lane down....10 way feeder!

[WillReeve]

Probably a simple fix. I've a lane (0) of a 10way feeder which seems to feed and the pull back again! Lane 9 on the same feeder works fine and both sound the same when indexing. I guess something isn't disengaging? Guess it needs a strip down?

[Mike]

Probably a stuck or bent pin - each lane has a solenoid that pushes the pin up, then all lanes slide across.
Time to take apart. Rather fiddly - take the tape roller assembly off first - you may be able to see any debris without fully taking apart. ISTR there is also a bar across the lanes near the pins which can come off from the top.


If you're lucky it's just jammed with a component or gunked up.
Do not put any lubricant on, as this will combine with dust from paper tapes to ruin your day.

[Gopher]

You can also see tapes jerking back if the tension is too high, basically the pulley is clamping down too hard on the tape so when it is pulled forwards, rather than rotating it loads up the belt which then twangs straight back.

[WillReeve]

I seem to have found a different 10 way in the pile. Here are the two I have. The one which looks like the one on Mike's video is playing up; the other one doesn't have levers to pull the o-rings off the tape. You just remove the o-ring section. I also have a 3x12 5x8 in this style as well. Is there a list of available feeders anywhere. I also remember reading about a new driver board for feeders; has anyone tried one?

[Mike]

Apparently there are something like 4 different feeder variants out there

[WillReeve]

I think I was a little naive about getting up and running easily! If I had 100% working feeders I would be fine I think but I am going to have to strip them all down and re-new all the rubbers. On the plus side the placement accuracy looks spot on some nice SOT-323's went down (had to help the feeder a little) very well.

[Mike]

Replacing belts makes a world of difference - links to suppliers in pinned post in hardware section. Remember to reset tension screws to minimum and only tighten as required.
paper and plastic tapes typically need different settings so good to use one feeder for each type if possible.
Don't bother with the belts on the inside of the tape take-up drums, which are meant to retain the tape ends - these are too fiddly - double-sided sticky tape is much easier.

[Jason]

The main issue is various sizes in one of the "orange belt" feeders. If
any of them have paper tape (thicker) at leat the adacent lane won't grip
plastic tape (thinner) as the whole batch of rollers get pushed up.

In later designs, each lane is independantly sprung.