On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 21:16:04 -0600, you wrote:

>I've been looking into buying a used 10-15 year old pick and place=20
>system with feeders.
>
>I can buy a high performance and easy to use old machine for half the=20
>cost of a new, low end, hard to use system... so that's what I plan on=20
>doing.  I don't really need anything better than 0402 and a good enough=20
>vision system to do 0.8mm pitch BGAs at the moment... so the vintage I'm=20
>looking at seems perfect.

>What would really help for that would be a base machine that is either=20
>open enough in specification or hackable enough to heavily modify. I'd=20
>hate to have to throw out all the electronics and rebuild the machine in=20
>a way I can use and maintain.

Can't advise on specific models - in practice it's going to be down to
what you can get where you are. Info is pretty thin on the ground, but
a few possible information sources :=20

http://forums.adafruit.com/viewforum.php?f=3D42
(has a Long thread about hacking an old Mydata)

http://www.smtnet.com/forums/

My forum - primarily aimed at Versatronics, but also covers other
low-end machines.=20
http://electricstuff.co.uk/forum/

I went through this process a few years ago - ended up buying a
Versatronics RV4, which is still probably one of the smallest, most
viable machine for the money  - you won't find these outside UK or
maybe South Africa though

Also worth talking to manufacturers as many offer used machines with
support.

--=20
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