Well…an associate brought up an interesting point about Lil Brother LLC SMT setup fee.
He asked, "Why should I pay $35.00 if I supply a centroid data file? Doesn’t this tell the machine where to put the parts? "
A very interesting question…and we believe a good explanation is in order.
If you feel your part libraries are up to the task, and you can supply a centroid data file (file with locations for parts on your board), we would certainly discount your setup fee.
Before you puff out your chest and think it is a simple matter, don’t.
The first thing to remember, the information output from software is only as good as the information put in.
If you are interested in getting a discount on the setup fee, we will explain how to do it:
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Any part you use on your board should have it’s footprint drawn on center. This can be complicated depending on the software you are using. You must go into the library for that part, and check to see if the center of the part correlates to 0,0/0,0. If it does not, the part is not drawn on center. Many libraries are drawn on origin. This means pin 1 is located on 0,0/0,0. Not useful for centroid data.
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If you are interested, you can change all the footprints for the parts used on your board. This could be a major challenge, because some of those parts may have not been drawn by you.
We have looked into gerber to centroid translation software, but the price is much higher than what the company can afford at this point. We could purchase cheaper software, but the labor involved does not save any time. We feel it is better to save the money, and purchase the automated software some point in the future.
The translation software may come quick if the demand for assembly is high…or could be quite some time if the demand is low.
Our production schedule will set the time to buy software.
It should be noted, if we purchase translation software, the setup fee will not go down, but the turn around for board assembly will decrease.
James L