I was in two minds about making this episode. This episode we're going to cover our pick and place workflow for setting up the PCB assembly line and we're going to assemble this product.

In the last episode we talked all about the test jig for the PiicoDev servo driver. We're getting ready for manufacture and before we manufacture it we need to make sure that we can test to make sure we have working units. We completed that test jig, it's working just fine and now we're up to the actual manufacture step and the reason I was in two minds, so on the one hand there's a lot of interest on factory episodes to see this process closer to actually see how to set up the machines.

On the other hand we don't want to wind up fielding a lot of PCBA slash NeoDen tech support but since there's been so much interest sustained in the factory for so long we've got to give it to you. We're going to give you at least this.

So without further ado let's look at how we set up the PCBA line to manufacture a product. So to set up the machine we're going to need to place components. We're going to move the machine around and there's no point in starting unless the machine is warmed up. So step one, warm up the machine. This routine just moves the gantry, moves all the axes in sequence just to make sure everything's up to temperature and lubricated properly.

While the machine's warming up we can get to work on the place file. The place file is essentially the list of component coordinates that tell the machine what to pick and where to put it. This is just like a long list of coordinates essentially. Now you can make the place file from scratch in the K1830 software. You can generate a new file and manually enter in all your data which is kind.Of painstaking. I much prefer to take an existing place file, copy it, rename it and that has the benefit of being pre-warmed with a lot of common components that we already use that are set up correctly.

We know that these settings are going to work for a lot of the components we use frequently and from there we can just export the component positions in KiCad. So you bust out the PCB editor and export the position file and this is referenced to some origin. This is the place origin. I've put this in the bottom left of the board.

This job uses a couple of new components that we've never used before. Namely the surface mount header and this big PWM IC. We were very fortunate to get these headers on a reel which is just the preferred way of working with components. Very high density and it just feeds automatically. Very low fuss.

These ICs however came from the supplier InTubes and look tubes are okay. They're very very versatile. You can get a lot done with tubes. Super fiddly though. Man if you can avoid using tube, absolutely do. They're very fiddly and just a bit of a pain but this special vibration feeder that you mount the tube in vibrates and jostles the components forward in the tube. So they're very fiddly to set up and require frequent intervention to refill those tubes and they're kind of noisy.

So if you can use reels do but you can get a lot done with tube that you can't get done with reel. So we've got our components on the machine it's now time to set up the place file. And on the K1830 software this is just a series of tabs and we work from left to right. Tab one is all about the general panel dimensions and positioning within the machine. Tab one not that interesting.

Tab two however is the component coordinates. This is what we generated from KiCad earlier. This is the order of components to place and where to place them with what rotation. This is also where we enter fiducial information.

All these component references are with respect to that place origin that we saw earlier on. But the pick and place machine needs some way to find the panel within its build volume and so these three fiducials that are on the rails are how we do that.

In KiCad we can measure the location of these fiducials with respect to the place origin of the bottom left board. That will fix those three points with respect to the first board on the panel and we enter that information here.

When the machine ingests a panel the first thing it does is search for those three fiducials with the down camera. Once it locates those three fiducials it knows where the first board is going to be to place.

Okay so it knows where the first board is but what about every other board that follows? Well since we've tiled the panel with this regular pattern we can prescribe that pattern in tab three.

Tab three is all about panelization. From this menu we set the number of rows in the panel and the number of columns. Then we walk around with the camera and prescribe where the corner boards are. This is the top right the top left and the bottom left boards.

Once we have that information along with the number of columns and number of rows the machine just does the math to create that tiling of boards. So all that work is just to set up the properties of the panel.

We still have to set up all the properties of the components. Tab four is where we set up the feeder properties. This is what component is loaded into what feeder, where in space that feeder is. BecauseEven though feeders are numbered, that's just an index. They can be anywhere in xyz space. And also, how to treat the part loaded into that feeder. That's the size of the part and the orientation of the part. Also, how to move with that part. You can imagine big heavy parts, you should probably move the machine a little slower than tiny little grain of sand size parts where the machine can just zip back and forth like crazy. The size of the part is really important. This is how the machine optically recognizes the part to make sure it was a good pick. If a component is rolled, it's going to have a different aspect and could be rejected by the machine.

So once we have the part programmed, we can do what's called a feeder test. We can open the feed test menu and do a test pick. This is where we can select the nozzle to use, pick up the part, and run it over the vision system to get a test recognition. We can also use this to measure the xy dimensions of the part as the machine sees it.

With all the parts loaded, the panel set up, and the feeders set up, we're ready to do a dry placement. A dry placement is like a big confirmation. It checks if the job is set up correctly and it can be used to catch errors before committing to assembling a panel. Simply, this is where we just place parts onto double-sided tape instead of solder paste. And you can use this to check that your fiducials are correct, that components are rotated the correct way. We don't often do this on new jobs, but when you're working with new exotic parts that you've never worked with before, it can be a real time saver. It's a really useful check and it can reveal some improvements early on. For example, you may recall from a previous episode somebody saidThis. The courtyards overlap by quite a bit and like that's not a big deal you just get some warnings when you run the design rule checker. But these are pretty conservative and I can see that they're going to place just fine, just fine, just fine, just fine. God damn what a dummy.

This is the value of the dry placement. In this case the parts are actually close enough that the caps foul during placements. So the pins overlap just fine but these caps are used for assembly only and they're kind of easy to forget about. Of course they were respected by the courtyard of the footprint though. So in this case the dry placement was very helpful. The overlap was so minor that I was able to tweak the header placements by a fraction of a millimetre so that the caps now clear and the header still remains totally on pad. We got lucky here and lesson learned.

And we're pretty much ready for manufacturing so we need to set up the stencil machine. This is an automatic stencil machine that applies solder paste through a stencil onto the panel. The stencils have matching fiducials engraved on their bottom surface that match the fiducials on the panel. The stencil machine will find these fiducials with an up camera and match them to the panel fiducials with a down camera. It then physically moves the panel to make any xyz correction before applying solder paste.

Placing the first unit is always a milestone. Once placing that first unit is complete the machine will stop and give you the opportunity to make any minor corrections to the placements. You can step through with the down camera and look at every component that's placed to make minor xy corrections. Remember these are machines and these are tiny parts. Little changes in temperature,Stretch in the belts, whatever. It's still an open loop system and so this correction step is really really useful to dial in that placement perfectly.

With that complete we can finish up with the first panel and on this first panel I decided to just place the first row and bake and then test that to design verify the whole process before committing the rest of the panels.

And so that's how we got from prototype to machine assembled product and you can expect to see these on the Core Electronics website very soon. I've been super excited about this product. I think it's something that PiicoDev was really lacking was the excitement that motion can bring to a project. So I'm very excited to see these, hit the website and see what you come up with using this servo driver.

That's also going to conclude our series on the PiicoDev servo driver designing a product with this. There were a few false finishes there but I just kept finding more interesting conversations that we can have about this process. We have a complete product now.

I think that's going to do it. Did you like this format of content? Did you actually like walking through from the start to the end of a single product? Or do you prefer like the shorter conversations of other factory episodes where we just look at a little thing at a time? Or do you prefer a mix? Let us know in the comments below.

And so that wraps up this series and that also wraps up the factory for 2022. It's been a pretty good year for the factory. We've covered a lot of ground. Let us know what you'd like to see coming into 2023.

And until next time, thanks for watching.