Misc Notes
Observations as they occur.
1. The fuses are smaller than standard cartridge fuses found in the US. There are 2 ceramic spares marked "F1 AL250V". While readily available on ebay, I need to make them readily available in my shop! The fuse holder is located on the side under the tube feeders.
BTW, don't buy the cheapest fuse you can find on ebay as they are totally junk. A possibly random piece of wire soldered into a glass tube; they appear to be hand made. You can sometimes see them with an apparent dimple on the end cap.
2. The Video output connector and 2x USB connectors are located in the middle of the back. Be aware of this before you place the machine and restrict access.
3. For several days, progress was stalled as the machine would load the PCB, then the head would move to a location in the far right rear. The monitor showed the camera looking at nothing in particular. After several email exchanges with Neoden Support, it turns out the machine was looking for the PCB MARK Settings (found on the PCB Info tab). Maneuvering to the first spot and clicking SAVE returned the head to the same rear location. Again, move the head to the second MARK and click Save. At this point, the machine attempts to begin placing parts.
There is NO user prompt to tell you what the machine is doing, which is a very significant omission.
4. There are some odd software issues in the PCB Setup, particularly the PCB Mark area. This is the lower left of the setup page.
There are 3 buttons for Single, Panel and Manual.
FYI, the MANUAL button on the top right of the page controls whether the ALIGN button appears in the PCB Mark table. Do NOT use the Align button as it commands the machine to a location based on MACHINE (0,0), not PCB CAD (0,0). This took some time to workout and the problem was identified by Bryan at Neoden Support when I sent him my CSV file.
My philosophy with components is to have standard high volume parts on tape and use the feeders. Odd part values will be provided on a Tray. I made a tray on my 3d printer. It has strips for 8mm tape and 2 columns of large cells for devices which are not on tape (like LQFP-48). Have a look here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2719026
You should use double stick tape to keep the component tape from wandering away. Note that it is a pain to remove the top clear tape from the strips. Start lifting the clear top tape before placing the strip on to the tray. Carefully remove the tape slowly and gently so as not to scatter small parts everywhere! It will take some practice.
I erred when placing my initial order and ended up with more 12, 16 and 20mm feeders than I need. Should have gotten more 8mm feeders. I examined the 12mm feeders and created a small 3D printed insert which guides 8mm tape through the 12mm feeder. This keeps the tape aligned. It is available for download here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2709842
I continue to revise and update both designs.
My process depends on building boards with standard components in most of the tape feeders. Those components which have only a few instances on the PCB are provided in the flat trays described above.
The problem is that if you start a NEW file, everything is blank and it is a huge pain to manually configure all of the standard parts in their standard feeder positions. I also set the head movement rate to 50% or less for components with a large mass.
Please read the next section.
FYI - There are 2 kinds of CSAV files used. One is for the Neoden4 operations and the other is the BOM you created from your CAD tool. I have begun naming them:
ND-abc.csv This is the config file used to PnP
BOM-abc.csv This is the BOM file creaded by KiCad (and renamed)
Save this file as TEMPALTE.CSV
Thoughts: This text needs to sit and I need to get my mind away from it, so when I reread it in a day or 2, I'll see if the chosen words still have the same meaning.
It is not clear to me if the preceding 5 steps are correct as the Neoden manual discusses them in the equivalent of steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 4. If anyone reading this has a comment, please contact me.
The Template.CSV file can be copied and renamed multiple times and retain the association of components to Feeders, eliminating a large and tedious amount of unnecessary work.
1. The fuses are smaller than standard cartridge fuses found in the US. There are 2 ceramic spares marked "F1 AL250V". While readily available on ebay, I need to make them readily available in my shop! The fuse holder is located on the side under the tube feeders.
BTW, don't buy the cheapest fuse you can find on ebay as they are totally junk. A possibly random piece of wire soldered into a glass tube; they appear to be hand made. You can sometimes see them with an apparent dimple on the end cap.
2. The Video output connector and 2x USB connectors are located in the middle of the back. Be aware of this before you place the machine and restrict access.
3. For several days, progress was stalled as the machine would load the PCB, then the head would move to a location in the far right rear. The monitor showed the camera looking at nothing in particular. After several email exchanges with Neoden Support, it turns out the machine was looking for the PCB MARK Settings (found on the PCB Info tab). Maneuvering to the first spot and clicking SAVE returned the head to the same rear location. Again, move the head to the second MARK and click Save. At this point, the machine attempts to begin placing parts.
