I have been trying to eliminate the troublesome tubed parts in our SMT process but because we are a high mix/low-medium volume we still have to deal with it sometimes. However, the ones I can fix I'm working on.
The next step in my war against tubes is getting these parts on reels. Our reel service company will do it for about $50 minimum which equates to a charge for 1000 parts onto a reel. Im talking about getting 50 to 200 or 300 reeled up not 1000. So it doesn't seem worth it to use the service imo.
So I would like to get our own tube to tape and reel machine.
Has anyone gone in this direction and have some advice?
How much do tube to reel machines average?
Is getting the hand placed manual to reel models cause more problems? (i.e. human error)
It seems to me that it would save a little time at SMT not having to hand place parts but the manual loading of the reel machine would offer me just as many human errors and may even require another warm body putting the costs up.
Thought? opinions?
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