Placing ICs (Video)

[Flavor]

Today we made our first pick 'n' place run on a panelized PCB. I took some video of the results. They weren't real positive. We had to replace most of the ICs. The discreet components seemed to be fine. Take a look at the video, and please let me know if you see anything that can be improved.

It starts with some still photos, but then there's actual video of the LitePlacer in action.

https://youtu.be/PDmg4tf3Aio

[Mark Harris]

I think the parts are too heavy for the amount of vacuum/surface area you have, so they are rotating on the head. You might want to consider using proper pick and place nozzles for parts like that.

[Flavor]

That's a good thought. I hadn't considered that it might have some inertia on the spin.

Where would you recommend getting tips? We hear that a M5 threaded Luer adapter would be good. Is there somewhere to get that and a tip that would accept a suction cup attachment?

[Mark Harris]

We bought Juki nozzle clones, they are pretty popular in the open source community - i think mostly because of easy availability.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SMT-JUKI ... 9e5810c7f7
Is the seller I bought from - very fast shipping and all the nozzles are within 0.01mm of each other for the critical dimensions.

I'm building a dual head machine, and have 2x 502, 2x 503, 2x 505, 1x 505, 1x 508 to handle the range of ICs and passives which I'll be using.

[JuKu]

Even the bigger supplied needles with the rubber cups attached should give a good grip on the ICs.

[Pixopax]

Oh wow, you are really brave placing those big things with the liteplacer
The precision is just not good enough for that.

[Flavor]

Thanks for all the good info, Mark. I will look into those tips.

Oh wow, you are really brave placing those big things with the liteplacer
The precision is just not good enough for that.

Is this true? Does everybody have the same opinion?

[Mark Harris]

If it can do 0402 it can certainly do something with pitch that size. If it was an accuracy issue, all of them would be equally bad - the issue to me appears to be that the parts are over-rotating possibly due to inertia and/or slipping on the needle.

[Flavor]

They are definitely not all over rotating. You can see that in the video some of them are under rotated. It is also true that the flash chips come in tape that is somewhat loose. I can see some variance in their positioning inside of the tape before the nozzle grabs them. I think this could potential he be helped by using the up camera to inspect the part before placing it.

I would definitely like to hear if anybody else is placing fine pitch chips like these on the LitePlacer.

[Flavor]

We bought Juki nozzle clones, they are pretty popular in the open source community - i think mostly because of easy availability.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SMT-JUKI ... 9e5810c7f7
Is the seller I bought from - very fast shipping and all the nozzles are within 0.01mm of each other for the critical dimensions.

I'm building a dual head machine, and have 2x 502, 2x 503, 2x 505, 1x 505, 1x 508 to handle the range of ICs and passives which I'll be using.

Hey Mark. I finally had a chance to sit down and look at these. How do you attach these tips to your LitePlacer? Do you have some sort of quick-disconnect? Could you post some photos of your nozzle/tip setup? That would be excellent.

Thanks!