Feb 3, 2022

SMEs have mostly got to grips with surface-mount components, but is seems to me that positioning components prior to reflowing small batches is still an issue, particularly at the small enterprise end – and amongst the pro-makers who make small batches to sell on websites like Tindie. Tweezers and a microscope seem to be the only option, or order part-populated pcbs from one of the big pcb service providers – the latter being quick and easy, but it is still a week (plus a batch) before you can spot the daft error you made. So imagine my delight when I discovered a company about to offer a pick-and-place machine kit aimed at small companies, using construction techniques inspired by OpenBuilds and the low-cost 3d printer community. It looks like US-based company is to be called Opulo, founded by a YouTuber called Stephen Hawes. At this point, alarm bells might be going off – a YouTuber? We will have watch and see if Hawes gets the company off the ground – he certainly seems motivated enough to crack the start-up game. Only time will tell if he can negotiate the pit-falls. Opulo appears to have seed capital, and to be making its own motherboards on its own pick-and-place machine – shades of Prusa making 3d printers on its own 3d printers. A second concern might be that the proposed kit is partial – needing plastic structural parts to be 3d printed by the builder. This does not need to be an issue anymore, as there are plenty of low-cost printers capable of doing this – the Prusa Mini springs to mind as a particularly low-hassle way to reliably get accurate parts for under £500. And any company, one-person-band or maker capable of building pcb-based modules in-house is almost certainly going to have sufficient skills to build a kit, so questions will come down to time: but long did it take to assemble that last pre-production batch of 20-off with tweezers…? Something that seems less of a risk is the software, as Hawes is using OpenPnP – yet another marvellous effort by the open-source community, this time for pick-and-place machine control. Hats off to Mr Hawes, we wish he and his colleagues well with Opulo. The company has yet to have a website – try starting with this video As usual, caveat emptor – you need to do your own due diligence And hats off to the generous folk behind  OpenPnP  – there are also links from there to self-build pick-and-place machines