Hi Jack,
Sorry for the late reply.
For the money, the 550/660/880 class machines are a sweet spot for PNP value and midrange capability. The best parts are the linear (X-Y) motion platform which is a magnificent set of CNC machined parts, ballscrews, linear guides and Panasonic servo motors and servo drive electronics. You can go to the Panasonic site and get more information than you will ever need on the drive system alone. The PC, monitor, keyboard and mouse are serviceable though I replaced the 2nd and 3rd items. I will mention that the PC comes with a small SSD which I wanted to clone until I got into WIN 7 OS and found too many Chinese language issues to work work through. The machine driver application and UI are more than I expected and become increasingly familiar with each job setup.
On the other hand, the AC wiring and grounding is serviceable but represents a below grade implementation. Early failures in the nozzle fast camera array (FASTCAM) could be traced to haphazard grounding (OK, I disconnected some cameras for no good reason). Fortunately, these were easy to fix.
I did not involve YX except to request new camera modules as the video outputs were sometimes damaged when the cables were disconnected and reconnected to the PC capture board. The PC and AC input grounds were dependent on being made through chassis paint and that didn't cut it for me (see my solution in the list of modes below). In addition, the PC and monitor 220V wiring used a taped manual splice. I replaced this with a PDU - Power Distribution Unit which is an elegant name for a power strip. I installed one on each side of the machine and made sure the PC, monitor and mains input have been properly grounded to bare metal.
So far, this review is a mixed bag but you would be wrong to think I don't like the 660, In a few words, it's been AMAZING!!!
I have no prior experience in PNP and own a startup about to release its first range of products. I would rate the software, minus very few untranslated items as reasonable, fairly intuitive, discoverable, yet feature complete for what I know. Basically, you can figure out what is meant by the English translations in most cases and can try things. The camera system calibration parameters for object recognition were a little trouble for me. I spent some quality time watching one of YX's longer (and annotated) videos on YouTube and made some usage notes before jumping in.
Job set up followed the YouTube video closely. Though not explained there, a PNP list for a single board can be expanded to a panel by selecting board level fiducials on corner images in the panel at which point it can compute a panel PNP list automatically. By trial, I also learned that a change to the single entered board image will propagate to the other images when you press a button in the UI. So, as you correct part rotations and other setup issues, you do it for one board in the panel and the 660 SW propagates the change to the other boards. It even has provision for panels with alternate board images rotated 180 degrees, something I haven't tried yet even though I have such a panel. A button under production settings called "IS MOUNT" allows you to decide which parts to mount, feeders to use and panel images to populate and elsewhere you can enable feeders and nozzles globally. You store components from a job to a library and can copy feeder and mount settings from one job to another.
My first board was a 2 image panel with the second image rotated 180 degrees. However, I used Cadence Panel Editor to produce a panel-level PNP list. The components on this panel were 1206 passives and SOIC integrated circuits = easy as pie.
My next job was a 12 image panel of opto boards with 20 leds in a pattern on each board which could have made misalignment very apparent and presentation unsatisfactory. The leds are 0603 parts which have a molded lens that is smaller than the 0603 substrate and slightly larger than 0402 passives so it was good to see the behavior of the 660 with these small profile parts. What mistakes were made in placement by the machine were traced to leds bouncing in the feeder such that they were not laying flat for pickup. Nonetheless, the vacuum nozzles lifted the LEDs, took them to the FASTCAM array and on to the panel where there were placement errors. The 660 has a screen that presents 6 static images from the FASTCAM array so you can observe part alignment for each pickup cycle. Then I noticed a setup parameter that allows you to specify the percent deviation in X-Y size as an accept/reject criteria. With this input, any edge-grab led pickups were rejected and sent to a predefined throw (think discard) area. After that 0603 LEDs were laid down with great precision. You really don't want to rework 0603 or 0402 leds!
Overall I did the following modifications to the SMT660:
1. Replaced the supplied 17" monitor with a 19" with the same resolution
2. Machined an offset block to shift the monitor mount in 3 directions due to its new size and clearance requirements
3. Machined the supplied steel monitor tilt mount due to slight mis-alignment of the 4 mounting holes as delivered
4. Replaced the supplied pressure regulator / dryer with a slightly larger but similar assembly
5. Added a digital pressure sensor to the regulator / dryer output and fed this to what I call a PSI hub and two 4-20mA digital meters, one front and one back near the air inlet
6. Replaced the cap screws attaching each of the 6 doors around the SMT660 with knob-type thumbscrews for quick and easy access to the insides.
7. Replaced mains wiring up the ON/OFF switch with jacketed 3-conductor power cord instead of the 2-conductor insulated but not jacketed wiring that was used. Provided secure grounding for the AC inlet to the bare chassis.
8. Added a power distribution strip on each side of the SMT660 . One provides power to the PC, monitor, PSI hub and the left side power distribution strip. The left side power distribution strip only supplies main power now but will eventually provide power for the Panasonic X and Y linear drive modules and the 24 and 36 volt switching regulators. These last items are wired with 2-conductor unjacketed mains wiring which I think should at least be double insulated
If I had to do it over again, I would get the SMT880 for the 3-part conveyor system and extra heads. My oven is a ZBRF660 that I bought from YX as well, though it is sourced from Wezhou Zhengbang. It is floor-standing, with a conveyor table from Neoden sitting in between it and the 660 for inspection, where the board will automatically stop for placement examination and then proceed to the ZBRF630 for reflow. I bought the ZBRF630 because it has better build quality than the standard 960/961 reflow ovens, a really nice touchscreen, elevated temperature capability (400C that I probably won't ever use) and robust insulation in the outer cover which stays cold during operation. In general, you should negotiate for feeders at no charge before buying any more that you need. In the past month, I purchased 30 8mm x2 mm and 8mm x 4mm from Neoden. What I like about Neoden (through ebay) is the pricing is already fair but still negotiable and shipping is reasonable and fast (4-5 days from China).
The SMT660 and ZBRF630 were purchased through Alibaba using that company's buyer protection program. In doing so, PayPal funds an Alibaba escrow account for which the buyer is in charge of releasing the money after receiving the equipment and verifying the condition. The only caveat is the protection is for a fixed period and you may have to extend it or Alibaba will release payment automatically and possibly before you receive the item in the case of cheaper but more lengthy ocean shipment.
My sole contact at YX is Jim Jiang. Jim always replies to my emails in an hour or less! He and I go at each other on product selection, pricing, features and shipment terms but always end up making a deal. When I had camera problems, he requested I make a WhatsApp video demonstrating the problem and testing I had performed. Then he sent the part(s) with a 2-3 day delivery where I paid for shipment only, during the warranty period. Currently, I am recovering from a multiple head crash into a feeder in the tape load state - don't ever do this - and installing at least 2 new nozzle rotation stepper motors as I delve more deeply in 0402 part assembly.
Hope this helps,
Proto
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