SMALLSMT Vision Placer Pick & Place machines

[Smallsmt]

Machines can handle parts up to 15mm height but mostly possible height limited by feeder design.

[Smallsmt]

Many things have happened in the last months.
Some beautiful ones, Sunny gave birth to your first son.
Others, not so beautiful, I had a stroke but I've recovered.
I hope you all stay healthy in these difficult times.

Here is an update on new developments.

A lot of time was spent on the revision of the machine software to eliminate annoying bugs and add new functions.

We added 19 slot nozzle changer to our 4 head machines and changed working area layout to find space for it.
The changer operates pneumatically and stores 16 standard nozzles plus 3 large nozzles.

https://youtu.be/WGbfA9bjr54

[Smallsmt]

Recently I updated my Altium Designer to 2020 version and found a really good pcb layout guidelines document showing all routing issues to avoid solder problems.
Most of the pcb assembly problems related to bad PCB layout and paste mask problems.

Top 5 PCB Design Guidelines Every PCB Designer Needs to Know

https://resources.altium.com/p/top-pcb-design-guidelines-every-pcb-designer-needs-to-know?utm_campaign=my-altium&utm_content=article&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=altium-designer-app

[MR]

Hi,

can you show me a bottom picture of a 0201 component on your smallsmt machine?

[Smallsmt]

I will do tomorrow need to search for parts

[Smallsmt]

I did the 0201 shots please check



https://www.smallsmt.biz/2020/06/02/0201-resistor-shown-on-hd-cameras-on-vp-2800hp-cl64-4r-machine/

[Styno]

The fields Visual H and Visual W are the 'measured' or deduced component sizes according to the vision system?

The image quality is so much better than the 20+ year old CCD-based system on my PnP which sometimes even has difficulty determining if a 0603 resistor is on the nozzle or not (because parts of the nozzle is prominently in view around the component).... 

[Smallsmt]

The fields Visual H and Visual W are the 'measured' or deduced component sizes according to the vision system?

The image quality is so much better than the 20+ year old CCD-based system on my PnP which sometimes even has difficulty determining if a 0603 resistor is on the nozzle or not (because parts of the nozzle is prominently in view around the component).... 

We define the size of visual area. It does a simple masking to eliminate disturbing effects around our part.
The part size is not necessary to measure or know until it fits in visual area.

We use industrial USB cameras in our 4R machine, but are able to upgrade all VP-2800HP-CL6X machines.
This is a high speed camera it takes here 155 frames per second at 1280x1024 (30x30mm viewing area) because it's connected to my laptop.
It is capable to take up to 260 pictures a second.

We have second camera on the backside having 40x40mm viewing area and 2560*2048 resolution.

[MR]

We use undustrial USB cameras in our 4R machine, but are able to upgrade all VP-2800HP-CL6X machines.

Undustrial Cameras are the next generation after Industrial Cameras I guess ;-)

[MR]

The fields Visual H and Visual W are the 'measured' or deduced component sizes according to the vision system?

The image quality is so much better than the 20+ year old CCD-based system on my PnP which sometimes even has difficulty determining if a 0603 resistor is on the nozzle or not (because parts of the nozzle is prominently in view around the component).... 

those cameras are really crap, we had one in our machine as well.
But the detection issue is usually based on poor optical recognition software and poorly matched systems.

[Smallsmt]

Undustrial Cameras are the next generation after Industrial Cameras I guess ;-)

I should use my glasses 

[Smallsmt]

Our new PNP-Creator software is ready!
This new software has flexible pnp data import and show all part locations based on gerber file import.
All imported files copied to project folder to improve PNP data management.
Finally you are able to print reports for feeder setup and PNP data.
One special is to create and handle variants of your PNP data in one project file.

https://www.smallsmt.biz/pnpcreator/

[rx8pilot]

This system seems to really be maturing to the point where it could replace my Quad 4000C system at a business practical price point.

[Smallsmt]

We are adding additional modules in the next months.
Most recent module will be a feeder database.
Finally we add export for other PNP machines too.

If anyone is willing to send me some project and feeder files we try to add these formats.

[Mangozac]

We are adding additional modules in the next months.
Most recent module will be a feeder database.
Finally we add export for other PNP machines too.

If anyone is willing to send me some project and feeder files we try to add these formats.

