NEW MEMBER: Hey from New Zealand

Hi, via google (searching for mechanical component centering) and found a thread on here by 'Robin' re his project for using a CNC machine for SMT Pick & Place and since I can't see the posted images without registering...

Anyway, I've a mostly working dedicated smt pick & place machine built from a cnc router I bought from a guy in china via ebay for this purpose.

Has been a steep learning curve over the last 4 months re Mach 3, Offsets, GCode, Mach3 macros, parallel port interfacing etc etc etc to the point where I now generate my GCode from an excel spreadsheet to run the machine.

Anyway just did a major remake re losing mass, increasing the heads from 3 to 8, adding a proper vacuum pump, redoing the control boards that drive the head steppers and vacuum solenoids etc etc. But there's a lot of improvement yet, re improving speed, adding automated component centering and automatic rotation (maybe) in the future and maybe automated feeders one day (well, probably not that last one)

Already documented most of the machine here, it's mostly up to date.

http://hairyraho.com/home-made-pick-place-smt-machine

Cheers

Lindsay
New Zealand