-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueIPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
The Cost of Rework
In this issue, we investigate rework's current state of the art. What are the root causes and how are they resolved? What is the financial impact of rework, and is it possible to eliminate it entirely without sacrificing your yields?
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
How to Select a Pick-and-Place Machine, Part I
March 25, 2015 | Robert Voigt, DDM NovastarEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
This is the second in a series of columns aimed at helping buyers analyze and select SMT equipment for PCB assembly. In this column, I’ll cover manual and semiautomatic pick and place machines, for users interested in going from a couple boards a day to much higher production volumes, while a future column will cover more complex, fully automatic systems.
A pick-and-place machine is the second step in the paste, place, and reflow assembly operation. The place function follows the solderpaste function (stencil printer). The place operation selects and delivers a component over the board and drops it into position. The simplest form of pick-and-place operation is by hand; that is, manually picking a component from a bin and, with the aid of a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass, positioning it on the board and completing the operation with a hand-held soldering iron.
This method works perfectly fine if you are only doing occasional boards. Other things to consider are the size of the components (big or small), which affect the time required to hand place and solder. Fine pitch components are another issue, where more precision and accuracy are required, and the human factor comes into play. The work then becomes more tedious and time-consuming.
Production Volume
Let’s start by addressing production ranges for various types of machine-assisted manual systems. For purposes of comparison, since all circuit boards vary in size and complexity, we’ll talk about volumes in terms of components per hour, or CPH. This will help you to decide what level of automation you’ll need.
On the very low side of the scale—using a manual hand system—the only expense is the appropriate hand tools for non-machine assisted manual placement. At the high end of the spectrum, these machines are often modular or customized for high-speed unattended operation. Buyers in this market are likely looking more at ROI than initial cost.
Manual and Semi-automatic Systems
A manual pick-and-place system is desirable for small, growing operations that need to increase their hand-held production volumes incrementally while also improving quality, thus reducing rework or rejects; however, the accuracy of placement is still limited by the capability of the operator. Benefits of a machine-assisted manual system include:
• Less operator fatigue
• Fewer placement errors
• Better control
• Improved yield, less rework
A machine-assisted manual system can be equipped with features such as an X-Y indexing table with vacuum pickup head or pen; ergonomic fixturing to help relieve operator fatigue; and additional fixturing for q (rotation) and Z (height) positioning in addition to X and Y.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the February issue of SMT Magazine.
Suggested Items
Indium Corporation to Present, Exhibit at EPP InnovationsFORUM
03/28/2024 | Indium CorporationIndium Corporation is set to present and exhibit at EPP InnovationsFORUM, one of Europe’s premier single-day electronics manufacturing forums, on April 17 in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany. Topic areas for 2024 will include AI, automation, sustainability, and quality.
Reducing Nitrogen Consumption in Convection Soldering with Rehm Thermal Systems' Patented Mechatronic Curtain
03/28/2024 | Rehm Thermal SystemsCurrent developments indicate a need for larger throughput heights due to the trend towards e-mobility, which in turn increases nitrogen consumption for process inertization. Rehm Thermal Systems responds to this issue with an innovative solution: the mechatronic curtain.
Indium Corporation, Industry Partners to Showcase Products “Live@APEX”
03/26/2024 | Indium CorporationIndium Corporation®, in cooperation with its industry partners, will feature its proven solder solutions live on the show floor throughout IPC APEX Expo from Apr. 9‒11 in Anaheim, Calif., U.S.
ITW EAE Wins New Product Introduction Award for Electrovert® Wave Soldering Machine Deep Wave
03/26/2024 | ITW EAEITW EAE is proud to announce that it has earned a 2024 New Product Introduction (NPI) Award for Electrovert’s Deep Wave option for wave soldering machines. This new, innovative system provides the ability to pump up to a 20 mm wave height.
Mek's Next-Gen AOI Technology Takes Center Stage at IPC APEX EXPO 2024
03/19/2024 | MEKMek is excited to announce its presence at IPC APEX EXPO, North America's largest electronics manufacturing event, in Anaheim, California, from April 6-11, 2024. Attendees are invited to visit Mek at booth #1433 to explore the latest AOI technology offerings.