Oh, nice! Thanks for the feedback, much glad you enjoyed :D I've actually got another on the PnP front that's in the works, which should be out in Jan--focused on the feeders, should be useful once you get it running. Good luck and have fun!

Thanks! The spice of life, right? hah. I only learnt about the Lumen after I was already sitting on the giant box. Did consider it's sweet feeders, though, for the LitePlacer. Still thinking about them, actually. How's it been for you? Is it a plug and play wonder, did you get much done with it, what are your impressions of it?

@@PsychogenicTechnologies The newer release is a lot more plug and play friendly since they assemble most if it before shipping. Mine was a print your own part adventure and I modified it to use linear rails as well so I've done a bit of modding. It's working great though! I'm actually beta testing their feeders and they work really nice. A few minor tweaks and I think they should be ready to go. I've also got a handful of the CleverFeeders running too! They are really, really nice but they are hard to get ahold of. With vision its around 5-600 cph and if I trust everything is dialed and turn off vision for things like passives I've hit mid 900s. (just using CPH as a rough idea of how well the feeders and machine works. not gospel or anything). I think there is a lot of room left in it for speed but there's some funky issues with Marlin.

@@RyanMT Wow, that's pretty awesome, would love to see the mods in action. What are these CleverFeeders? The g00gle reveals little... Anyhow, am so far good with the drag reel system, but am considering how I might bolt on some extras, so keeping an eye on the Lumen feeders. As long as the speed issues are software-related, you're golden as it'll eventually sort itself out.

Thanks! Happy you like the vid and really nice to know the warranty voider club may be exclusive but it's not a party of 1 :)

Thanks!! It's a sweet little machine. I need to collate the info in there and a few things I've learned since into a blog post or something to make the transition easier, but its worked smashingly to date :) Thanks again for the feedback, and good luck if you take on the adventure

My sincere pleasure... haven't put out a PnP vid in a while, but I still have lots to say on that front... it's on the list and coming. Thanks for the feedback! :)

Hah, seriously! In reality, I once actually read manuals--like, all manuals... don't know what happened, if I changed or they did, but it seems they're basically * 8 pages of "hot things are hot" "don't put finger there" "don't use in shower" * 2 pages of driver install * 3 pages of fine print legalese But in this case... still don't know what's in there, but I'm pretty sure most user don't build a circuit to connect it to a computer, and it might've helped. lol.

Thanks a lot, Viral! I've juggling a few things at the same time, but I have made some interesting advances and already have the footage--just need to put it together, so... coming soon. Cheers!

Merci beaucoup! I thought my beast was heavy but your build with that giant granite slab must be insane. Stable and perfectly flat, though, wow. That's machining at a whole other level, pretty much the opposite of the off-the-shelf approach... a lot of work, but what a result. I'm eager to see it working, too!

@@PsychogenicTechnologies Soon it will be in motion, this week I need to lift this block and put it on a custom welded table, then I need to drill the holes for mounting all the parts, and then finally start with the assembly. This time I have AC servo motors and high-speed 2550 TBI ballscrews, I managed to calculate 2.5m/s running on DUET3 and OpenPnP, but we will see... 😁😁

Hope you're not planning to move soon! hah. "Stand back, and stock up on oxygen, I'm about to start her up!" 9 kph is really something.

@@PsychogenicTechnologies😂, we will see how it goes! Maybe all will fall apart when I start it! 💩

@@zdenkostanec1622 hahaha, never know! Good luck (and share a vid, especially if it blows up!! lol)

:) Many thanks: hopefully more fun in the condensed version that the (mostly my fault) roller coaster adventure in real time. The danger-wobble was resolved (new surface isn't perfect, but a huge improvement and would be even better if I conceded to lowering the center of gravity--you can see it in the video with the LED ring, plain metal shelving but 10x better than ikea screw-on legs) and the machine's been working really nicely.

I totally understand about the stable working environment... kinda got scolded by the openpnp guys at some point for using old versions in some of my videos with the liteplacer... what can I say, it's a work tool, can't be disrupted every 10 days. And yeah, I like using the PC but I can see the advantages of having the pnp more standalone. As for unplugging stuff for flashing: you know, there are so many ways I could've been so much smarter with this whole migration thing. I got lucky, it all worked out :) Thanks for the comment and feedback.

