guided DIY board/parts install apps? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2016, 04:56:23 pm
content: I am putting together a kit for a small group of beta testers and I would like to make board stuffing easier for them.in the past, I used to build heathkits and I enjoyed seeing the part-by-part check-off list so that you can stop assembly one night and pick it up the next night and know where you left off.wondering if anyone has done anything like that, but with a modern twist: using a display (tablet, etc) and being able to follow the board and the parts and having it guide you during the build.what I'm thinking of is taking a top and bottom board view in graphic raster format, perhaps having some file list of the components that are to be placed on the board and the key is their dimensions and the x,y,rotation on the graphic (board) where they should be placed.it may be possible to import the BOM, at least, by part number and by part type. not sure how easy it would be to get a list of x,y,rotation from some pcb design tool. at first, if I have to manually do this, that may be ok for now.how I envision this: I'd like to group all the parts by same-value and present those as 'layers' on a gui screen and color each part as a checked-off (installed) item differently from the yet-to-be-installed parts. suppose I have 20 .1uf smd caps to install; I'd like to go to the instruction page where this is the part I'm supposed to unpackage, pull out 'x' amount of that part and then proceed to on-sert them to the board before I solder them all, one by one. maybe I would press a gui button or space bar to move to the next part and the previous would would get colored as 'done' and the next one as 'pending'. something like that. maybe backpace sends you back one step.has anyone done this before or seen anything like this?I suppose it could even be modelled as layers on a graphic editor (like corel draw or photoshop or gimp). if I want to be sure I placed all the 10k resistors, I would hide all layers other than the one with the 10k parts and at least it would let me 'focus' on just the parts that I'm supposed to get done during this step.what do you guys think? has this been done? think its worth doing? if so, how would you start?btw, I would like the output to be either interactive OR static via a 'print to paper' function. if the builder wants to go to his workbench with a bunch of paper pages (maybe color printed) instead of a laptop or tablet, that should also be a viable option and each page would be a collection of the parts by-value just like the gui screen would show.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2016, 09:03:12 pm
content: here's a mock-up I just did; saved the board basic data to a graphic format and then used inkscape (available on all platforms, free open source) to create layers per major part type (all 10k, all 0.1uF, etc) and the user can hide all layers but the one he's working on and it will guide him via an easy to see color-annotated list.but I'm hoping I don't have to create a system from scratch to get this kind of thing fully working (??)

author: Smallsmt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2016, 10:57:28 am
content: Hi your mock-up looks nice,we can do similar in our Visionplacer software.Gerber data and pick and place data import create the layers in our PCB preview.Maybe we only need to add a part grouping for easier selection.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2016, 03:24:46 pm
content: can you tell me more about your software?is there an eval or demo copy I could try?

author: Smallsmt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2016, 09:52:44 pm
content: Our software is not finished we need some weeks to complete but here is a previewhttp://www.smallsmt.biz/visionplacer-v3-000-preview/It's primary a PNP machine software but we can build a special version for manual PNP.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2016, 12:59:29 am
content: I guess what I'm asking for is help in 'manual pick and place'I'd be happy to test the software. I'm also a linux developer (C and python) so if you need some developer-level testing, I can do that, too.thanks

author: IconicPCB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2016, 07:34:18 pm
content: There is an application ( i shall dig it up a bit later of the day and post a link) whihc allows you to import a JPG and the pick and place file.The JPG shows image of PCB upon whihc a couple of components are identified manually ( point and select from memory ) and the rest of the pick and place file is then mapped onto the image.By subsequently selecting a component from pick and place file the location on the graphic is highlighted.I am sorry I can not recall the name of the application presently.

author: Smallsmt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2016, 09:30:51 pm
content: Here is an example for multiselection the yellow circels mark all 10uF caps.You can view bigger images in our software preview sectionhttp://www.smallsmt.biz/visionplacer-v3-000-previewWe add a folded list soon so it is possible to select the part and all positions where it placed get highlighted.