LitePlacer.com forums

I just finished putting the liteplacer together (everything I have is the default of the kit), and now I'm moving on to understanding the software. I can get the x/y/z axis motors to jog. The A motor spins forever and the program crashes if I use the mouse wheel, but I'm OK with not jogging A. I'm used to Mach 3 for my CNC mill. How do you move to a new location, and then set the zero point for x,y,z,a?

Even if I can only place a bunch of 0603 components and nothing else, I'm OK with that.
What nozzle is used for 0603 components? Is it the smallest one? I think the next one up is too big for 0603.
What is the step by step process (for somebody who just put the machine together 5 minutes ago) for laying down a bunch of tape strips of 0603 components, and then sticking a PCB under the liteplacer, and then having it place the components? My boards have 3 industry standard fiducials.

I'm OK with skipping all of the automatic tests if it is easier to set things up manually. I'm fine with moving to each fiducial recording the x,y location somewhere, and manually measuring the nozzle height from the PCB. I'm fine with manually changing nozzles. I just need basic functionality to work. I have a lot of boards that I have to manually place TONS of 0603 resistors/capacitors as well as 1210 components with little tweezers, and if I can just get it to do that, I'm fine with doing the ICs by hand.

-Paul

I put in a black nozzle (the biggest diameter one), and then hit "Nozzle Height Calibration", and then it tells me to put a regular height PCB underneath it, so I do that, and then I click "next", and then it goes all the way down, and starts pounding over and over against the PCB. Other times (If I remember right), instead it tells me to lower the nozzle until it's barely touching the PCB, and then I think it does the test successfully.

How do you use the hello world file? I try to load "hello world pick and place.csv" under the tab
run job. I go to "Load" under "CAD Data", and then it has a bunch of errors like

warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
Error in file, Msg: Index was out of range. Must be nonnegative, and less than the size of the collection. Parameter name: index

Do I load that hellow world.csv file somewhere else?

MPaulHolmes wrote:I put in a black nozzle (the biggest diameter one), and then hit "Nozzle Height Calibration", and then it tells me to put a regular height PCB underneath it, so I do that, and then I click "next", and then it goes all the way down, and starts pounding over and over against the PCB. Other times (If I remember right), instead it tells me to lower the nozzle until it's barely touching the PCB, and then I think it does the test successfully.

You have a problem somewhere. On hardware side, the tube should move freely up and down; if not, it might interfere with the switch operation. When you push up from the nozzle tip, this should happen, in this order: The tube goes up, triggering the switch. The tube goes up just a bit more, and the round collar at the end of the tube pushes against the bearing block. Only after that the spring in the nozzle adapter start to compress. When you let go, the tube should fall fully down, releasing the switch. this should happen at all rotation positions.

If your hardware is fine, there might be an issue in the switch wiring. Also, the calibration (and other probing operations) use the Z homing speed settings. If your homing acceleration is slow compared to the homing speed, the head might not stop fast enough in the amount of travel the switch allows. In general, you should have homing acceleration as fast as you are able to, and still have a smooth operation. For reference, my Z homing speed is 1500 and homing acceleration is 5000. If you still have problems with this, please send me a log of the height calibration failure (click inside the log window, ctrl+A to select all, copy and paste to a text document, send to juha at liteplacer dot com). Also, send text $$ and send me a log of the result as well. The latter dumps all TinyG internal settings to the log window in human readable form.

MPaulHolmes wrote:How do you use the hello world file? I try to load "hello world pick and place.csv" under the tab
run job. I go to "Load" under "CAD Data", and then it has a bunch of errors like

warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
warning: Empty field on line ,,,,,,,,,,,
Error in file, Msg: Index was out of range. Must be nonnegative, and less than the size of the collection. Parameter name: index

Do I load that hellow world.csv file somewhere else?

