Sure do. Spent a couple months with that group last winter trying to get the Soft Beam to solder a small connector board. It really depends on what you are trying to solder. The Soft Beam couldn't handle my job because our board was too small. Not that the Soft Beam is a bad machine, cause we currently use Panasonic placement eqmt. now and plan to buy another line by years end, plus some thru-hole equipment. Our board design just didn't fit the Soft Beam process.
Performance is OK. Again, it depends on your application. As for solder speed, it has no problem, just depends on how big of a heat sink you have. The Soft Beam is very easy access. It depends on if you get a pass through, or stad alone.
The one thing that does seem to limit the Soft Beam is if you wanted to go from small solder pads to something larger, or vice-versa. It is pc controlled, but focal distance, wire solde size, beam intesity etc. may have to be changed to go from one to the other. Heat sinking can also give it struggle.
Over all, Panasonic has put some good effort into the machine. The wire feed, repeatablity, ease of maintenance are all solid. I'd suggest giving them a try on your board. They can run your product and video tape for you too. They record all the parameters so if you do buy one, your start up is prety easy. That way you don't even have to leave work! We all know the boss likes that.
reply »
Hello, everyone. We are checking a Panasonic Soft Beam machi...
- Jun 05, 2002
by
SL
Sure do. Spent a couple months with that group last winter ...
- Jun 05, 2002
by
