An update after almost a year of on/off operation. We've pushed a few hundred PCBs through this machine (product A: 450 parts across 115 SKUs, product B: 250 parts across 75 SKUs) and for medium batch sizes (30-50), it definitely beats out hand assembly by a long margin. It also has nearly paid for itself in terms of what we were paying for domestic (Florida, USA) assembly. That said, it takes a lot of tuning and watching and calibrating and adjusting to get it into spec and keep it there. We've managed to push it into full speed operation (this video shows less than half-speed). I still have not seen a better offering in terms of price to performance than this style of machine (HWGC/SMT550/Kayo). Just be prepared to constantly monitor the machine while it runs and be fiddling with pick heights, speeds and feeder calibrations. Even then, expect to be manually touching up many boards (billboards, bad rotations, missed picks, etc.). Overall, I would still buy this machine again (or, more likely a similar model, maybe the 8-head/120-slot from HWGC). For us, the real cost of the machine is hidden in the labor surrounding feeders. Buying, Filling, clearing, loading, unloading, calibrating, troubleshooting and storing. Tape and reel is just a 100% terrible way for electronic components to be distributed. As a result, almost all of the labor is in dealing with feeders and calibrating (any) machinery to work with them.
very good, I just bought one of this pick and place machine and still trying to learn how to program, but don't know who do you recommend that I can learn from?
Overall, so-so. Better than the bottom of the market (CHM-ish), only a little worse than options that cost twice as much, but a lot more expensive than expected (after feeders, oven, tape tooling, racks and misc junk). If I had to do it again, I'd still get the same machine, but I'd go with HW-T4SG-50F instead. Mr. Liu (at HWG) is really great to work with, and there are some details that are better in that machine (Software, Rails, etc.).
@@MyOpenCANLab It looks pretty good, though expensive. We've had incredible support experiences with Neoden and love our IN6 reflow oven. That sticker price seems pretty high, but there are also a ton of hidden costs with buying direct from China. No one was able to tell me how much tariffs or shipping would be, and they were both quite a bit higher than expected. I'd recommend working through the details with Neoden and also checking with Mr. Liu here: bjhwgc.en.alibaba.com
Thanks for double sided tape idea! Next week, I'll try my new machine TVM802B very soon.
An update after almost a year of on/off operation.
We've pushed a few hundred PCBs through this machine (product A: 450 parts across 115 SKUs, product B: 250 parts across 75 SKUs) and for medium batch sizes (30-50), it definitely beats out hand assembly by a long margin. It also has nearly paid for itself in terms of what we were paying for domestic (Florida, USA) assembly.
That said, it takes a lot of tuning and watching and calibrating and adjusting to get it into spec and keep it there. We've managed to push it into full speed operation (this video shows less than half-speed).
I still have not seen a better offering in terms of price to performance than this style of machine (HWGC/SMT550/Kayo).
Just be prepared to constantly monitor the machine while it runs and be fiddling with pick heights, speeds and feeder calibrations. Even then, expect to be manually touching up many boards (billboards, bad rotations, missed picks, etc.).
Overall, I would still buy this machine again (or, more likely a similar model, maybe the 8-head/120-slot from HWGC).
For us, the real cost of the machine is hidden in the labor surrounding feeders. Buying, Filling, clearing, loading, unloading, calibrating, troubleshooting and storing. Tape and reel is just a 100% terrible way for electronic components to be distributed. As a result, almost all of the labor is in dealing with feeders and calibrating (any) machinery to work with them.
Just ordered hw-t4-50f
@@MyOpenCANLab Congratulations! I hope you like and feel free to email me directly if you get stuck on anything.
@@LukeBayesHuman mine already works as well 🤘👍😁
@@MyOpenCANLab Congratulations! Let me know if you get stuck or need help with anything.
very good, I just bought one of this pick and place machine and still trying to learn how to program, but don't know who do you recommend that I can learn from?
How do you like the machine overall? Been looking at picking one up but there are limited reviews.
Overall, so-so.
Better than the bottom of the market (CHM-ish), only a little worse than options that cost twice as much, but a lot more expensive than expected (after feeders, oven, tape tooling, racks and misc junk). If I had to do it again, I'd still get the same machine, but I'd go with HW-T4SG-50F instead.
Mr. Liu (at HWG) is really great to work with, and there are some details that are better in that machine (Software, Rails, etc.).
Happy to give more detail over email. It's my full name, all lowercase at gmail dot com.
@@LukeBayesHuman What do you think about Neoden 9 ?
@@MyOpenCANLab It looks pretty good, though expensive. We've had incredible support experiences with Neoden and love our IN6 reflow oven. That sticker price seems pretty high, but there are also a ton of hidden costs with buying direct from China. No one was able to tell me how much tariffs or shipping would be, and they were both quite a bit higher than expected.
I'd recommend working through the details with Neoden and also checking with Mr. Liu here: bjhwgc.en.alibaba.com