| Joseph Hebert 05/06/12 15:50 Read: 308 times Okemah, Ok United States |
#187294 - Much work Responding to: Mahmood Elnasser's previous message |
Hi Mahmood,
I wonder how professional PCB manufacturers do so much work for so little money. I guess it is pretty much automated and they rely on mass production. They panelize everything, and process the panels with wet processes. In the time it takes me to mill a single small board they will have etched dozens or hundreds. It's called commoditization. If you make a dollar a thousand times in an hour, you make a thousand dollars an hour. I will never do other than single or double sided prototype on my machine because it consumes so much time and effort and chemicals equipment etc.... Don't be so sure. If you do anything beyond the absolutely simplest things possible with a µ-controller, you will quickly learn that you must maintain controlled impedances of your traces. And you aren't going to do that with a QFP to DIP adapter, nor will you do that without at least a ground plane. About using your CNC as a pick and place machine, it's certainly possible to do if your machine has sufficient precision and repeatability, but you're going to need quite a vision system and the software to utilize it. I used to have a QUAD IVc pick and place machine (3,600 parts per hour, dual intelligent vision systems, laser alignment head, etc.), and I can tell you that for prototype assembly, you'll be much better off mounting a vacuum pickup tube (with a knob to move it up and down) under a microscope and just aligning the board to the parts manually. I found that for the smallest parts (0805s, the CP2102) scaling the tube down to a needle diameter is necessary to accommodate viewing the alignment. Good luck, Joe |
| Topic | Author | Date |
| CNC | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/14/12 10:43 |
| Enjoy :) | Oliver Sedlacek | 04/16/12 04:14 |
| Having fun | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/17/12 13:53 |
| Congratulations | Joseph Hebert | 04/16/12 09:42 |
| We looked at buying one of those | Jez Smith | 04/16/12 14:09 |
| Me Either! | Joseph Hebert | 04/16/12 14:17 |
| We use a variety | Jez Smith | 04/17/12 00:50 |
| do not be lazy,Mr.Smith | Stefan KAnev | 04/17/12 11:28 |
| prototype cost and turnaround | Joseph Hebert | 04/17/12 13:31 |
| I'll find the ads | Erik Malund | 04/17/12 14:14 |
| googled | Erik Malund | 04/17/12 14:22 |
| Ebay deal | Steve M. Taylor | 04/17/12 15:08 |
What about this one then...  | Robert Revens | 04/25/12 12:59 |
| Follow up on prototype board shops | Joseph Hebert | 06/22/12 08:41 |
| international pcb houses | Mahmood Elnasser | 06/22/12 14:13 |
| PCB Houses | Joseph Hebert | 06/22/12 16:55 |
| working out of town | Erik Malund | 04/17/12 07:20 |
| CNC bits | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/25/12 06:37 |
| answering | Joseph Hebert | 04/25/12 11:38 |
| it happens | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/25/12 14:51 |
| what other tools required? | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/25/12 15:00 |
| a new trick zeroing Z axis | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/26/12 12:26 |
| Z ref | Steve M. Taylor | 04/26/12 13:10 |
| Collet type | Mahmood Elnasser | 06/22/12 14:27 |
| Z axis reference | Mahmood Elnasser | 07/02/12 01:40 |
| Vacuum | Per Westermark | 07/02/12 02:35 |
| this sort of thing happens often, from my experience | Richard Erlacher | 05/01/12 07:38 |
| ctrl+A, crtl+C, submit | David Brown | 09/19/12 01:34 |
| tools | Joseph Hebert | 04/26/12 14:11 |
| holding the PCB | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/27/12 00:27 |
| Holding the PCB | Joseph Hebert | 04/27/12 14:06 |
| Carbon steel? | Per Westermark | 04/27/12 20:16 |
| Not tungsten carbide | Joseph Hebert | 04/28/12 16:37 |
| Just carbide is a bit lazy slang for tungsten carbide | Per Westermark | 04/28/12 21:41 |
| If you say so. | Joseph Hebert | 04/28/12 22:30 |
| Plate through holes | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/28/12 11:05 |
| plating holes | Joseph Hebert | 04/28/12 16:46 |
| plated through holes cont. | Joseph Hebert | 04/28/12 22:37 |
| 2 point registration system | Mahmood Elnasser | 04/30/12 14:27 |
| Need not be exactly in middle. | Per Westermark | 04/30/12 16:05 |
| is it that simple? | Mahmood Elnasser | 05/01/12 00:27 |
| 2-pin registration | Joseph Hebert | 04/30/12 23:40 |
| Fine pitch milling | Joseph Hebert | 05/01/12 23:54 |
| Solder Mask | Mahmood Elnasser | 05/02/12 10:28 |
| solder mask and legend | Joseph Hebert | 05/02/12 11:47 |
| too much work | Mahmood Elnasser | 05/02/12 15:54 |
| Much work | Joseph Hebert | 05/06/12 15:50 |
| My CNC | Steve M. Taylor | 05/07/12 06:57 |
| Is That... | Michael Karas | 05/07/12 10:30 |
| which cad did you use? | Mahmood Elnasser | 05/07/12 15:58 |
| Limit Switches | Michael Karas | 05/08/12 00:22 |
| Will do | Mahmood Elnasser | 05/08/12 10:55 |
| Little Plates | Michael Karas | 05/08/12 16:40 |
| MEchanical limit switches | Steve M. Taylor | 05/11/12 12:50 |
| Your project | Joseph Hebert | 05/10/12 06:18 |
| This: | Steve M. Taylor | 05/11/12 12:38 |
| very cool! | Joseph Hebert | 05/11/12 13:29 |
| Funnel | Michael Karas | 05/12/12 12:37 |
| Funnel ! | Steve M. Taylor | 05/13/12 13:04 |
| Lawyer or Solicitor - Not ! ! | Michael Karas | 05/13/12 15:43 |
| RIght | Steve M. Taylor | 05/14/12 12:16 |
| vacuum pick and place tool | David Brown | 09/19/12 01:29 |
| 90 degrees bits | Mahmood Elnasser | 09/14/12 04:22 |
| Z-axis depth control | Joseph Hebert | 09/15/12 22:53 |
| stepper | Mahmood Elnasser | 09/16/12 06:34 |
| z-axis control | Joseph Hebert | 09/16/12 15:37 |
| oiling | Mahmood Elnasser | 09/29/12 14:49 |
| lubrication | Joseph Hebert | 10/01/12 10:41 |
| Lube | Steve M. Taylor | 10/05/12 14:47 |
| ballscrews | Mahmood Elnasser | 10/06/12 00:21 |
| Ballscrews | Steve M. Taylor | 10/06/12 14:00 |
| Sometimes it's useful for controlling dynamics | Richard Erlacher | 10/06/12 14:08 |
| ballscrews & table slides | Joseph Hebert | 10/06/12 15:15 |
LINUXCNC | Mahmood Elnasser | 10/19/12 02:08 |