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Although It is quite easy today for a maker to create individual printed circuit boards (PCBs) with the help of services such as OSHPark, it is not so easy to assemble small batches (5-100) of PCBs. Hand assembly is quite time consuming and production efficiencies of commercial PCB assembly services require a substantial cash commitment for small production runs (250 PCBs). Since makers are manufacturers themselves, it makes sense to look at ways of extending the manufacturing capabilities of makers by providing them with tools that reduce the costs of small batch PCB assembly. A major cost of PCB assembly is "pick and place," which is the process of picking up a surface mounted technology (SMT) component and placing it on a PCB. High-end PnP machines cost $75,000, used. What is needed is an affordable PnP machine for small batch assembly.
FirePick is a small-scale open kit for building your own SMD pick/place machine. The purpose of this site is to document affordable (~$500) FirePick builds with verified vendors, full bill of materials (BOM), estimated costs and detailed assembly instructions. Design considerations are also fully documented to support ongoing improvements. Who knows? Perhaps a future Firepick might solve the 52-card-pickup problem.
We hope you have fun making your own FirePick. Happy Making!
Cheers,
Karl.at.firepick.org
daytonpid.at.gmail.com
njansen1.at.gmail.com
Building FirePick ...
- FirePick I (Raspberry Pi, TinyG) (Karl)
- FirePick II (BeagleBone Black, PNPcape, Pixy) (Dayton)
- FirePick Delta (Raspberry Pi, Marlin/RAMPS) (Neil)
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