There is NO user prompt to tell you what the machine is doing, which is a very significant omission.
4. There are some odd software issues in the PCB Setup, particularly the PCB Mark area. This is the lower left of the setup page.
There are 3 buttons for Single, Panel and Manual.
- Single means there are fiducial marks which relate to the entire panel.
- Panel means the reference points refer to each panel. This method may be the most accurate as the reference points are closer to the components than the Single method.
- Manual indicates to the program that OPERATOR will MANUALLY calibrate the machine by moving to the reference points after the PCB is loaded.
Clarifying Terminology
This topic is not discussed in the Neoden documentation, but I introduce it here so you are conscious of what you are entering and seeing for XY locations.- Machine Units(MU) refers to measurements based on the Neoden machine (0,0) which is located in the front left of the area accessible by the tool head. An example is the units displayed when the PCB is fed in on the rails.
- PCB Units (PCU) refers to the CAD program reference point. Where (0,0) should be placed in the lower left of the PCB at design time. An example is the units on the parts placement table after being read into the program.
- When the PCB is placed in the rails and fed into the machine, the PCB will be located at approximately (325,270) in MU
FYI, the MANUAL button on the top right of the page controls whether the ALIGN button appears in the PCB Mark table. Do NOT use the Align button as it commands the machine to a location based on MACHINE (0,0), not PCB CAD (0,0). This took some time to workout and the problem was identified by Bryan at Neoden Support when I sent him my CSV file.
3d Printed Accessories
My philosophy with components is to have standard high volume parts on tape and use the feeders. Odd part values will be provided on a Tray. I made a tray on my 3d printer. It has strips for 8mm tape and 2 columns of large cells for devices which are not on tape (like LQFP-48). Have a look here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2719026
You should use double stick tape to keep the component tape from wandering away. Note that it is a pain to remove the top clear tape from the strips. Start lifting the clear top tape before placing the strip on to the tray. Carefully remove the tape slowly and gently so as not to scatter small parts everywhere! It will take some practice.
I erred when placing my initial order and ended up with more 12, 16 and 20mm feeders than I need. Should have gotten more 8mm feeders. I examined the 12mm feeders and created a small 3D printed insert which guides 8mm tape through the 12mm feeder. This keeps the tape aligned. It is available for download here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2709842
I continue to revise and update both designs.
Order of Operations
From the beginning, I've had a tough time repeating successful configuration of new files. Something I learned from Bryan the NeoDen Support rep is that the FIRST component in the BOM is important in determining the position of the PCB relative to the machine. This is true even if the BOM hasn't been imported yet.My process depends on building boards with standard components in most of the tape feeders. Those components which have only a few instances on the PCB are provided in the flat trays described above.
The problem is that if you start a NEW file, everything is blank and it is a huge pain to manually configure all of the standard parts in their standard feeder positions. I also set the head movement rate to 50% or less for components with a large mass.
Please read the next section.
FYI - There are 2 kinds of CSAV files used. One is for the Neoden4 operations and the other is the BOM you created from your CAD tool. I have begun naming them:
ND-abc.csv This is the config file used to PnP
BOM-abc.csv This is the BOM file creaded by KiCad (and renamed)
Standard Feeder File
I took an existing (working) PCB file and copied it off to the thumb drive, which I edited on my main PC. All of the BOM components were deleted (bottom section of the CSV file) , but NOT the feeder information (near the top of the file).Save this file as TEMPALTE.CSV
- On the Neoden4, Import the ND TEMPLATE.CSV file. Rather than NEW, just COPY the template file and rename it as desired (Ex: ND ABC.csv).
- EDIT the file ND ABD.csv
- Perform the front edge Align function
- IMPORT the BOM-abc.csv. Now the machine knows the X,Y position of the first component. I usually select a component near the center of the PCB. Once Imported, internal calculations are performed which FOREVER establish the PCB [0,0] with the machine [X,Y].
The first component must NEVER be changed as the X,Y association calculations will NOT be performed again. - Now perform the Align functions on the left side of the screen.
Thoughts: This text needs to sit and I need to get my mind away from it, so when I reread it in a day or 2, I'll see if the chosen words still have the same meaning.
It is not clear to me if the preceding 5 steps are correct as the Neoden manual discusses them in the equivalent of steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 4. If anyone reading this has a comment, please contact me.
The Template.CSV file can be copied and renamed multiple times and retain the association of components to Feeders, eliminating a large and tedious amount of unnecessary work.
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