Hello Paul: thanks so much! For a PnP: really depends what makes you pull out your hair but--and I know, this is a project in itself--I still love the LitePlacer as a inexpensive and fun starter. Though I haven't tried them, I have heard good things about the LumenPnP (opulo.io/) and @stephen_hawes has been doing some really nice work with the Index PnP (I'm especially interested in the feeders... not sure where you actually get it tho, but this playlist has lots of stuff kzfaq.info/sun/PLIeJXmcg1baLBz3x0nCDqkYpKs2IWGHk4 ). I use both mouser and digi a whole lot, but for maintaining stock of commodities where the markup sometimes seems excessive (headers and connectors, mostly) and quality isn't critical (i.e. stuff I'm sticking into prototypes and field tests) I'll use Ali and distributors I've found through there. And sometimes, just to get my hands on parts, I deal with the manuf directly but that's pretty rare. When I'm buying anything smarter than a passive, will definitely go with a trusted and established source, and I'll usually set a digikey id as the VPN when delivering a BOM to client or china assembly house (and then it becomes their choice). For storage: I started out with the "Really Useful" boxes: they are great, but then got "really hard to find" and "really expensive" for some reason. Eventually I stumbled on some decent containers at the dollar store. They carry a whole lot of total crap, flimsy, brittle... call it environmentally friendly, 'cause that plastic seems to degrade when exposed to air. Anyhow, I found this set of good, thick, flexible, apparently durable storage containers and after trying out a few, bought a ton. They've invaded both my office and home. Unfortunately, I was pretty assiduous in removing the labels, it seems, and I couldn't find them on the store website. Closest I found is this: www.dollarama.com/en-CA/p-12l-storage-box-with-clips-on-lid/3067622 It _might_ be the same family, but I think I'd remember them being called "clippy" (old scars from exposure to microsoft makes that word stick out in my mind). Anyhow, sorry can't provide a better reference than that.

Thanks! Sure, you can just buy one but if you're going to design go for the gold and fun--most unexpected goodies are hidden behind the tough stuff :) Just do us a favor and document the process! Cheers and good luck

Thanks! And yes, I've got more to post on this, but I'm going to centralize the actual info on one webpage, so it can be downloaded and just used--had a trip to run to, so didn't have time, but will be posting that and updating the description on the video with a link (and can add an extra reply here when it's done, so you get a notification/don't have to keep checking)

@@PsychogenicTechnologies oh thank you very much.. i am waiting for it.

My pleasure :) More on this particular front coming soon, too.

Hey, que tal en Peru?! Thanks! Have been using it for a bit now and it's pretty sweet. Have a few mods to share as well, am about to publish those--but the editing, and the fact I have to prep some resources for sharing made it slow. Was wondering if the oven part was worth documenting. Truth is, for years I got away with a toaster over and a hand-rolled PID controller on a 'duino. Now I use an upgraded version of the classic T962 IR oven--have it reliable enough to just set and ignore. It's done the job for my small proto runs but it's too small: some of the boards are big enough that even just a few leads to uneven results around the edges, if I pack them in. So have been looking around... thoughts/suggestions on that welcome :)

BTW, mortaldrumming: rumour has it the metal scene in Lima is worth it... can you confirm?

@@PsychogenicTechnologies yes, it is indeed. A few weeks ago cynic and beyond creation played here. It was a sick concert.

Looks a hell of a lot like a whitelabelled t962, or something pretty close. But *if* it has a fan inside or otherwise manages to move the air around in there without leaking out all the heat, and it has those 4 elements... I prob need bigger, but it could be good.

@@mortaldrumming May have to hit Peru at some point! Have been close(r) a number of times but was a while ago and mostly in Chile and a bit of Argentina.

Yeah, I hopped right into OpenPnP without even checking if the thing worked at all (yes, because I'm smrt), lol. But it all worked out, and actually the machine has performed really well: the main limiting factor being that I insist on installing it with a high center of gravity on rickety shelving (I could do better, but I just don't need better). If you want to see the original in action, I'd relied a lot on this older series prior to buying, which is a nice playlist: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a79ofNyLvqmVhZ8.html

Wow, Clem! Nice to see you and hope to meet up in person again soon :-) Will be keeping an eye out for your "EZ Cert" in the meantime.

