Open source generic component feeder

[chome]

Would it be possible to make fully autonomous feeder? I'm not an expert in feeders (EE by trade), but it seems to me that the only thing it does is advance a tape when the pick position gets emptied. This event can easily be detected with a photosensor.

I can design a circuit to do this - driving two small motors and reading a handful of photosensors can be done for about $10 in parts.

[chome]

This is the source of 12x10 gearmotors in single quantity -> Pololu - 30:1 Micro Metal Gearmotor HP

[stewi]

Thank you for the interest in the feeder project. The motors are likely purchased directly from China or through a direct importer like Kysan Electronics I selected A12FT-5V400RPM
Empty feeder detection or fully autonomous feeder should contain a RF ID.
That a feeder is empty is recognized by vacuum detection from the pick up nozzle, but we rather need an early warning system, which alerts the operator to splice in a new tape before the old tape runs on empty. An optical sensor in a fixed position of a feeder wouldn't help too much if the pick head picks at a rate of 100 ms just from this one feeder track. This tape would advance by 40 mm in a second. Within 10 second the tape would disappear inside the machine and can no longer be accessed by the operator to splice in a new tape.
The RF ID should store the information of the tape content (component name) as well as the number of components in a reel. The machine will read the component information for super fast set up time.
1.A LED in the feeder table will blink as soon the operator approaches with this particular feeder, indicating where this feeder needs to be placed on the machine.
2. The number of components in the tape are read by the feeder table controller
3. Upon each feeder activation the number of remaining components are stored back to the feeder RF ID.

Some customers require a time stamp for each component used on a board. This info could be stored on the ID tag as well.

Last, but not least, the entire idea of this feeder concept is to make the feeder small and inexpensive to store the remaining components in the reel together with the feeder dangling at the end of the tape. If you ever need to search for this particular component in the inventory room you only need a mobile reader to find it.

[cittadinilaser]

HELLO Stewi , others

Congratulations for your hard and good work
I´m from Spain and also interested in P&P machines , as others because the high costs of a commercial machine I´m looking to make one by myself ...

I like very much your feeders ( I see some of them ) and I want to ask if you can send me the files (Acad ) to figure how to mount them ,
As parts I´ll take the option of buyng across shapeways, electronics is not very difficult for me ,
Thanks in advance

cittadinilaser@hotmail.com

Fernando Cittadini

[stewi]

Ola Fernando,

good to hear you want to get into P&P machines. I'll send the files in ACAD/MDT 2004 format to your PM. Let me know if this works.
However, you may want to check out used feeder option.
Siemens feeders such as 141105 used on SP120/HS180/MS102 machines sell for ~$50-$100, that can be as low as $25 per track.

Regards,
Stefan

[cittadinilaser]

Hello Stefan


Thanks a lot for your quick response ,
Yes please send Cads ,
Here in Spain we don´t have acess to used machines or used parts , I check all the web , but I can´t find too much .
Please if you know some place or contact , please let me know .

Here in Spain , we only have a lot of Sun ....

Thanks and Regards

Fernando

[stewi]

Well, I know about the sun. Used to live in Mallorca for some time.
The best contact I have is Adopt in Austria AdoptSMT GmbH - Used Machines and Spare Parts for the Automatic PCB Assembly Process - Index

[stewi]

I have no longer contributed to this site, due to lack of readers.

For anyone, who wants to pick up from here, I have at least two more ideas on how to improve on current feeder designs.

1. I do believe the tape can be advanced just by pulling on the cover tape, versus advancing through the perforation holes.
2. A sprocket wheel may not be required if the tape position is sensed with sensors at the perforation holes. (will not work with clear plastic tapes)
3. The cover tape can be molten down and stuck to the tape side. I experimented with a solder iron with some success. A laser may not work as it may just “look” through the clear plastic.

Again anyone picking up from here, I’ll provide logistic support and may find some motors and parts as well.

On the robot Tom and I came to the conclusion in the WikiPlacer project, that a linear delta robot may be the best solution.
Personally I like the almost unlimited Z-clearance, allowing connectors to be placed with the same speed as small parts.

It appears that Linux based EMC2 can take X,Y,Z,theta data and translate these to spheres used for these robots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgnxBaFFDi8]Linear delta-robot test - YouTube

Mechanically, I have no idea how long these ball joints last
McMaster-Carr
and have used bearings or bushings instead. Again, I’ll share all my drawings upon request.