It should load just like that. ?? At top right in the run job window, there is a label "CAD Data:" and right to that, a Load button. I just checked and it worked for me. I have no explanation, but let's find out. Did you use the file as is from the zip file (not open and save in Excel or something like that)? Shouldn't have an effect, but what is your windows setup decimal separator? Check that it unzips as it should. In a text editor, the file should look like this:

"Designator","Footprint","mx","mY","Mid X","Mid Y","Pad X","Pad Y","Layer","Rotation","Comment"
""
"U1","SOIC-8","18.75mm","6.25mm","18.75mm","6.25mm","16.15mm","8.155mm","T","360.00","8-pin IC"
"Fid4","testFid","-35mm","-74mm","36.25mm","5mm","-35mm","-74mm","T","360.00","fiducial"
"Fid3","testFid","-35mm","-74mm","37.5mm","33.75mm","-35mm","-74mm","T","360.00","fiducial"
"Fid2","testFid","-35mm","-74mm","3.75mm","36.25mm","-35mm","-74mm","T","360.00","fiducial"
"Fid1","testFid","-35mm","-74mm","3.75mm","3.75mm","-35mm","-74mm","T","360.00","fiducial"
"R4","0805","22.25mm","20.25mm","22.25mm","20.25mm","21.4273mm","20.725mm","T","330.00","300R"
"R6","0805","28mm","20.25mm","28mm","20.25mm","27.1773mm","19.775mm","T","30.00","300R"
"R5","0805","25mm","15.5mm","25mm","15.5mm","25mm","16.45mm","T","270.00","300R"
"R3","0603","13mm","21mm","13mm","21mm","13.375mm","21.6495mm","T","60.00","4k7"
"R2","0603","12.75mm","16.5mm","12.75mm","16.5mm","13.125mm","15.8505mm","T","300.00","4k7"
"R1","0603","9mm","18.75mm","9mm","18.75mm","8.25mm","18.75mm","T","180.00","4k7"

MPaulHolmes wrote:I just finished putting the liteplacer together (everything I have is the default of the kit), and now I'm moving on to understanding the software. I can get the x/y/z axis motors to jog. The A motor spins forever and the program crashes if I use the mouse wheel, but I'm OK with not jogging A. I'm used to Mach 3 for my CNC mill. How do you move to a new location, and then set the zero point for x,y,z,a?

Even if I can only place a bunch of 0603 components and nothing else, I'm OK with that.
What nozzle is used for 0603 components? Is it the smallest one? I think the next one up is too big for 0603.
What is the step by step process (for somebody who just put the machine together 5 minutes ago) for laying down a bunch of tape strips of 0603 components, and then sticking a PCB under the liteplacer, and then having it place the components? My boards have 3 industry standard fiducials.

I'm OK with skipping all of the automatic tests if it is easier to set things up manually. I'm fine with moving to each fiducial recording the x,y location somewhere, and manually measuring the nozzle height from the PCB. I'm fine with manually changing nozzles. I just need basic functionality to work. I have a lot of boards that I have to manually place TONS of 0603 resistors/capacitors as well as 1210 components with little tweezers, and if I can just get it to do that, I'm fine with doing the ICs by hand.

-Paul

> The A motor spins forever and the program crashes if I use the mouse wheel, but I'm OK with not jogging A.

This still indicates a problem. Long spins for A might be about A axis mode ("aam" in TinyG terms). (I still don't know the root cause why that sometimes gets a wrong value.) Anyway, to read, send text
$aam
To set, send:
$aam=1

And in general: Sending text $$ will dump all TinyG parameters to log window. For any strange symptoms that might have to do with TinyG, you can compare to a know good settings set, availabel from teh downloads page. I'm sure you can figure out how to set other parameters from the above example.

> How do you move to a new location, and then set the zero point for x,y,z,a?

For X, Y, and Z, you make the homing switches and camera homing to work. Once you have these working, you click the Home button and the zero positions are set automatically. For A, the best practice is to make a mark in the big pulley and see manually, that the mark points to same direction each time you turn the machine on. This gives you a repeatable rotation calibration, even though there is no automatic homing on A axis.

Btw, it sounds like you have missed the whole setup and calibration section? Please see https://www.liteplacer.com/setup-and-calibration/ and the subpages. But I'm happy to answer the questions anyway!

> What nozzle is used for 0603 components?

I use the smallest or the second smallest. The second up is a bit large, but seems to work fine.

> What is the step by step process...

Go through the setup and calibration stages. That process ends with doing the hello world board (that didn't load for you:-(, no idea why). If you run any issues, need clarifications or anything else, just get in touch; here or by email. Email gets my attention faster, but I try to check in here daily as well.