Hello,
I was wondering if anyone knew of a good SMT component placement solution. As far as I can tell, my only options are on two completely different ends of the spectrum.
Tweezers and steady hands or a $10,000+ manual placement machine.
The tweezers and hands option is very hard so far and a total pain. And I don’t have $10,000.
Does anyone know of a ~$100-$1,000 piece of equipment that makes things easier?
You can add handheld vacuum pickup tools to the low-end of the spectrum. My Aoyue 852A++ has one built-in. It helps for the larger SMD devices but is too big for the smaller parts.
I’ve seen pictures of things that look like some kind of XY table to aid with manually placing components. For example, here is some contraption sold by Elektor:
https://www.elektor.com/projects/elekto … 1189.lynkx
Specifically, the second contraption down on the page. I’m not sure exactly what it does, but it’s some kind of vacuum tool and table and is priced under a thousand dollars. Here’s a video of the thing being used:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPW0M3Uc … re=related
It looks like they’re using syringe needles with the vacuum pickup tool to pick up the small parts. This seems like a good idea; I might see if I can adapt my tool to use syringe needles too… Also, on a semi-related note, I find it much easier to work looking through a stereo microscope when doing this sort of thing (my eyesight is not what it used to be). An amscope stereo microscope can be had for $200-$400 depending on options.
Thanks. I’ll look into this.