That sounds very interesting. I will send you a copy of the files for the Kayo machines (along with the data we had reverse engineered from it). I would certainly pay to have a feeder library system (one of the most glaring omissions of Kayo's software) as it is something I had been considering writing myself in the future.

[Smallsmt]

Some new interesting things coming next year.

Hopefully we all keep healthy and the virus problems gone next year.

Best regards
Michael

[sabia]

Hi,

Happy new year, and thanks for all the information on the smallsmt machines. I am seriously considering buying one, but I will try it out at my local maker space first to get a feel for the push feeders, yamaha feeders and the software.

I have built a liteplacer and have some success with that, but the openpnp camera vision is a joke (and undocumented at that) and the accuracy just isn't good enough without the finger constantly on  the pause button...I'm certain the smallsmt will be better both in sw and hw.

Is it possible to use the smallsmt software on the tinyg based liteplacer?

[Smallsmt]

Is it possible to use the smallsmt software on the tinyg based liteplacer?

I am sorry but our software supports only our V2 controller.

[Smallsmt]

Here are some updates:
We released new version of PNP Creator it is now a really good PNP job creaton software.
I am thinking about a cheaper version to support only manual PNP processing.
Second option we are able to support non SMALLSMT machines by import / export SMT and feeder files but need suggestions and file descriptions.

Any thoughts about this project?

https://www.smallsmt.biz/pnpcreator/

Sometimes things went wrong i wrote a reply to Lim Phang Mohs article how to select the right PNP machine.
I am sorry about the problems he received in 2018 but hopefully we are still friends and all problems solved now.

https://www.smallsmt.biz/2021/03/28/picking-the-right-or-wrong-pick-and-place-machine/

[Smallsmt]

Some news on our tools:

PNP-Creator V1.07 released adding new report generator to our PNP job preparation software.
All PNP job preparation tasks can be done using a single software including all paper work needed for documentation and machine setup.



Some new strip holders added for 24 and 32mm tapes.

Our VP-2800HP-CL6X machines updated to 40mm Z axit moving range.

[Smallsmt]

Sometimes I get a slight grin when people tell me about new features on other machines.

Single mount or mount selection has been on our machines for 4 years.

Fly by alignment on 4 heads has been standard for HD camera machines for 2 years.

But now we have a real novelty in this price segment.
The automatic measurement of the Z-axis to determine the pickup heights without much effort. A right click function on the feeder entry performs this operation automatically. However, a probe must be inserted beforehand, which is removed again after the feeder setup has been completed.

VP-2800HP-CL64-4R customer machine with installed new Z-axis sensor

[Styno]

Re z-axis probing: does that machine have a vacuum sensor to determine if a part is on the nozzle? If so, then why not use the vacuum reading to determine the component height by lowering the nozzle slowly until it picks up the part. That is how it’s done on our 25+ year old Dima Optimat and would make the process even easier.

[Smallsmt]

Re z-axis probing: does that machine have a vacuum sensor to determine if a part is on the nozzle? If so, then why not use the vacuum reading to determine the component height by lowering the nozzle slowly until it picks up the part. That is how it’s done on our 25+ year old Dima Optimat and would make the process even easier.

Yes we tested this option too but it is not precise and not possible for small parts.
Our machine place parts from 0201 to 40x40mm.
This Option works if parts not lifted up by vacuum for example you use a smaller nozzle for bigger parts or parts heavy.

You know if parts nearby nozzle tip they jump under nozzle, this cause bigger deviations during pickup processing too. And you need to pickup the small parts better in the middle to prevent pushing them to side during placement.

[Smallsmt]

Some news here, we have now added the Z-axis sensor to all 4 head machines. This is used to adjust the pick up height on the feeders. It simplifies this calibration enormously. 



All models received some upgrades and finally we decided to build inline pick and place machines.
The first model is the VP-2800HP-CL64-4RCV which has built in 3 zone conveyor and SMEMA interface on both sides.
https://www.smallsmt.biz/vp2800hp-cl64-4rcv/



And finally we got our new 8 head machine RAPTOR up and running well.
I will post some informations in the next days.

We are still searching for a nice name the working title is RAPTOR it is placing 7200cp/h under vision alignment!



And the last thing our CL6X machines receive a new option!
We added a dipping station for flux and other special configurations.

[Smallsmt]

Here is the video of our new machine placing at high speed

https://youtu.be/1xEGm-jP8Wo