Stencil printers, what's really out there?

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I'm looking at stencil printers, particularly those that ca... - Feb 22, 2000 by Steve Thomas

Dek 249 and Dek 260 models use to have fiducial recognition... - Feb 22, 2000 by

I like MPM's 500 machine. I purchased the predecessor mode... - Feb 22, 2000 by

Steve, Give MPM/Speedline a call and see if they still sel... - Feb 23, 2000 by Michael Uganecz

Steve, I'd stop worrying about the in-line feature of the ... - Mar 03, 2000 by se

Steve Thomas

#4876

Stencil printers, what's really out there? | 22 February, 2000

I'm looking at stencil printers, particularly those that can produce good repeatable prints on finepitch boards with minimal setup and training.

I would love to find a printer that does auto x-y-theta alignment (would like a system that aligns stencil to board, not just board to an overlay on the vision system), squeegee pressure, on/off contact settings, squeegee speed, stencil wiping, and maybe inspection. What I DON'T need is an in-line printer, as our capacity doesn't require it.

Does this machine exist, or do you have to get an in-line machine to get all those bells and whistles? I'm trying to eliminate critical operator intervention, but I don't consider loading and unloading as critical.

Thanks.

Steve

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Chris

#4877

Re: Stencil printers, what's really out there? | 22 February, 2000

Dek 249 and Dek 260 models use to have fiducial recognition where table would adjust to the stencil. However, I would still recomend you buy an inline model because the change over will be much faster. Probably 10 times faster.

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Peter

#4878

Re: Stencil printers, what's really out there? | 22 February, 2000

I like MPM's 500 machine. I purchased the predecessor model when it was made by SMTech. This machine has programmable pin supports which made setting up for double sided boards really easy. For auto alignment, I think only in-line machines have that feature.

It had 2D inspection but it didn't work very well at that time. Maybe MPM has improved on it.

Peter

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Michael Uganecz

#4879

Re: Stencil printers, what's really out there? | 23 February, 2000

Steve,

Give MPM/Speedline a call and see if they still sell the SPM-AV, it's a shuttle style printer with vision alignment. It has a really nice auto-align vision system that will move the table in x,y and theta. It's not a look up/look down system like their inline machines but works really well. It's also much more sophisticated than a simple go/no-go vision overlay system. Also has lots of squeegee settings and a stencil wiper option. Well worth looking into.

Michael Uganecz Director-Product Design Streamline Automation streamlinecanada@home.com

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#4880

Re: Stencil printers, what's really out there? | 3 March, 2000

Steve,

I'd stop worrying about the in-line feature of the printer, I've never really seen an in-line system that wasn't capable of batch operation and there will be very little, if any, cost saving associated with going batch load only. An in-line machine gives you versatility down the road if your volume increases and you go in-line or it has a greater resale value if you sell it later as used equipment.

Most of the features you mentioned are only available on top of the line equipment which is designed to appeal to the greatest customer base, which is in-line, and that pretty much eliminates the board adjustment features you requested. In-line machines will typically have fixed board position during printing. DEK and MPM are the big names.

A company with some of the features you wanted and with an auto align board movement/batch processing capability is AMI. Less expensive, stencil wiping and auto squeegee pressure are available, but not standard additions. Good Luck..Dan.

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