Hello Sairfan, thanks! And you're right: it was a bit reckless to just jump into the mod without knowing if the thing even worked... so I'll admit, I hadn't considered the value of showing it off in its native form. However, if you're curious about seeing it in action with the orig software, @ColinOFlynn (who happens to be the author of a cool piece of software I use everytime I do a manual assembly--meatbagpnp) has a video from a while ago that might be interesting: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/isVoZq9p16q3eZs.html

Hello Kartiko, thanks for your question. This, using openpnp to do assembly from kicad pos files, is *exactly* what I do, and can certainly help. The answer could go very broad and deep, but the short version is: 1) Choose a PnP. Many (brave and smart) people design and build their own. There are also kits, like the LitePlacer, which I have assembled (and documented in kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kKmpgJh0zK3KiYk.html&pp=gAQBiAQB ), and finally commercial pick and places from the small charmhigh I have here to very big monsters. 2) Get it working and working with openpnp. The openpnp site (openpnp.org/) has information and an active forum. I've also talked a good deal about how I do this (mostly in kzfaq.info/sun/PLWm3YS7ce87mqfHiKLYMluN-heOOPwLev ). So you get the software talking to the machine, and the machine calibrated and operating well. 3) Import your pos file into a new project and board. This will create a number of components automatically, but you'll have some extra config to do (like specifying the part heights and where the machine gets them from). 4) Apply solder paste to PCBs, let the machine know where they are and ... Press play! There's a lot I haven't said here, of course, but my videos can offer some hints and I'll be posting a lot more. The thing is you can always get a company to do your boards and assembly for you, and if you are doing very many, or value your time, this might be the smarter way to go. But I love having the ability to do this, for myself and my clients, and you may as well. Good luck and have fun.

Hi Tristan, it's funny that you mention this today because I was thinking along the same lines this morning. Someone offered to send me a PCB they'd made: cool! So I'm thinking of how I'll assemble this one-off--by hand, of course, but my problem in this case is the stencil. It either means doing a bunch of SMD by hand, making a mess with my "just splatter on paste"(tm) technique, or taking a million years with a syringe. So I was wondering: why can't I get the PnP to paste it up? Haven't looked into it further, though this does seem like a wheel I shouldn't need to invent. Short answer (too late): I agree but I don't know how simple swapping/adding accessories might be. But I'm interested!

@@PsychogenicTechnologies you can get hobby cutters or CNC devices with the same mechanism to make solder stencils, and even to cut tracks in copper, and plotters to draw legends and select pens. There's not a lot of difference for light jobs like these.

@@tricky778 Yeah, I've been sitting on one of the 3018 or 1610 or I can't recall NNNN CNCs from china for a couple of years--been meaning to use it, but even with an enclosure I'll admit I fear the dust. However, this might be a good use case, if it's precise enough!

Oh, the stock is *definitely* not compatible. There was an effort at some point to get it working, but that failed as the system didn't have some basic function exposed (like rotating the head or something, weird). So what I got on there was a smoothieware port, specifically github.com/janm012012/Smoothieware-CHMT

Jacob: you are absolutely correct. My brain's been rotted by TTL uart serial dongles. The protocol's what it should be and I wound up building a rickety RS-232 to USB converter, basically without realizing it. hah. Haven't had time to post an update on that, but it's in the queue. Have a PnP vid being processed by the g00tube now, which should be out tomorrow morn, and will likely touch of this confusion of mine in the next pnp vid. Thanks for the comment/correction. And yah, I was told I'd be better off with the fidget spinners than the CHM, but so far she's been kind to me. There are a few newish and more open options I might have a look at if I was shoping today, but I have to say I'm pretty happy with the T36VA--you'll see it moving a bit in the vid tomorrow morn, it's pretty rockin'.

No pardon required, I welcome all questions :) No, it isn't. The process is to paste up the boards with solder paste, making the pads nice and sticky. The machine does its thing, then the boards go into an IR reflow oven, which not only does the soldering, but also--through the magic of surface tension--helps the component be in just the right spot.

In hindsight, can't say I disagree!

Maybe this 20 second clip will clarify kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d66Jgduh1rHVp6M.html directly out of the electrical specification

You are correct: am actually working on a vid where I detail this. Short version: my brain was rotted by overuse of TTL UARTs. This is straight-up RS232.

