Surface-Mount Manual Pick and Place Workstation

thingiverse

This is a manual pick-and-place platform for use when assembling surface-mount components on circuit boards. It is built using 9.5mm ball bearings, in contrast to an existing design on Thingiverse which runs on rails. The idea is for simpler assembly, and I had a lot of spare 9.5mm ball bearings. Parts Printable: * 2x Tongue Ends (optionally "side-screw", see below) * 2x Groove Ends * ?x Middle (print multiples of two depending on how wide you want the platform to be (each pair adds 100mm)) Parts Unprintable (that sounds like a challenge, but you know what I mean): * 2x 10mm Threaded Rod (length determined by how wide you want the platform to be) * 8x 10mm Nuts * 4x 5mm Bolts 30mm long (I think I actually used the nearest Imperial equivalent) * ?x 9.5mm Ball Bearings (ten per length printed) * Block-o-Wood (dimensions depend on how wide you made the platform and how much room you want for your palm. Should be hard and weighty, could use a steel instead) You could scale up/down the model if you want to use ball bearings of a different size, maybe using washers on the bolts and threaded rods if that throws them out to much. The version that I first printed didn't have enough overhang above the ball bearings, so they were able to make their escape by popping out onto the platform as I slid back and forth. Eventually it reached something of an equilibrium where there weren't enough pushing against each other to force any more out, which is why the groves aren't full of them in the pictures. The models uploaded have this problem fixed, with enough overhang that the ball bearings can only be inserted/removed from the ends. One print if these later versions is shown in the last picture, but unfortunately it failed, like about six of my other prints while trying to put this together. The print head likes to knock the print off towards the end of the print, but that's something I'm working on a solution for. Until I sort that out and print out the new version, I'll leave this marked as "work in progress", but really it should work fine. This is also why in the pictures one end is held down by wing nuts on the threaded rod - the print failed before it got to the bolt hole. The reason for the "side-screw" version is that I realised late that there wasn't enough build height to print the normal tongue end on my Makerbot Cupcake, so I added a lump on the side for the bolt to go through instead. I didn't do a "side-screw" version of the groove end because I prefer having the bolt on the end, but it would probably be easy enough to do upon request. The models for the parts trays shown in the pictures will be uploaded soon as well.