Introductory info needed

[smt-user]

Hi to group

 Recently i bought a second hand versatronics rv4.After reading the manual  i have some blank points.
My eda program creates a pick and place list with x,y in mils or mm and angle .Do i have to use the gerber program
and ident every component every time ?.
What is the cad utility used for  ?.It loads a sample file and then you input x,y dimensions .What are these used for ?.
In my cdf directory i see a large  cdf file .How does somebody insert  new components into it ?.Can we make separate cdf
for each component category eg melf,chip and if  so how does the program reads each one separately ?.
If i have a board that uses components from two trays what is the best way to place them on the placement table ?.As i checked
there is very little space after i place the board and trays are too large ?.
Most of the components use pickup tool 1..5 .What are the rest (6..10) used for?
I'm kind of lost since i find the manual gives very limited info .
Any help will be appreciated .

[Mike]

Hi to group

  Recently i bought a second hand versatronics rv4.After reading the manual  i have some blank points.
My eda program creates a pick and place list with x,y in mils or mm and angle .Do i have to use the gerber program
and ident every component every time ?.

Yes - it claims to be able to OCR the refs from the silkscreen but no idea how well it works. I solved this by writing a utility to import a BOM file and generate the transfer file.
The manual ident process isn't too painful as you just select pads in the paste gerber

What is the cad utility used for  ?.It loads a sample file and then you input x,y dimensions .What are these used for ?.

not looked in detail but this may have a way to import your BOM file after you describe the format - others here may know more

n my cdf directory i see a large  cdf file .How does somebody insert  new components into it ?.Can we make separate cdf
for each component category eg melf,chip and if  so how does the program reads each one separately ?.

Parts are added by RV Gerber - it's all one big file, not sure to what extent you cna import/export CDFs for individual parts other than by text editing

If i have a board that uses components from two trays what is the best way to place them on the placement table ?.As i checked
there is very little space after i place the board and trays are too large ?.

It's just a case of juggling the available space, taking into account the reach of the arm.

Most of the components use pickup tool 1..5 .What are the rest (6..10) used for?
I'm kind of lost since i find the manual gives very limited info .
Any help will be appreciated .

T6 is by default a very small one for 0402 - the rest are for special/custom ones

[Gopher]

The OCR trick works quite well, especially if the gerbers you are working with are all from the same source, typically it finds about 75%+ of the parts automatically using this method.
The process is load paste gerbers + any others you want visible.
Type in BOM  -or AutoImport it from another format using the built in tool (not used that myself as my BOMs get to me in excel, PDF, paper ot HTML none off which are handled)
Load the BOM from the file menu, the OCR will ask you about anything it doesn't recognise including lots of crap.
Double click the mouse and it move to its first selection and highlight the pads it thinks might be relevant, right click then places and you can whack the space-bar to rotate the parts.
You can easily get 200 parts in the right place in 30 mins assuming the BOM is done already.
If you can use Mike's program or adjust it to your own needs I suggest you do so. I have not yet found time to alter it to take any Pick and place file I can get my hands on but that gets BOM input and place done in one swoop

RV CAD, not worked that one out, I initially assumed it let you use pick and place files but I became less sure after trying it. Training focused on RV Gerber....

CDF files - I use the CDF tool built into RV Gerber, it works just fine. A Versatronics Engineer did suggest just using Quick sizes rather than setting each one up properly but I find it useful to have proper scaled models of everything and it looks better too.

Waffle Trays- yes just arrange them where they fit, the machine doesn't need to reach the whole tray. You will notice the machine will always offer to rotate the placement by 180 whenever you refill a tray. This is to allow for the fact it may only have been able to reach half of it and refilling just means you have turned it round. For jobs with multiple trays you could make a little table that fits beside the place area - all depends how many feeders you need loaded. This lack of room is common to many machines, the std suggestion is to make a 'custom' tray by sticking together a selection of segments, ideally to a magnetic plate. How useful this is depends on how many devices you then need to pick into this custom tray.
Mike has a tool for populating these too - awesome

The manual does kinda blow

[Mike]

You will notice the machine will always offer to rotate the placement by 180 whenever you refill a tray. This is to allow for the fact it may only have been able to reach half of it and refilling just means you have turned it round.

I always wondered why it did that....