SMD Machine suggestions? Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[DMCShep]

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.

[juku]

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]

Have you considered using a CEM?

Much lower overhead compared to purchasing equipment.

You may contact me if you have any questions.