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placement of 8 ml smt components

Tim Scully

#14362

placement of 8 ml smt components | 10 September, 1998

Heeeelllllp. I am a sales rep. ( I know I know, you can't help me with that. ha ha.) Actually, I represent a company that fabricates PCBs and assembles them under the same roof. We are a small to moderate volume house that is just getting into surface mount. My priciple has just ordered an Amistar PlacePro 7100. The problem is that two of my biggest potential customers need us to place smt at a .080 pitch and the Amistar only goes to .10 ( our bare boards go down to .050). I would like to convince the powers that be, to return this machine and get one that will place down to .080. Is there one available that won't break the bank and place nearly as fast as the Amistar (18500 per hour). I need to go back to the company I represent and sell them on a different machine before this one's 60 day trial is over. It's hard enough getting new customers, it's even tougher when you're limited on your capabilities. Hhheeeeellllllp!

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matthew park

#14365

Re: placement of 8 ml smt components | 10 September, 1998

Tim, What is it? Which ones are you talking about: 0.080" vs 0.008", 0.100" vs 0.010", or 0.050" vs 0.005" pitch devices . If you are saying 0.080",0.100" and 0.050", any pick and place machine can handle that. Well if not, one machine that is capable of placing 0.008" pitch devices is Universal GSM1 or GSM2. Talk to Universal Instrument Inc. They can help you but it gonna empty your company's bank. If I were you, I ask my two customers to change to BGA packages or min 0.016" pitch devices (0.020" pitch is better however). That will be better than investing a huge sums of money for a machine that has 0.008" pitch capability. Perfecting the manufacturing process for 0.008" pitch devices is another thing you need to think about. regards Matthew | Heeeelllllp. | I am a sales rep. ( I know I know, you can't help me with that. ha ha.) Actually, I represent a company that fabricates PCBs and assembles them under the same roof. We are a small to moderate volume house that is just getting into surface mount. | My priciple has just ordered an Amistar PlacePro 7100. The problem is that two of my biggest potential customers need us to place smt at a .080 pitch and the Amistar only goes to .10 ( our bare boards go down to .050). I would like to convince the powers that be, to return this machine and get one that will place down to .080. Is there one available that won't break the bank and place nearly as fast as the Amistar (18500 per hour). | I need to go back to the company I represent and sell them on a different machine before this one's 60 day trial is over. It's hard enough getting new customers, it's even tougher when you're limited on your capabilities. Hhheeeeellllllp!

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Steve Gregory

#14364

Re: placement of 8 ml smt components | 10 September, 1998

Hi Tim, 8-mil huh? Boy, that's getting down there...you know, placing 8-mil is one thing, but printing solder paste on 8-mil pitch is another. Most of the time when I've seen 8-mil pitch on a board it's been attached with hot-bar...but I guess you COULD print paste and place components if you really wanted to do it that way. Matthew is right about big bucks. The machine vendors that will state, AND back their statements about their machines being able to place 8-mil is going to cost some money...from my experience though, the finest pitch that most guarantee is 12-mil. That doesn't necessarily mean that a machine won't place below that, it's just that they won't guarantee it. When you get down to that fine of a pitch, things like the ambient temperature that the machine is operating in can affect placement accuracy. If you guys are looking at Amistar, then that tells me that you're looking at something midrange. I've got some experience with Amistar machines, I worked at Smart Modular Technologies who has 13-lines of Amistar machines. They're good memory module machines, and they even surprized me with how well they did with some 128-pin 15.7-mil TQFP's that went on a PCMCIA MPEG card that we built while I was working there. But 8-mil, no-way. In that price range, I might take a look at Zevatech's FM760. They won't guarantee 8-mil, I know that, but they will guarantee 12-mil...and on a good day I think the 760 could do 8 mil. The thing in my opinion that the 760 has over a lot of other machines, is the closed-loop linear encoders they use to position the placement head. The 760 has Sony magna-scales in both the X and Y axis to feedback to the machine's CPU when it's reached it's placement point, instead of relying on rotary encoders like many machines do. There's been some flip chip with 3-mil bumps on a 6-mil grid placed with the 760 that I know of, but that was on one of those "good days"... Good Luck! -Steve Gregory-

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Earl Moon

#14363

Re: placement of 8 ml smt components | 11 September, 1998

| Heeeelllllp. | I am a sales rep. ( I know I know, you can't help me with that. ha ha.) Actually, I represent a company that fabricates PCBs and assembles them under the same roof. We are a small to moderate volume house that is just getting into surface mount. | My priciple has just ordered an Amistar PlacePro 7100. The problem is that two of my biggest potential customers need us to place smt at a .080 pitch and the Amistar only goes to .10 ( our bare boards go down to .050). I would like to convince the powers that be, to return this machine and get one that will place down to .080. Is there one available that won't break the bank and place nearly as fast as the Amistar (18500 per hour). | I need to go back to the company I represent and sell them on a different machine before this one's 60 day trial is over. It's hard enough getting new customers, it's even tougher when you're limited on your capabilities. Hhheeeeellllllp! Tim, Glad I caught this on the forum in addition to our other conversation. I agree with Steve concerning Zevatech. At first (about 2 years ago), no one on this earth could convince me a belt driven machine could do much of anything. After seeing Zevatech in action, I thought otherwise. The reasons, as Steve put it, are the linear encoders, the belt drive system, and the problems associated with some lead screw type mechanisms (runout, machining accuracy, etc.). Without getting into all that, I would simply suggest you all take a closer look at the 760 and you will get closer to your objective. Earl Moon

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