BasicPI

This picture is from LumenPnP (Opulo) that I use as base and show that they already have corrected the weak mechanical leg, but obviously not updated the open source drawing – or I must have downloaded the wrong ones 🙁

Never mind – I have glued the part that broke and they will do for now because I intend to change this design regardless. 3D printed parts have an obvious extra weakness in the direction they are printed, so if you print this laying down it will become strongeron that part, but notice that part that hold the motor – that would then be weaker and most likely break easier after some use due to vibrations over time.

I did notice that microsmt argue for having metal parts here due to this kind of problems with 3D printed plastic parts and I agree. This needs to be redesigned unless you want to repair your machine on regular basis. Sadly making metal parts is much more expensive. But, buying Aluminium plates are not – and one idea is to make hybrid parts – I want to redesign this part anyway because I want closed cabinets rather than a open dust collector.

The red arrow show both the slice/print direction I used and where this part broke off. This is a corner peace and I needed to print it in two parts – that worked perfectly, but as I put the 2020 frame parts in I also accidentally dropped it to the ground and the piece broke. The design is a bit weak here, but the real cause is because I did not realize that the slice/print direction needs to go the other way to strengthen this exact peace. I then get the exact same problem on the right side on motor fixings – so I will print this separate in the existing direction.

This was a 14 hour print-job and I am almost done with the 2nd part, so 28 hours more of 3D printing to come 🙂

I will also see if I can modify this part to strengthen it because the stepper motor will be on right and cause hammock due to vibrations over time.

One side of the 2 x PowerServo module soldered. No problems so far. I copied a capacitor bank from PWM3 where I used some 0803 capacitors. I have to revisit that because they should be 1206 footprint. Voltage here is max 8V and the capacitor bank is not as critical, but I made a note to add banks on the motherboard for each voltage.

I can’t wait to have my PnP machine mounted – it don’t look like much work, bit it takes time due to the small size.

Identifying and ordering parts is difficult because the part list is not fixed. My first thought on Camera modules was that I needed to go for expensive, high quaity cameras, but reading tells me a 720P camera is sufficient and that higher resolutions just makes the process slower. Anyway – I decided for some 10.- USD camera modules from GXIVISION because they have everything from 1MP Camera to 16MP camera in the same format – this is USB and UVC Compliant, meaning they will fit Windows, Linux, MAC etc + the modules are easy to mount.

What lense to use? No idea – I ordered 1.3mm, 4mm and 6mm – will see if I can get som extra lenses that cost ca 5.- USD each. I probably spent 50,. USD on cameras – twice as much as I would have needed because I want to experiment. I will provide a more detailed BOM and reference to parts I use later.

I still need a few parts and have a total PO out for just about 400.- USD – actually very good. But, I more or less expect to miss some out meaning I will order most parts now and have to re-order a lot as I start mouning in ca 6 weeks time. This is a learning process

I recently started to look into OpenPNP and decided to build my own Pick & Place machine! I will base the machine on LumenPNP (or IndexPNP as it also is called), but I have already started making changes of my own based on what I see done by others. The first job is to understand how a PNP works so i know what I am doing – that is actually an easy job these days due to all the folks posting hours by hours of youtube movies building one. So, here I am having ordered components for a pick and place machine that will cost me less than 1000.- USD.

My primary objective is a machine that can achieve 0603 components and build my prototypes in a hours rather than me sitting here days soldering prototypes manually. My secondary objective is to achieve 0201 components and a small prototype-production line.

First things thirst – before you start a project like this you need to be prepared for a few days of watching youtube and learning from others. Watch, learn and make up your own mind. You can’t just build and hope for the best, you need to understand the impact of the decitions you make – and the key question is – why is it hard to achieve 0201 components? If you understand why you also know the solution! Below is a picture of LumenPNP borrowed from their website found here LumenPnP (v3) – Opulo

This is a classic OpenPNP machine with many custom changes/improvements and you can buy this as a kit for ca 1800.- USD. I have no opinion if this machine is better/worse than other OpenPNP machines, but it was key to get me started. The entire project is on github and they use FreeCAD for 3D, so it is good as start as any other machine I guess. But, what is wrong with it? Why can’t it handle more than 0603/0402 components ? Bare in mind a majority of older machines or commercial machines also struggle with 0201, so what do we need to do different?

My first choise was to use NOKI Noozzle rather than Samsung CP40 – the main reason is because NOKI actually provide a nozzle capable of handling 0201 components + it was decent cost and seems to be far more used by makers. But, having a nozzle that can handle 0201 is only the first step. A far more important decition is the robustness and accuracy of the CNC machinery – which in case of LumenPNP have made a few decitions I do not like – that said I ordered parts before I realized so I will build this as is to get started.

Examing the pictures from this and some pictures of other machines you will instantly notice the lack of steel, weight and robustness – don’t get me wrong – it looks very robust, but to achieve 0201 you will depend on a machine that do not move at all. This machine will need some weight added. I might also considering adding a more robust frame or even weld a custom frame, but that is for later – my first point is the work-plate – I want this different to cover the entire 600x600mm frame. As pointed out in some videoes the frame also move a little, so I will add a 15mm tree plate supported by blocks of tree under to prevent any movement and add a thin work-plate of aluminium (or something) on top of that. This will add weight and give me a much larger plate. Obviously I also need a plate at the very bottom that can host a possible cabinet (above and under) – I can easily build a glassed cabinet later to prevent the machine from dust.

A more important decition is about accuracy of X,Y and Z axis. The current design uses belts, while it would be very easy to replace those with long metal threads and steppers that drive the threads. The advantage is that the thread act as a worm-gear giving a more accurate, robust and steady movement – I think this is one of the key changes needed to achieve 0201. But I also want to look at camera quality and designs.

Lets see what we can achieve – A PNP is at the end only a CNC machine and the accuracy and robustness of it’s movement is doomed to decide the accuracy of the entire machine IMO. I also believe that having a clear opinion about how to achieve 0201 is half job done – that said, I have never build one of these before!

As for now I have to wait 4-6 weeks on parts – I had some from before, bought parts for 350.- USD and probably need to spend another 300.- USD. So the total price will be closer to 1000.- USD for a machine with a single head and no feeders. As a hobbyist I am not so conserned about feeders because I have very few rolls of components – a strip holder will do fine. A single head means a slower machine with nozzle changes, but again – that’s fine for an entry level machine.