Pick-and-Place Machine Based on a 3D Printer

PROJECT | 2022

Pick-and-place technology (PNP) is centered around the goal of autonomously placing electrical components on a printed circuit boards (PCB) with high precision and speed. But the technology is quite expensive and thus many students and maker-spaces has no access to it. To combat this Jonas Attrup, Mikkel Berrig and I set out construct a more affordable solution by turning an old 3D printer into a fully functional PNP Machine.

We used an old decommissioned 3D Printer which we stripped down to its mechanical axes leaving only the stepper motors and limit switches in place. We then installed a Juki 503 nozzle, a generic vacuum pump, two 720p cameras, two LED ring-lights, and arduino Mega R3 with a Ramps 1.6 Shield and four DRV8255 stepper drivers and a metal sheet on the build plate (some of the parts were mounted using custom 3D printed pieces). Everything was then connected to a laptop running the open source software OpenPNP. For more details about the build process and configuration of the machine, we have written a short paper about it.

Results

To test the machine we manufactured our own test PCB featuring components ranging from 0603 to SOIC-8 packages. the image below is from a test with double-sided tape on the PCB that shows very satisfactory results. The following tests we did with solder paste turned out very similarly. When reflowed all the diodes was blinking as expected, except for D18 even though the diode was placed correctly – maybe you can see why?

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