Electronics > Manufacturing & Assembly

Advice on a Desktop Pick and Place Machine under $2500

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mohala:
Hello All,

Hope you all are well, I've been racking my brain on which pnp would be best which can also fit in my office, I’m a bit tight in space and if I throw away my only sofa I can some how manage to get at least an area of 1200x1400mm of working space. I was thinking I would have the pick and place machine upstairs and the reflow oven downstairs in the garage, away from me due to the fumes (as I spend most of my life in my office sometimes sleep as well!)

I have been eyeing the OpenPNP options but there have been quite a lot of versions being offered and would like some honest opinions on this matter. Some of the work I do can get me to be forced to work with 0201's and some 0.35 pitch BGAs. But speed is not a focus for me accuracy and ease of use would be very important.

I do like the idea of the SmallSMT Panda, but its looks to be too out of my price range

Currently I have seen the following under the OpenPNP:
Pandaplace A1 (https://pandaplacer.com/)
TornadoSMT (https://www.alandesign.cn/en/home)
T2SMT (Aliexpresshttps://www.aliexpress.com/i/1005005772454749.html)
LumenPNP (https://www.opulo.io/products/lumenpnp)
PSE-3000 (https://www.picksoeasy.com/PSE-3000.html)

I know these pnp have advertised to do 0402 and 0.5 BGAs, but wondering if anyone has had experience with them enough to know you can do certain modification to achieve better performance, or getting the right nozzles and settings?

Lastly I have been eyeing the more expensive options like the SmallSMT Panda Advance and the Tronstol E1 or V3. But unsure if its worth me aiming too high rather than focusing on the OpenPNP route for now?

Please let me know your opinions, I'm very curious what you all think?

Mo

Kean:
If you have lots of spare time to waste, then maybe... else you're dreaming.

vespaman:
Hi Mohala,

What is the purpose of the machine, few boards here or there, or a decent amount of boards? I am using OpenPnP, but I'm a open source guy, haven't really used any closed source software the last 15-20 years. The learning curve is steep, but if you are into these things, good and useful in the end. I don't think I would like to buy a closed source machine (then I would probably convert it to OpenPnP) for my small production.

I'd say if you only need to do  a few prototypes, it is not worth it. Especially, if you have a lot of "new components" that needs to be entered into the PnP. So, I'd say - if you design the boards yourself, and have control over the selection of components it gets easier, also a little bit easier if using KiCad.

Regarding hardware, it I doubt you can find someone that can answer and give you a "best in test". It depends on how much you swap components, type of components and how many different components you have in total, and on each board and e.g. how many components you purchase (only cut tape, full reels, 12" reels et c et c. Maybe read up a bit on the OpenPnP mailing list to see what other users of the ones you are looking have experienced.

 

ebastler:
There's a narrow space between the realm of building a prototype now and then (which you'd be better off placing by hand), and building a small series of baords now and then (which you'd better outsource to a PCBA house). In that narrow space running your own small pick & place might be beneficial -- but is that where you operate?

And I am not sure whether there is any space at all between the technical requirements for placing 0201s and 0.35 mm pitch BGAs reliably, and your budget cap of $2500.

I'd recommend that you forget about the pick & place and keep your sofa instead. Much better for sleeping in the office too! There's just not enough room for a sleeping bag under those small desktop PnP's.  ;)

trevwhite:
There are benefits to having your own machine. I think a belt driven machine will struggle to place 0201. The cheaper options seem to be that style.

The cheapest machine I would consider so far to be up to the task you require is a SMT220 also known as a HW-T2-40F. It’s more money and uses CL feeders which you would also need to buy.

I can’t state anything about it’s build quality, etc but it looks to be very accurate as it runs with servo drives.

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