EEVblog Electronics Community Forum

EEVblog => EEVblog Specific => Topic started by: firewalker on April 03, 2012, 12:34:08 pm

Title: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: firewalker on April 03, 2012, 12:34:08 pm
EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHNpayYhBvM#ws)

What??? No Take it Apart for the PnP machine?  ;D ;D ;D

Alexander.
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: Spawn on April 03, 2012, 03:54:55 pm
I wonder more about the price firewalker :P

Was checking here:  http://www.eevblog.com/projects/ucurrent/ (http://www.eevblog.com/projects/ucurrent/)
And here:  http://eevblog.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=3 (http://eevblog.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=3)

But there is nothing to see in the shop ???
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: G7PSK on April 03, 2012, 05:38:38 pm
Looks like some one is using serif software for their web site?
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: gxti on April 03, 2012, 05:43:16 pm
Is there a reason that the uCurrent design doesn't have ground fills on both sides? I tend to put ground fills on everything, but I've never made a PCB that big let alone dozens of panels full of them. I could see there being cost reasons (board fab has to charge more for the copper), or assembly reasons (harder to solder even with reflow) but I'm just speculating.
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: mikeselectricstuff on April 03, 2012, 06:09:21 pm
Is there a reason that the uCurrent design doesn't have ground fills on both sides? I tend to put ground fills on everything, but I've never made a PCB that big let alone dozens of panels full of them. I could see there being cost reasons (board fab has to charge more for the copper),
Actually it's the opposite - the cost is in etching it off, so more copper = (very slightly) cheaper, however increasing copper prices may at some point compensate if it gets recovered from solution
Quote
or assembly reasons (harder to solder even with reflow) but I'm just speculating.
Doesn't really affect reflow as the whole board is raised to the required temp so thermal conductivity isn't an issue  - thermal mass of the copper isn't all that high compared to the thick substrate. 
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: Blue on April 03, 2012, 10:16:19 pm
I like it.

1 day of setup and a run time of 1h for 200 boards.
Jeez Dave, show us the economics please. Sounds too good to be true economically.

Cheers,

Blue
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: EEVblog on April 03, 2012, 10:52:58 pm
I wonder more about the price firewalker :P

Was checking here:  http://www.eevblog.com/projects/ucurrent/ (http://www.eevblog.com/projects/ucurrent/)
And here:  http://eevblog.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=3 (http://eevblog.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=3)

But there is nothing to see in the shop ???

Yeah, sorry, the shop is down.
I'll be selling these ones through ebay as a trial of their automated linking with Australia post, the shop link with redirect to my ebay store.

Dave.
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: ejeffrey on April 03, 2012, 10:58:57 pm
Actually it's the opposite - the cost is in etching it off, so more copper = (very slightly) cheaper, however increasing copper prices may at some point compensate if it gets recovered from solution

Aren't most commercial boards now made with an additive copper process where they only plate copper where you need it?
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: baljemmett on April 03, 2012, 11:09:20 pm
Yeah, sorry, the shop is down.
I don't know whether to be more depressed that I felt the need to vote in your empty shop's 'community poll', or that 42 other people already had.  :D

(By the way, on the subject of the uCurrent, I should thank you for mine, Dave!  Bought it a little while back on a 'will probably be handy some day' basis, and sure enough, my most recent project had a quiescent current draw in the microamps but with periodic spikes that would make it go into low-battery shutdown if I used my DMM to measure consumption...  uCurrent to the rescue!)
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: Spawn on April 03, 2012, 11:26:00 pm

I'll be selling these ones through ebay as a trial of their automated linking with Australia post, the shop link with redirect to my ebay store.

Dave.

Let us know when you start to sell them please :) 
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: johnnyfp on April 04, 2012, 08:08:06 am
How much do PnP like this place charge? Is it per component? Board size?

Cheers

Jfp
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: quantumfall on April 05, 2012, 10:19:40 pm
what are the time to set up / costs ?  1 day setup, that seems very inefficient for a few reels of bits , how many days for a big board ?
Title: Re: EEVblog #264 - PCB Pick & Place Assembly.
Post by: mariush on April 06, 2012, 12:30:09 am
He never said 1 day.

If you watch the video again, you will see he said a couple of hours, a bit more if you include the time spent tweaking and fixing  the issues caused by Digikey's custom reeling (sticky tapes etc)...
He said it can take up to about 2 days for large boards with lots of components.

You have to pay attention to the video because there's lots of things Dave get wrong but then corrects like for example he says the machine has 2 heads (because he sees it grabbing two battery holders) but then he corrects and says it has 6 heads.