HWGC P&P machines - Documentation, Discussion and Info

[gedass2000]

Password is fake.Use "Shift"+"Ctrl"+"Alt"+"P" instead.

And who knows how to get into the service menu ? password ?

[Yuriy.m]

The problem is solved. as expected, a glitch in the software version 220819_8.8.7_T46_R . the Chinese gave an update and everything worked.

[stefangem]

Hello

This machine SMT550 is driving me crazy.
One component is all and I want to turn it off. I do that with a hook off.All ok

BUT

I bought a component and want to activate it again.no chance.
The machine ignores it no matter what I do.
regrouping doesn't work either or I'm doing it wrong.
How exactly do you group?

[Yuriy.m]

Good afternoon colleagues. there is a problem with the high component. how can the problem be solved?
https://youtu.be/XW7BK2seicg?si=qfKxqsKr2K4WXgP4

[jmelson]

Obviously the machine is not lifting the part high enough when moving XY axes.  Looking at the video, it may be that it has lifted the part as high as it possibly can.  Check the machine specs for maximum component height.   If it is capable of taller components, then there must be a setting for each component that will tell it it has to lift THIS specific part higher than the default.
Jon

[swissembedded]

Hi, I have two HWGC HW-T4-50F and the hardware seems to be quite robust except some details like 32A RCD with internal 0.75mm2 wires  .

After assembling some simple test boards with about 300 components with each machine, I have been quite happy. Only issue has been that for some reason illumination has been incorrect on one machine and speed has been set wrong on the other. So it has been good idea to buy two and compare. I have been quite happy with these inexpensiv machines.

Two weeks ago, I started to assemble more complex prototypes with about 1200 parts per side. I quickly run into some problems with offset of the parts due to larger board size. I quickly checked coordinate transformation in octave and it seems correct to me. So I think the problem is mostly due to the fact that I made multiple segment of different pcb in one panel and that the pcb itself has some V-carvings on it. That highly increases tolerances.
 
As some dialog are in chinese I thought maybe it would be a good idea to update the machine and test newer software. Unfortunately I updated the machine to version 8.8.7 T84 and I could not assign feeders anymore and it also had problems with image recognition of a new defined part.

I contacted support and to my surprise sales took some time to support me. Support is difficult over teamviewer as the software seem to hand up when connecting teams or anydesk. It also seems like the manufacturer does not recommend to use footprint library anymore, which I did not understand. I do not want to configure each part by hand on every pcb. So I will go back to older software and check.

I also have read that license is limited to 1'000'000 parts assembling, not sure if that is true. Did anybody hit that limit yet?

Thus, today I will try to downgrade again to T39, T46 or T48 and check. Hopefully one will work. Is there any version you can recommend that is stable and major enough?

Is there anybody who has been working with openpnp 2.0? I have now ordered one machine with electrical feed mods at https://www.afarco.vn/ for testing openpnp 2.0.

How is the software compared to chinese software? Is there any chance to get the HWGC machine running with openpnp 2.0? Manufacturer does not seem to be interested in it. Is anybody willing to make that journey to openpnp 2.0 with me?

Best Dani

[gedass2000]

As some dialog are in chinese I thought maybe it would be a good idea to update the machine and test newer software. Unfortunately I updated the machine to version 8.8.7 T84 and I could not assign feeders anymore and it also had problems with image recognition of a new defined part.

Maybe you can share this software T84 version ? Mine is T73 and seems it has problem with component rotating.

I also have read that license is limited to 1'000'000 parts assembling, not sure if that is true. Did anybody hit that limit yet?

Yes correct.So you need to save you currently software installation and user settings (dll config files).
Also MUST date and time!
And don't touch system date or time on the working machine otherwise you will block the application! Also before every software run, check date and time!.
Anyway we will able to help you with new license generation (for free).
BTW the license is valid until 2035.

Thus, today I will try to downgrade again to T39, T46 or T48 and check. Hopefully one will work. Is there any version you can recommend that is stable and major enough?

Is there anybody who has been working with openpnp 2.0? I have now ordered one machine with electrical feed mods at https://www.afarco.vn/ for testing openpnp 2.0.

How is the software compared to chinese software? Is there any chance to get the HWGC machine running with openpnp 2.0? Manufacturer does not seem to be interested in it. Is anybody willing to make that journey to openpnp 2.0 with me?

Between upgrades/downgrades did you export/import settings ?

[gedass2000]

Good afternoon colleagues. there is a problem with the high component. how can the problem be solved?
https://youtu.be/XW7BK2seicg?si=qfKxqsKr2K4WXgP4

No way.
You need to change machine to HW-DU400 or similar.

[SM]

Is there anybody who has been working with openpnp 2.0?

I don't think that your HWGC machines would run sensibly with OpenPnP, because I used to work with it and equipped a few thousand boards on my own machines, but it's no fun in professional use, because there is no proper project management with feeder position optimization, the component alignment is only one-dimensional (no useful support for parallel image recognition) and otherwise quite slow in handling (java) - the total output of the machine would shrink to a fraction.

[Jackster]

The HWGC software is fine.
No PnP machine has good software. I have mates with £250k+ machine and it has stupid software on it that causes problems.

OpenPnP is just for DIY machines. Don't try running it on a production level.

[SM]

Yes, exactly. But there are always attempts to do so and many who don't want to recognize the production level.

[Jackster]

Yes, exactly. But there are always attempts to do so and many who don't want to recognize the production level.

It would literally handicap the machine 

[Just-sean]

My machine arrived on Monday! Here is a little photo dump.

Overall, the machine arrived in great condition. A few marks here and there. 2 large holes in the pallet that Pallet Force placed shipping labels over 

Already got it up and running. Looks to be working well. Not picked any components yet though. Will be doing that next week.