Salut Jean Pierre! Well, it's possible I got a special deal when I bought it, and it was more than 2x the price of the liteplacer (if I recall, was a good while ago now), but since I didn't have to assemble the time timesavings there are worth something (though I'm conveniently not counting the time I messed around as shown in this video, hah). But yeah, maybe "cheap" is only compared to the bigboy machines ;-)

haha, it's on the loose!! Well, with time the kaiju can be tamed, or at least be-friended. We're actually working together on a project today... wish me luck :)

Are you using the stock system/firmware? In my case, with openpnp, it doesn't actually home on its own--I turn on, it does a little pssshh sound and you can hear it power up. Depending on where you are, as the steppers lock, you can hear them more or less. If you can get access to a gcode terminal, something like "G28 G91 X0" should home the x-axis (I'm not certain, look it up before issuing raw gcode commands!). If it doesn't you may have a problem, but the fact the motors are locked doesn't necessarily imply there's an issue. I'll add that I never, not once, used the stock firmware/software with this machine, so I don't actually know how it's supposed to behave if that's what you're using. Good luck, I hope you figure it out and get some cool stuff made.

@@PsychogenicTechnologies Thanks for the reply. I actually got it working. It was a serial to usb driver that wasn't allowing the machine to initialize. Right now I have everything working, and the only concern is that the rotate nozzle doesn't seem to work.

Cảm ơn! You seem to have some nice PnP action yourself :) Wouldn't mind seeing some pricing on that website... In any case, I'll be posting some updates on this one shortly you might enjoy. Cheers

@@PsychogenicTechnologies Thank you for your compliment. This is my project named AFARCO iRON PnP, it's about $2200. My website is in completing plan. When it's finished, i will publish the price on it.

@@AFARCO-PnP I love that you're using OpenPnP from the start: it's a great program and it keeps you from having to tackle two projects at once. If you think I could help with completing, refining or testing the PnP, let me know :)

Oh horray, somebody got it!! haha :D

I still pop in that album on occasion, a good time is had by all.

@@PsychogenicTechnologies Its a great album. I had to put it on after watching this video! BTW your videos are great. Just learning openPNP for the first time and it's great to see how far you are able to push things with it.

@@catalyststudio :) there's a whole lot of newer and pretty amazing stuff in openpnp, now. Some I want to show, even more I want to discover (just one example, there's this multi-image function for bottom view of large parts that I'm excited to try but know nothing about)

Thanks, glad you liked!

Thanks. Also, I completely agree--I'm telling you, we're paying dearly for some rash panic/political decisions that were made, because I certainly didn't pay >3k... was something like 2k when I bought it. Now, all you get is 4 bags of groceries for 2k ;-) Still, you're right: there are ways to go even further down in price for comparable results--see my LitePlacer videos. That's a great piece of kit, somewhere between DIY and finished product.

Hah! Seriously, if you don't insist on making absolutely everything difficult--i.e. just use the standard Cube programmer thing, maybe read that manual--it's probably not as bad as I demoed!

Hey C00ltronix, thanks for the input! It's a little late, for me, in this round but appreciate the thoughts. I've done a tiny bit of drag feed with plastic tapes, and it was ok, but will update on that as things progress for sure--especially if they go badly ;-) The height, however, really is kind of pitiful--looks like a lot of pretty standard fare parts just can't be processed. I saw one guy online take it apart and hack bits off to give it more clearance... will see how adventurous I feel if I need it. And you're right about the z-axis--just a spring that bring's it back... I wonder if there'd be a way to change the little bar-and-two-wheels system in there. Kind of an edge case, most times so far I've only needed one change per side during jobs. As for the power supplies... I just don't know why it has so much in there. And (at least) one of them has 2 outputs, IIRC, and I didn't probe back there... will take a closer look if/when I open it up again.

​@@PsychogenicTechnologies pin feed problems I encountered where pin slipping out of the hole (specially with plastic tapes), paper tape too tight, couldn't move. Failure rate was like 70% or so. IMHO, yeah, play with it, then be open dumping them. I think I am not allowed to post links, you can google for "S0816 SMT Automatic Feeder - Version 07" - he has a similar machine and redesigned to S0816 feeders for low profile - his machine is very similar to yours, might be same but older version. There are videos too.

Yep, pity, links don't work.

@@C00ltronix ouch, 70%. Ok, so far I haven't had issue, but have to say I haven't done much with it yet. Thanks for the S0816 feeder pointers! Also looking at the pretty sweet looking makr.zone/new-all-3d-printed-tapereel-feeder/399/ (checking if _I_ can post links here, maybe so on my own vid? will see)

Ah, so it does let me post links... So I'll add this for anyone interested in the S0816 blog.michalhrouda.cz/2023/02/s0816-smt-automatic-feeder-version-07/

haha, damn... I hope that's not always true... time will tell.

I don't want to find out? Frankly, in reality it's less about being chinese than it is about being completely closed and opaque, and forcing me to use a windows machine at all.