB I found in a scrap box was somehow totally awesome. I have spent about 100 hours and an additional $3k getting it going. 25hrs was cleaning, repair, and other little maintenance tasks. 75hrs was spent trying to figure out the software madness that controls this sucker. When I say 'Software Madness', I am being kind and gentle. The software was designed by a coder in my opinion - not a software designer. That means that it eventually gets the job done but in an unbelievably strange and non-intuitive way. There is no clear work-flow to follow, buttons and functions are scattered all over. It's nuts. The good news is that it is like a maze - once you find a path through it, it is easy to repeat.
First things first - you need a library of parts just like EDA software. The machine needs to know all the geometric data, values, part numbers, etc. This seems simple enough, but it took many hours to get a sense of how this is actually input and organized in the PPM machine software. Defining parts like QFN is silly. I could go on and on about the crusty software, but in the end I figured it out and it works. I wrote some software and a ULP (script) in Eagle to automatically output the data in a way that it goes directly into the machine nearly ready start placing. It was not easy, but the result is that I can program a PCB in minutes. That should be good. The setup process getting the library going is a big, but ONE time effort. I created about 150 different parts that cover all of my current designs. New parts will be added here and there, but never again 150 in a single shot.
Now that I managed to get the software figured out enough to make a PCB, I will go back to the physical issues like holding small and odd shaped PCBs, custom tube feeders, and custom cut tape feeders. I ordered a dedicated vacuum pump instead of using the compressed air venturi which is loud and wasteful. The monitor and keyboard installation was re-done since the previous owner made a mess out of it. There is a UPS being installed for the whole machine to condition and back-up the machine. Our power is generally good but if power failed during a cycle it could be damaged. Hoping to prevent any power problems from damaging old and hard to find/repair parts. PPM keeps just about everything, but it all costs WAY more than a UPS so what the heck. The PC, as mentioned earlier, has been converted to SSD disk for reliability as well. All the tape feeders have been serviced. Should be ready to roll for real.
So far, I would say that this project is good for what I am doing, but is not for the faint of heart or wallet. All in it will be around $8k plus tons of sleuthing and learning a bizarre system. There is some comfort that PPM has parts and service, the cost of that is really out of the range of this machine. If I did all the refurb work and training with them, it would not be worth it. I would have chosen a different path. I would easily have over $20k into it by now. The DIY effort has saved around $12k, I am ok with that - around $120/hr. It was an experiment from the beginning.
Looking forward, I have a PnP that can place 0201's, BGAs, or whatever with decent speed (rated 3600cph) and great accuracy/precision (.0005"). It is built VERY well, super rigid at around 1000lbs. I can do mixed cut tapes to 56mm with by custom CNC'd JEDEC tray, 50+ tape feeders at once, any size or shape PCB, double sided as well. It can hold enough parts to do 3 different PCB's at once which will save a ton of time in change-over. The goal from the beginning was to do small volumes of a variety of PCB's. My current project has 3 PCB's with a total BOM cost of about $275 or so. To build 100pcs at a time with a local CM would be $27,500 for the parts and maybe $10,000 for assembly (double sided, fine pitch parts, 400 parts, 3 pcbs). Now I can make them as I need them and have total oversight and control not to mention MUCH better cash-flow. I still have to put my own time into it, but I would also have to put a lot of time into getting a CM up and running - kits, organization, inspection, etc, etc.
First part placed.....no fiucials were used so the part is slightly shifted. With the fiducials setup, it really nails it. Even the .4mm QFN's are placed spot on with only the on the fly alignment scanner - Quad Align. Super critical parts like BGA use the upward camera.
For those looking to start a business in electronics, I hope this is helpful. I feel like this machine (as difficult as it has been) will transform my business the same way CNC mills transformed my mechanical design business. Buying a current tech new machine is far more expensive and the hobby machines are not up to the needs of a profitable business.
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