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High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....?

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....?

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I'm in a manufacturing environment with a very high mix of b... - Dec 23, 2014 by 847242

I'm sure you considered acquiring a second FX-D and run them... - Dec 23, 2014 by DeanM

Hi, I think that the jet printer is going to work for you... - Dec 24, 2014 by Evtimov

We've actually bought a second FX-D, which is intended to m... - Dec 30, 2014 by 847242

What does "maintain it really good" entail? For reference... - Dec 30, 2014 by 847242

I understand the Camalot and Mydata both have a maximum boar... - Jan 02, 2015 by DeanM

The machine supports indexing, so it'll do one part of the b... - Jan 08, 2015 by 847242

Hi Jeff, We have both a MY500 (4 years) and a 600 (8 mont... - Jan 09, 2015 by jsolloway

847242

#73268

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....? | 23 December, 2014

I'm in a manufacturing environment with a very high mix of boards, and some low-mid volume. A "large" production run might consist of 100 boards. Volume: There are numerous boards that have a volume of 1-3 pieces. There are a few boards with an annual usage of a few thousand. The rest are in the mid to high hundreds.

Board size: Large for this industry. Some of ours can be 49" long. The width is limited by most standard conveyor rails though, and is 15" or less. Most of the components to be placed are PLCC4 LEDs and 2512 resistors. There is also need to be able to do QFP and TSSOP packages.

The assembly line currently in use has, unfortunately, a Manncorp PNP machine. It is paired with a Camalot FX-D dispenser. Because of the extremely high mix, and also the large size of the boards, screen printing hasn't looked like it was going to be a cost-effective option. Eventually we may employ one for the higher volume boards though.

In any case, the FX-D has performed consistently, but it still can't keep up with the Manncorp's average 4000-5000CPH placement rate.

I've read and heard snippets here and there that the MY500 has some issues with the solder granules clogging up the printheads, or that there are consumables it chews through, or that there is some wasted solder paste, but I don't have much in the way of details on how often any of that happens, or what the consumables are or what they cost. The MY600 might have even addressed some of these issues.

I would like to please solicit some detailed feedback on a MY500 or MY600 machine in a production environment.

Or is there another high-speed dispensing option that I'm not aware of?

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DeanM

#73270

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....? | 23 December, 2014

I'm sure you considered acquiring a second FX-D and run them inline, the first dispensing half the board and the second the other half. That would automatically double your throughput.

You wouldn't have to worry about a new process, consumables, etc. You would have confidence with your current process.

An additional benefit would be that you would have the flexibility to dispense glue then paste if the need arises. Also having two FX-Ds wouldn't put you down in case one has a mechanical issue.

What's the cost difference between a Mydata and another FX-D?

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Evtimov

#73275

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....? | 24 December, 2014

Hi,

I think that the jet printer is going to work for your process - the key with this device is to maintain it really good so you don't get any clogs. These are very fast devices.

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847242

#73289

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....? | 30 December, 2014

We've actually bought a second FX-D, which is intended to mainly handle smaller, higher-volume boards. That will still serve to improve throughput. But at the same time, we're also adding another pick'n'place machine which has a rated speed that's 2x faster than the Manncorp's, so the PNPs will again outpace the FX-D.

Glue dispensing: Thus far it's not been an issue. The designs here are typically afforded a great deal of board space, so we've not yet had need to put parts on both sides of a board.

The MY500 is about 2.25x the cost of an FX-D. I don't know what a MY600 would be, or what the specific differences are.

The other benefit of a MY500/600 machine is that it could offer more speed with less floor space.

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847242

#73290

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....? | 30 December, 2014

What does "maintain it really good" entail?

For reference, this is our maintenance procedure for the FX-D: - At the end of an 8hr shift, the solder paste path is purged start-to-finish using Nordson's ValvePurge. The machine's then powered down and that's it. This is done in about 5 minutes. - At the end of a workweek, the paste tube is removed, excess paste is drawn through the auger to clear the small transfer tube, and then the auger, needle, and tube are cleaned with isopropyl alcohol in an ultrasonic cleaner. They are also manually cleaned of any caked-on solder or leftovers in tight spots, and visually inspected. The parts are then reassembled, and the operator's ready to go home. That does take longer, but still maybe 20 minutes. (I haven't checked in lately, they might be pretty proficient at it now.)

That kind of maintenance time is perfectly acceptable for this sort of production environment.

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DeanM

#73294

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....? | 2 January, 2015

I understand the Camalot and Mydata both have a maximum board length of 20". How do you/would you process a board over 20" as mentioned you sometimes have 49" boards?

If a screen printer is an option, have you seen the ESE US-LX3 which has a maximum board length of 51"?

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847242

#73310

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....? | 8 January, 2015

The machine supports indexing, so it'll do one part of the board, advance it to a stop, read fiducials in the second stage of the board, and then paste that section. The MY500/600 reportedly do not support this feature, though there are usually ways of tricking machines into doing your bidding.

Screen printing: Might happen at some point in the future. It's not yet on the roadmap though.

Consumables: I heard today that the MY500 can require replacement of the printheads daily, a $600 consumable part.

My daily consumables cost for the FX-D (excluding solder paste) is somewhere under $1.

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jsolloway

#73311

High-speed solder paste dispensing. MY500, MY600, FX-D....? | 9 January, 2015

Hi Jeff,

We have both a MY500 (4 years) and a 600 (8 months) and were the first in the UK to have both. They work well for us, enough so that we no longer use a stencil printer.

Like yourselves we are a high mix CEM we make about 500 different part numbers a year and build approx 50K assemblys a year, mostly hi-end BGA technologies and some POP.

Your problem will be panel size. MY500 has 500x420mm and I expect the MY600 is similar. Plus a few other niggles that we have ...

Feel free to give me a call 0044 1252 368269 (8.30-17.00) GMT.

All the best,

Jason

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