At 02:04 PM 8/12/2008, you wrote: >Quoting John Day : > > > At 12:01 PM 8/12/2008, Spehro Pefhany wrote: > >> Quoting "Alan B. Pearce" : >> ><> > >> > >> Feeding the SMT parts might be difficult, as well as registration between > >> the placement head and the PCBs. For fine parts I think they use cameras > >> and fiducial marks. > > > > Yes, it is all done with cameras and fiducials. Although many of the > > simple machines are manually taught and then follow the dotted line. > > > > I haven't used the Maddell pick and place machines, but if their > > infrared ovens and stuff are any indication I would be staying well > > away from them. > > > > John > >What's your experience with them? They look like low-end Chinese-made >stuff, so I'd expect some rough edges but functionality. How did they >disappoint? Company I was doing some consulting for bought one about 2 years ago. They are low end Chinese made. Poor mechanical fit resulted in conveyor that would not run without bad jerking(really helpful with SMT parts!). It had to be completely disassembled, cleaned up, some parts replaced and re-assembled. Unreliable conveyor speed control and pretty bad temperature regulation resulting in poor thermal profiles. Although it was claimed the oven was suitable for Lead-Free use it would not reach the temperatures required. After the whole thing was basically rebuilt, with new temperature sensor, bigger power supply, new contactors, it worked passably. It apparently sees use on 2 or 3 days per week in a lab environment. It was intended to ease prototyping with QFN and similar packages, but this is being much better handled using an IR rework system. John >Best regards, >Spehro Pefhany -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist