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There are definitely somewhat mature DIY alternatives such as LitePlacer [1] and there is ongoing effort towards an open-source software stack for PnP machines
by utopcell 9y ago
There are definitely somewhat mature DIY alternatives such as LitePlacer [1] and there is ongoing effort towards an open-source software stack for PnP machines [2], but for this area to really pick up, sub-$500 kits are probably necessary. One could argue that hobby-level 3D printing would have gone nowhere if 3D printers were at a ~$3,000 level.
[1] https://www.liteplacer.com/ https://www.liteplacer.com/
[2] http://openpnp.org/ http://openpnp.org/
- Animats 9y agoHas anyone seen a Liteplacer in action? All the info I can find on it is from the seller. LitePlacer is designed for one-off jobs. It gets its parts from cut tape, not reels. It uses its vision system to line up on the parts tapes, so the tapes don't have to be precisely positioned. It's quite slow for a pick and place machine, but far faster than doing it by hand. Doesn't put down solder paste, though. There are a lot of low-end pick and place machines, but few critical evaluations of them.
- Kliment 9y agoI've seen it in action - it works but you have to be quite careful when building it. There's a bunch of gotchas and it changes over time so you have to be very very sure you're looking at the instructions for your actual kit. Also it isn't self-contained - you need a computer attached to it the entire time you run it. Still, the price point is amazing and it does what it says on the tin. (I don't own one but I've seen it in use).