Fill-feeder utility

[Mike]

Passive and matrix trays are a PITA to set  up as you have to copy the part to each location in the feeder (someone correct me if I've missed something..!).
A tray-full of a few hundred 4x4mm QFNs is a major undertaking.....
I've hacked up a utility to automate the copying of a part across all lanes of a feeder. Only briefly tested so far so use with caution!
Instructions are shown onscreen.

Executable only This is all you need if you already have VB6 support files (e.g. from a previous setup of a VB6 application)

Full setup package. This includes all the VB6 overhead stuff.

VB6 source files

Observation on feeder files :
RVB Setup creates a .DBG file associated with each .fdr feeder file. I think this is just debug information, and appears to be an expansion of the information in the FDR file, plus the feeder type data in the sys\rvfeed.sys file.
sys\rvfeed.sys contains the feeder type definitions, including pitch etc.

[smt-user]

Passive and matrix trays are a PITA to set  up as you have to copy the part to each location in the feeder (someone correct me if I've missed something..!).
A tray-full of a few hundred 4x4mm QFNs is a major undertaking.....
I've hacked up a utility to automate the copying of a part across all lanes of a feeder. Only briefly tested so far so use with caution!
Instructions are shown onscreen.

Executable only This is all you need if you already have VB6 support files (e.g. from a previous setup of a VB6 application)

Full setup package. This includes all the VB6 overhead stuff.

VB6 source files




Observation on feeder files :
RVB Setup creates a .DBG file associated with each .fdr feeder file. I think this is just debug information, and appears to be an expansion of the information in the FDR file, plus the feeder type data in the sys\rvfeed.sys file.
sys\rvfeed.sys contains the feeder type definitions, including pitch etc.


Although i haven't tried it it looks what i want .It's the first time i want to put QFN in some boards and i have lost 4 hours experimenting how RV4 software produces
the rest 129 of 13x10 qfn matrix tray . Whatever i try to make rvsetup only places the first part of the tray .The rest i can't figure out how it does but as i read now it must
be something not so easy.Let's hope i finally manage to place the components .My question though is i have two different components in trays i want to place.
WHat are the optimum placement locations ? .I have some hardware questions also bt i think i will ask them in hardware forum .
Mike the utility looks super

[Gopher]

I have not tried Mikes software but it is a solution to what is otherwise a very tedious process.
Its been a year since we sold our machine but I'll give this a shot:
The standard procedure is to first add your component to your defined tray in the feeder assignment screen.
Then you select that component and to the bottom right of your screen you will see a series of radio buttons IIRC, these are marked copy,move...
You use these buttons in combination with selecting each cell on the matrix next to them to fill up the tray with those parts. It's a total chore and for that reason its probably wise to create a matrix tray for each product that uses one. The approach does have its benefits however, if you have multiple parts that all fit in the same matrix tray you are able to assign multiple parts numbers to a single tray.