Messages

Hi Trev, I would be interested if you have any spare vacuum pumps.

Best regards

Mike

Hi, I have a Soldermatic too, it is a  Model 96/800 I bought new in 1998 and its still going well, my solder temp is set to 260 and I am using SN100C Lead free solder, I have added additional germanium to the solder bath to reduce the dross.
The Flux is foaming and is  labelled as 390-RX-HT and is thinned down with isopropanol.
I have tried many different water based fluxes as it would be a lot safer but I haven't  found one that works well enough, they also allow mould growth if the flux isn't used up quickly enough.
I don't drain the flux tank when I close it down I have made a silicon cover that fits over the bath when not in use this reduces the evaporation of the isopropanol.
the conveyor speed is set to a leisurely 0.75m/min the preheat is 290 deg C and the boards are preheated for 40 seconds, I suspect I could reduce the preheat time and temp but it works and I rarely have a bridging problem.
When it was originally commissioned the machine used leaded solder and the bath was set around 240 degrees.

regards

Mike

thanks for the files Alan, I will let you know how I get on.

Micky

Thanks Alan, I have noticed a possible problem with the Ebay cam and the spec for the Watec mentioned in other posts, my Ebay Cam is PAL 50Hz and I have seen mention of the  EIA spec which is based on the NTSC standard, is the card expecting an NTSC style 60Hz signal?

Micky

Thanks Alan I will look see if I have the dos routines and go from there, the ebay cam has quite a good picture and can be focussed to quite a short distance maybe 10mm off the deck just a pity it isn't working. I didn't go for the Watcom because its quite long and needs to be a fair height above the grid to focus and have the dot at a usable size.

Micky

Hi I am trying to make a camera attachment to fit onto the nozzle for calibration, I need a miniature camera but so far I haven't found one that is compatible with the RV video input, I tried one from Ebay listed as a 12V 380TVL PAL Black and white but although I can capture images to a pc with a composite video interface, the video card on the RV just shows a black screen. any Ideas.
Ebay listing No was 223439036512

Micky

Hi Trev, I have a grid and I have bought a miniature camera so when the belts are done I was going to play with it and try and find a simple way to use the calibration options, although maybe the belts will give me back enough accuracy so that I wont need to do it. I have read all the threads on here, it looks like the members are close to solving it.

Micky

Hi Spiyda  I am looking for drive belts to replace some worn out on my old RV1s before calibrating the machine, how did the synchroflex  belts perform did it help with the placement accuracy?.

Micky

Thanks for your replies to this one, It seems the problem wasn't height just accuracy, I think after reassembly of the arm head the nozzle position was slightly different, I re worked the tool positions and now it works perfectly.

Micky

The z axis was making a grinding noise so I decided to replace the rack and pinion, in the end I changed the pinion and turned the rack back to front as only one side was worn, on reassembly I went through the calibration procedure for the cams using tool 2 and tool5, and reset the focussing etc for camera 1 and camera 2, I then ran the tool height routine which seems to run without a nozzle fitted (no instructions).

Since carrying out the above I have a problem where the machine cannot put the nozzle back into the tool station, and occasionally doesnt pick up the tool, I have never used the tool station height calibration before and I am wondering whether it needs tweaking somehow so that the nozzle is picked and place lower in the tool station to allow it to turn and lock properly.

Any Ideas?

Mike

Hi the 'setup PCB'  is used to first setup the board for a new design so that the fiducial correct knows where to start, the 'fiducial correct' is used to allow for differences between the original board and subsequent boards and batches which can vary significantly.
I think the fiducial correct is more interested in the overall position of the PCB and at what angle it is sitting rather than the shape and size of the board which is already known.

Micky

I run a Litesold  soldermatic model 96/800 it is floor standing but small and plugs into a 13A socket, it does struggle a little with the higher lead free temperatures but I have been getting good results from it for 21 years.

I can't at this point see a time when I stop my through hole operation, almost every board I produce has a connector, capacitor or transformer etc that cannot be obtained in a surface mount version or as with wire to board terminal blocks it would be difficult to mount them any other way and produce a robust connection.


Mike

Hi Steve, I downloaded and watched the video without any issues.

Hi Phono, this might be a con it certainly isn't a genuine offer as the photo's provided are of a machine I bought on Ebay 4 years ago!.

Hi Ref  the plastic tape grip problem, I had a lot of this when I first used my RV4s  but I found my problem was a mechanical problem with the feeders please see my earlier post http://electricstuff.co.uk/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=8hd0bj0pcvacm0s7cv6nha1sf3&topic=251.msg1309#msg1309