My Manncorp MC-400 conversion to OpenPnP - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: mendez
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 04:31:17 pm
content: Hey Guys,I had some experience building a PnP with OpenPnP but my machine is just too slow and has poor rigidity. Recently, I bought a Manncorp MC-400 that I plan to repair. The machine only has the PC / controller missing; thus, all the mechanics seems to be good. I want to convert it to OpenPnP.Ideally here is what I will like to salvage:- ATC / Tool changer- Head- Cameras- ServosMy Action Plan:1. Study the head and try to test it.2. Check ATC and test it3. Identify Cameras and convert signal to USB or find converter4. Identify Servos and possible replace them with steppers or teknic (step/dir) servosAfter I complete 1-4; I will plan on buying a controller; my goal is to use smoothieboard, but I know they don't support servos. Do you guys know of a controller that supports Servos with OpenPnP? I might buy the Teknic servos w/integrated drivers that are controlled with step/dir; but before I go that route, I want to see if there something different out there.What do you guys think with the feeders? Any recommendation?Attached are some pictures of the machine. What do you guys think?

author: SMTech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 09:50:44 pm
content: I'm curious, why is the controller/PC missing, the Autotronik(?)/Manncorp software that would be on the PC is undoubtedly way ahead of openPnP, it might cost a bit of money to get it but it would work out of the box. Probably pushes you towards the original feeders and I have no idea how easy they are to source.

author: mendez
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 10:21:02 pm
content: I tried to purchase the controllers but they dont want to sell it to me. Its kind of disappointing. I don't understand why. I tried contacting Autotronik but they forwared to Manncorp which they say no.

author: Reckless
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 03:35:03 am
content: Manncorp will never help anyone with their used equipment thats why its the biggest nightmare touching their stuff. I looked at some of their ovens used some years ago and they refused to support them unless I paid $5000 to register it (the oven was $1500 used). All they do is rebrand other peoples parts, no development, no investment and mostly chinese quality (does not last). The companies I deal with use them as the butt of the joke when talking about junk SMT equipment.Your best bet is to source from autotronik in europe or china and ship it to US.

author: mendez
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 12:01:17 pm
content: I tried talking to autotronik europe but the are not helping me either because they say is not worth it....it wkll be to expensive and no warranty. I said that I know the risk involved, that i did not care but they...at the end they want me to deal with manncorp and are not willing to sell it.Thats why I will just take it a part and convert it to openpnp. I receive more support with openpnp than manncorp.

author: nisma
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 02:50:45 pm
content: Use linuxcnc with (e)pci FPGA card and external optos + CNC shield for stepper. Use live CD and after testing install it.Theoretical you could use BBB but the speed difference of GPU image processing and arm CPU processing and the advantage of bigger ram gives big speed increase.Removing certain not important features allow to run openpnp with 256mb of ram, but this inhibit you to download and run last developed image.Downgrade java to 8, replace the up looking camera with HD USB camera and for the down looking cameras use relay to switch between cameras and use cheap USB grabber .If not changing the camera and adding certain grabbercard you get a speed advantage of over 200ms. It is only worth doing if you add additionally USB HD camera and illumination and the cost is high for the small (200-300) cph gain.Adding a dual nozzle have inferior cost and the gain in cph is several magnitudes higher, at least it doubles the single nozzle cph.

author: mendez
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2020, 03:36:26 am
content: Thanks! Any reason on why use Linuxcnc? Does it make a big difference in speed?

author: nisma
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2020, 08:09:39 am
content: It can drive +-10v and have support for encoder. You could buy cheap SGDA p or no suffix ac servo controller, max double the power of you motor, and connect it, but same works on smotthie. Certainly linuxcnc have higher pulse output freq, smothie is a bit limited for servo drive, it can just drive a stepper at full speed with 16 uStepping.Depending on solution chooseen for servo drive, there exist solution for parallel port (EPP) that are cheaper.

author: ItsMeGriffin
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 02, 2020, 04:06:12 pm
content: Have you made any progress on this? I recently also picked up an MC-400, and while I would love to just pay and get the official computer, I am running into the same issues.

author: trampas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2021, 05:40:55 pm
content: So apparently the US government had purchased some of these MC-400s. When they decommissioned them they ripped out anything could have any data on it, ie computers, and smart feeders. They did this with "gusto" and big wire cutters.I got the one from ItsMeGriffin, mainly for spare parts for a MC391V unit I have. However I was considering the level of effort it would take to convert to openPnP. To this end I was wondering if anyone had a wiring diagram for the machine?If enough people are interested together we could reverse engineer the machine and do the conversion.

author: jayx
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2022, 02:58:23 pm
content: I'm curious if anyone got anywhere with this? Converting Autotronik / Manncorp machines to use OpenPnP sounds like a good alternative to building the whole machine, especially that mechanically they are quite good (small footprint and can hold quite a lot of feeders).

author: trampas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2023, 03:11:59 pm
content: This never went anywhere...The issue is not the PnP machine but feeders. That is the Autotronik feeders are so expensive it makes the PnP machine look cheap. I have been considering seeing if the machine could be adapted to another feeder but here again the cheapest good feeders are $150 each, so once you buy 50 feeders that is $7500, which makes you question if it is worth it or just buy a real machine and be done.

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2023, 07:20:57 pm
content: I have a Quad QSA30 machine. It is a Samsung CP30 with cameras and feeder setup from Quad. Quad feeders are quite affordable, I get mine for about $75 - 100 each. The Quad 12 V feeders are set up to detect the nozzle picking the part, and when the nozzle lifts up, the tape is advanced. So, the only thing the feeder needs is +5 and +12 V from a PC board that the feeder contacts. Buttons on the feeder allow manual advance and retract of the tape, and by pressing in a certain sequence, you can program the component pitch and pickup location which it remembers when powered off. Since I have a big investment in these feeders, and have thought about what to do after the Quad QSA30 dies and I can't fix it, I have thought about a newer Samsung and converting it to use the Quad feeders.Jon

author: ccecil
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 03, 2025, 05:26:07 am
content: I used a controller developed from OpenPnP and adapted it to my Manncorp 384v2. It uses 10 of the siemens 3x8mm siplace feeders giving 30 lanes of 8mm. Total cost was ~$2k. Took a bit of time but doing it again would be easy.So far it works great. If anyone wants to copy it...should be fairly straightforward. It can even be done better than I did and skip the whole mux/demux on the feeders and intercept the serial data directly. I may still do this in the long run.Initial writeup on the mod and videos herehttps://www.robosprout.com/a-story-of-right-to-repair-hacking-ewaste-and-the-circle-of-opensource/