I tried my hand (excuse the pun) at hand-soldering an SMD chip, and I simply cannot do it. I was wondering what kind of devices there are that can assemble and solder a board for me. I normally use KiCad for designing, and was hoping for something that could grab a chip, place it, and solder it all automatically. Hopefully something that won't cost ten grand or anything like that, I'm doing this as a small-time business venture and can't fit high-end machines into my budget.
Anyone have any suggestions? I'm researching my options at this point, but I haven't a clue where to even start.
SMD Machine suggestions?
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- juku
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 4:38 am
Re: SMD Machine suggestions?
The process is: put solder paste on the board, place components, solder the board (usually in an oven). No single machine does this, other than a full production line. For small money, manual paste applying is fine. The oven and controller is a couple of hundred at lowest. Placing the parts manually is possible, but quickly gets tedious in a business environment. The cheapest machine is LitePlacer (disclaimer: mine), www.liteplacer.com. The last few chapters of the faq page should be interesting for you. :-)
- SDMI
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 10:49 pm
Re: SMD Machine suggestions?
Have you considered using a CEM?
Much lower overhead compared to purchasing equipment.
You may contact me if you have any questions.
Much lower overhead compared to purchasing equipment.
You may contact me if you have any questions.
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.