I asked this question over at Sparkfun but I think I'll get more responses here:
For those guys out there making SMT boards by hand, how fast are you placing components?
My average is around 15 seconds per part which seems awfully slow. Actually it's 30 seconds including syringe paste dispense on a board that's mostly discrete components, but I'm assuming a 50/50 split.
How fast are you averaging? What's considered a normal production speed for hand placement without assistive (manual P&P) tools?
Manual placement rate
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- alphatronique
- Posts: 231
- Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:30 am
Re: Manual placement rate
Hi that have lot of parameter and variation ..
1-) if you do always same board
2-) clear RefDef or not
3-) complexity and number of different part
4-) etc etc ..
but 15 sec for per board for new board ,and down to 7 sec for knot and clean board may look not to bad
personally i not see difference that place by hand or whit manual pick place
and find funny sale person that claim that manual pick place do 1000 > part / hour ,that no sense
for speed-up you may improvise a stencil whit thin aluminium or plastic sheet and drill hole on it
that make better result that hand deposit whit syringe and much faster
1-) if you do always same board
2-) clear RefDef or not
3-) complexity and number of different part
4-) etc etc ..
but 15 sec for per board for new board ,and down to 7 sec for knot and clean board may look not to bad
personally i not see difference that place by hand or whit manual pick place
and find funny sale person that claim that manual pick place do 1000 > part / hour ,that no sense
for speed-up you may improvise a stencil whit thin aluminium or plastic sheet and drill hole on it
that make better result that hand deposit whit syringe and much faster
-
- Posts: 164
- Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:21 pm
Re: Manual placement rate
With a foot operated vacuum pen, picking from tape which is laid out in the right orientation, you can get below 2 secs per part.
Most of the time for hand placement is finding and orienting parts, so laying them out for easy picking makes a big difference.
I did a video on this a while ago : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdGSFc7VjBE
Most of the time for hand placement is finding and orienting parts, so laying them out for easy picking makes a big difference.
I did a video on this a while ago : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdGSFc7VjBE
- 48x24x48x
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 1:50 am
Re: Manual placement rate
It depends on what your picking (passive, polarized components, IC).
I usually average at 3-10 s depending on what I'm picking.
And I placed all components in ice cube trays with labels, that make it a little faster.
Panel PCB will help too if you pick the same component type across the whole panel before moving to the next component type.
Lots of China factory will manually hand pick if your quantity is low!
I usually average at 3-10 s depending on what I'm picking.
And I placed all components in ice cube trays with labels, that make it a little faster.
Panel PCB will help too if you pick the same component type across the whole panel before moving to the next component type.
Lots of China factory will manually hand pick if your quantity is low!
- lyndon
- Posts: 281
- Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:28 pm
Re: Manual placement rate
Mike,
First, that is a great video. It reminded me that I started building a holder for multiple cut tapes but never finished it. I gathered some more data and what I've found is that some parts are taking around 3 seconds to place, but yet my overall rate is averaging 15 seconds (measured over 4 boards) so at some point, I'm slowing way down. I only pick ICs and LEDs directly from tape and not surprisingly those are the fastest. The rest are in a single layer in trays.
My conclusion is that I'm slowing down when I get to some of the bulk parts (have to place almost two dozen 0805 resistors) because their orientation is varied and some are upside down.
Take home message: finish the cut tape holder, build a lazy susan so I can turn boards easily, and make better use of vacuum.
First, that is a great video. It reminded me that I started building a holder for multiple cut tapes but never finished it. I gathered some more data and what I've found is that some parts are taking around 3 seconds to place, but yet my overall rate is averaging 15 seconds (measured over 4 boards) so at some point, I'm slowing way down. I only pick ICs and LEDs directly from tape and not surprisingly those are the fastest. The rest are in a single layer in trays.
My conclusion is that I'm slowing down when I get to some of the bulk parts (have to place almost two dozen 0805 resistors) because their orientation is varied and some are upside down.
Take home message: finish the cut tape holder, build a lazy susan so I can turn boards easily, and make better use of vacuum.
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.