SMT Machine Suggestion up to 25k USD - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: japasetelagoas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2019, 07:50:39 pm
content: Hey everyone,As the title states, the company that I work at is thinking about buying a new pick and place machine (upgrading from our QUAD QSV-1's from the 90's).The ideal would be to have as many feeders as possible for that money, we don't manufacture a huge amount of boards so we don't actually need an absurd CPH rating.At the moment we are revolving around a JUKI KE-2020 but I'm open to suggestions.Thanks.

author: Reckless
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2019, 09:59:40 am
content: I have been told that that model from Juki was one of the worst they made from a number of people. My suggestion is a Universal Instruments GSM as tons of spare parts available, they are cheap and feeders are give away. You can get them on a tenth of your budget. If speed is a concern get a GSM2. They are tanks that last forever and can be worked on easily.

author: SMTech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2019, 11:48:31 am
content: It depends a bit where you are I would suggest. Some manufacturers have better support for certain territories than others MyData/Europlacer are both good machines for lots of feeders and if you are based somewhere with a lot of Universals around and the feeders are as cheap as Reckless says, they are also a good choice, I have no idea where Reckless finds their stuff it seems to be a skill. Equally all the Yamaha built machines are good choices (iPulse,Yamaha,Phillips/Assembleon,others?). With your budget tho' do be careful some machines in that price bracket could be quite restrictive "chipshooters" that in some cases only place quite small or very short parts.

author: Reckless
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2019, 12:27:57 pm
content: Universals are good in US especially since most older units came from Motorola. In other parts of the world it may be harder to find locally. Asian machines had a problem until 10 years ago where they could not handle components over 3mm. Universals can handle 20mm height. Fuji and Yamaha are my favorite asian machine followed by Samsung. I had bad experience with older Jukis and dont go near them now. Older Jukis were supposed to be better than the 2000 series. My view about pick and place machines is they need to be heavy, robust, and very stable physically. The lighter asian models move too much and cant be beaten. I dont have any experience with european manufacturers but my gut tells me they can be expensive to maintain/repair.I get lucky finding machines especially when I dont need them.

author: japasetelagoas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2019, 07:48:43 pm
content: Quote from: SMTech on August 22, 2019, 11:48:31 amI'm based in the southeast of Brazil, most of the companies that we buy boards whenever the demand is too high for us to do it in-house use Fuji machines (can't really tell which model specifically). I might end up looking for a used Yamaha or even the GSM1 or GSM2 as stated by Reckless.

author: Reckless
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2019, 08:03:02 pm
content: If you need machines I have some for sale at reasonable prices. GSM, GSM2 and an Assembleon Sapphire (Yamaha YV-112). I am in Chicago. I also have a latin friend contractor who flies out to install/set them up if needed. He has been to Brazil a few times. The nice thing about Universals are once you set them up and calibrate them they never go down.