Mike,

Thanks for the links.

The MyData link was interesting.  I talked to a MyData support lady for=20
a while about a year ago... I was looking at a MY12. She managed to=20
convince me that the PCB moving on the Y axis wasn't going to throw=20
placed parts off if you had even the slightest clue what you were doing.  :=
)

I've looked at Europlacer machines... Finesse and Progress 6, etc. =20
Europlacer was offering (probably still is) to upgrade quite old=20
machines to near-current (inneo-class) with 3D heads, etc.  I think=20
Progress 6 is maybe the oldest they can do that with... not the more=20
common 600s... but that's still pretty old and a good deal.  So, if I=20
picked up an old Europlacer with enough feeders and trolleys at the time=20
of purchase it could work out pretty well.  Right this second there=20
don't seem to be great deals on that, though.  (I had a $15K offer a=20
year ago for a Finesse absolutely loaded with feeders, etc... a baby on=20
the way killed that deal)


I guess the main point of the thread was wondering if anyone knew how=20
user serviceable/hackable some of these brands might be... and if there=20
was any one in particular that was really good. I wish I had a better=20
idea going in what that was going to be.


Darron


On 1/12/14, 4:12 AM, Mike Harrison wrote:
> 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
>> system with feeders.
>>
>> I can buy a high performance and easy to use old machine for half the
>> cost of a new, low end, hard to use system... so that's what I plan on
>> doing.  I don't really need anything better than 0402 and a good enough
>> vision system to do 0.8mm pitch BGAs at the moment... so the vintage I'm
>> looking at seems perfect.
>> What would really help for that would be a base machine that is either
>> open enough in specification or hackable enough to heavily modify. I'd
>> hate to have to throw out all the electronics and rebuild the machine in
>> 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 :
>
> 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.
> 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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