Combination Drag / Strip Feeder Idea

[Jason von Nieda]

Hey folks, I had an idea for a combination drag / strip feeder and I'm not going to have time to work on it for a while so I wanted to throw it out there in case it was interesting to someone. So, here's the idea:

* The problem with strip feeders is that you peel the cover tape off and the parts go flying everywhere.

* The problem with drag feeders is that you need a way to peel the cover tape off and that increases the cost and complexity of what should be a simple mechanism.

So, I thought, combine the two. Make a 3D printed or laser cut device that you slide a piece of cut strip into. It has a lid, so parts don't go flying, and it has a gap at the end to pick parts. As you slide the tape into the feeder you pull the cover tape off manually. The lid keeps the parts covered until the pin pulls the tape forward and exposes the next one to pick.

I think this could be 3D printed or laser cut in any size, and if you make them modular you can even take them off the machine and store them without pulling the strip back out.

Anyway, just an idea I hadn't seen yet, so maybe someone will be interested :)

Jason

[Trampas Stern]

It is interesting.  I have thought about similar device such that I could store cut strips as I did change over to new board.  The issue I found is that you have to a design for the tapes you use. For example if you have a 12mm strip you need a different feeder than 8mm.  So it hard to mix and match feeders and it starts consuming all your build real estate. 

I ended up with the conclusion that it was easier to just use real feeders with leader extender tapes even for cut strips.  Yes the feeders cost money but it is often cheaper than the loss of parts and hassle of cut strips. So, I just add leader extender tape to cut strips and put them on a feeder like a reel and then go on with life. 

http://matr.com/product/8mm-and-12mm-cover-tape-extenders/

I also gave up getting cut tapes for most resistors and small caps, reels are so cheap and easier to manage. 

My dream is to have 20 foot long pick and place with yamaha feeders down both sides and just store all my parts on feeders. Then I could place any board in machine and hit the build button.  Right now I only have ~75 feeders which covers most of the high running parts, but I still manually place the rest. Manual placement for 4 board build is much less time than setting up a strip feeder for the PnP.  For 10 board build or more I will set up strip feeders. 

I have thought about having a PnP and then a part picker. The part picker would grab parts and place them on staging area for the PnP.  This way the PnP could have the high runners on close by reels, and then the one off parts are brought over by the parts picker.   For such a concept to work you need the holy grail of a good, cheap, reliable reel feeder.  Which the Yamaha feeders are as close as I have seen, but still not ideal. 

Trampas

[Trampas Stern]

here is an aliexpress link for tape extender:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1108C-smt-cover-tape-extender-smt-extend-splicing-tape-yellow-500pcs-box/32497940007.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.8.7db01970EgxITi&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10344_10068_10130_10342_10547_10343_10546_10340_5724715_10548_10341_10545_10696_10084_5724015_10083_10618_5724315_10307_5724215_5724115_10059_100031_5725015_10103_5724915_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620,searchweb201603_54,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=9b3f1b8b-64c1-4eb9-8213-7e44380946c5-0&algo_pvid=9b3f1b8b-64c1-4eb9-8213-7e44380946c5&transAbTest=ae803_1&priceBeautifyAB=0

[Michael Anton]

Yeah cover tape extenders are the way to go.  I've been using these ones: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1108C-smt-cover-tape-extender-smt-extend-splicing-tape-yellow-500pcs-box/32497940007.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.49da2e0eSzKgMZ, and they work really well.

[Marek T.]

Thx guys, I was searching something like this some time ago :-)

[Erich Styger]

I'm definitely interested!

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[Daren Schwenke]

Challenge accepted.  Fill in these blanks.

Overall length:

End to pull slot offset:

End to pick slot offset:

Pick slot length:

End to drag area offset:

Drag area length:

On Tuesday, August 21, 2018 at 11:30:51 AM UTC-4, Jason von Nieda wrote:

[Daren Schwenke]

Nevermind.  I just did it.

Source and rendered files up on Github:  https://github.com/Arcus-3d/P1-Drag-feeder

Printed as a base of the tape depth you need, and a cover plate.

The cover plate snaps on and the following types have been created thus far:

• peel slot, 
  
• pick slot,
  
• combo peel and pick
  
• filler slot
  

Assemble on a lego sheet in whatever configuration you need.

[Daren Schwenke]

Oh.. and cover.. the one you actually wanted.  :)  

You can model longer lengths now, wider widths where the cover actually covers the whole tape, are still broken in the openscad model.