What version of the software is this? Looks a lot newer than the videos 48X24X48X makes.

[Jackster]

There has been many software updates since those videos were made and even that part @just-sean

[Ed G]

Hi All,

I've been following this chat group for over a year now, and decided to purchase a HW-T4-44F from HWGC, and have produced 2k good boards in the last month or so. Honestly speaking, I'm very well impressed with the technology offered in this machine for the price (a best value, no doubt).

However, suddenly my hard drive got damaged out of the blue (Windows 10 did not boot) and now I am in a hurry to get it fixed so I can finish an urgent shipment. Having said that, I just got a new hard drive from HWGC, got the machine's software installed and registered (license key), and now the machine is working (at least it is alive), but it is placing components all over the place, so I assume it needs to recalibrate everything (nozzles & all cameras) before running production again, but the HWGC guys are now in Chinese New Year break so, the tech support will be extremely limited until 2/28. The perfect storm for me.

So, I decided to give it a try on my own and tried several times to calibrate the cameras following the steps shown in their software, but something is not working well (or I may be doing wrong).

So please, if you have either (1) the nozzles & cameras calibration procedures, and/or (2) a way to make the original hard drive run / repaired (like using a Win 10 bootable USB drive to boot and repair the original hard drive, or any other method), PLEASE SEND IT OVER... I am open to try anything that can get the machine back in business ASAP. 

Thanks a lot for your time guys.

[Jackster]

Hi All,

I've been following this chat group for over a year now, and decided to purchase a HW-T4-44F from HWGC, and have produced 2k good boards in the last month or so. Honestly speaking, I'm very well impressed with the technology offered in this machine for the price (a best value, no doubt).

However, suddenly my hard drive got damaged out of the blue (Windows 10 did not boot) and now I am in a hurry to get it fixed so I can finish an urgent shipment. Having said that, I just got a new hard drive from HWGC, got the machine's software installed and registered (license key), and now the machine is working (at least it is alive), but it is placing components all over the place, so I assume it needs to recalibrate everything (nozzles & all cameras) before running production again, but the HWGC guys are now in Chinese New Year break so, the tech support will be extremely limited until 2/28. The perfect storm for me.

So, I decided to give it a try on my own and tried several times to calibrate the cameras following the steps shown in their software, but something is not working well (or I may be doing wrong).

So please, if you have either (1) the nozzles & cameras calibration procedures, and/or (2) a way to make the original hard drive run / repaired (like using a Win 10 bootable USB drive to boot and repair the original hard drive, or any other method), PLEASE SEND IT OVER... I am open to try anything that can get the machine back in business ASAP. 

Thanks a lot for your time guys.

Join the Discord link in my signature below.
We can help with this in the HWGC support channel.

[glenenglish]

This sounds promising .

How does the machine compensate for runout of the nozzles ?  Low cost Juki 502  nozzles  can have bad runout, leading to bad pickup of 0402. Does the software do a runout compensation ?

When I had my own PNP SW working on my Kayos, I had to compensate the runout and the code knew exactly what the runout was (of course it can know the total rotation angle and compensate ).

[Jackster]

This sounds promising .

How does the machine compensate for runout of the nozzles ?  Low cost Juki 502  nozzles  can have bad runout, leading to bad pickup of 0402. Does the software do a runout compensation ?

When I had my own PNP SW working on my Kayos, I had to compensate the runout and the code knew exactly what the runout was (of course it can know the total rotation angle and compensate ).

The software compensates for the nozzle mount position but not the nozzles.
Don't buy the cheap crappy nozzles...
Here is my supplier https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004224643610.html

I have not had a problem with 0402 placement on these machines. In fact, it has been very good.

You can use the live camera view to see which nozzles are wonky and need replacing.

[48X24X48X]

There are some old calibration videos lying around YT. It is similar and would work. But even without any manual,  it's pretty much intuitive to do on your own. Give us more details on the issue, it could something small but not obvious.

[glenenglish]

There was nozzle position calibration on the Kayo , but not nozzle runout calibration. In my PnpSW I had runout check and runout compensation  periodically , only took 0.25sec., since the cheap JUki nozzles seems to vary. Pretty easy to get a good circle ID and location of the nozzle hole.

0402 placement is easy. once it is on the nozzle, life is good.

0402 pickup can be a challenge , made harder with nozzle runout.

[koniu12]

Hello,

which lubrificant are you using ?
Not all lubricating nipple are reachable.
The rails and spindels make slowly strange noises !

Best Regards
Adam

[JURP]

Lubricants recommended by Hiwin:
HIWIN PLO-05
HIWIN G05
Klüber Klüberlub BE 71-501
Fuchs Lubritech Lagermeister EP2
Lubcon TURMOGREASE Li 802EP

Another compliant should be MOGUL LVS2.
In general, you should go to use lubricating grease:
category K1K, or K2K
viscosity / consistency NLGI2

The lubricant must not contain graphite, or MoS2!

[vstrulev]

Good afternoon colleagues. there is a problem with the high component. how can the problem be solved?
https://youtu.be/XW7BK2seicg?si=qfKxqsKr2K4WXgP4

Good day Yuriy. The capacitor is the exact reason I've bought DU-400 from them. It may lift components up to 20mm tall, while other machines ~7mm tall only.

[koniu12]

Hello,

is it possible to fit a part of a PCB panel. For example, panel 2x3, and one PCB is faulty, we want place only the good PCBs ?

Best Regards
Adam

[Jackster]

Hello,

is it possible to fit a part of a PCB panel. For example, panel 2x3, and one PCB is faulty, we want place only the good PCBs ?

Best Regards
Adam

Yes. You can either manually tell it not to place a board within a panel or have it auto detect an Xout mark on the board.