So here come my initial gripes and thoughts with it all...
The manual which comes with it is pretty basic, just a couple of English pages which don't really tell you anything... There is no software CD, but then again this is just how things are now and I am fine with downloading more updated software for the manufacturers site.. Installation of the software all went well thankfully! The software tells you step-by-step exactly what to do.. so you pretty much don't even have to read them manual, even if there is one somewhere..
Solder seems to ooze out of the nozzle when the printing has finished... It needs a retract when finished setting or something...
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There seems to be some odd bug in the software for reflowing... As it was stuck on the below image for about 15 minutes before I manually stopped it by hitting the emergency stop button..
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I tried reflow again and it was flashing between a start button and " remove printhead" or something like that... So I removed the printhead and clicked start of any started heating up.. Time estimates that 24 minutes, but basically it's like three minutes to heat up, and ages to cool down afterwards.
I think probably what it really needs is a small fan assembly which can be clipped on and have the fan running to cool down the board quicker once its finished... Is not really a showstopper thing anyway.. I'm unlikely to use the heated bed anyway as I will likely use my normal PCB ovens..
At one point the software freaked out..
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Not really sure what was going on there, but I just move their head assembly to the left and right again and it seemed fine after that
I also managed to bend one of the nozzles within like five minutes of unboxing the thing
it actually gives you the image of this as well The software
But in my defence, there is end caps for the cartridges to protect the nozzle, but ironically this had the opposite effect, as when I pulled Off I think I must have done it at a angle which caught the head while removing it
I think the caps would have been better being a screw one fit rather than a push fit so this wouldn't happen then..
I opened up a few support topics to ask various questions and discuss issues but I've been locked out now
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One of my queries was the calibration tool.. Where it measures the height of the PCB in various places and I assume this is a highly accurate measurement... But when that tool is removed and the paste dispensing head is fitted, the head can actually move up and down the assembly a millimetre or two, so I do not see how the calibration tool can accurately work.. I would think it would also depend how tight the nozzle is fitted to the syringe.. Any tolerances in anything would surely invalidate what the calibration tool measured
In any case I have asked on the forum about this and will check back here later to see what their responses..
Calibrating the pressure on the base syringe is simply done by turning a gear on the top of it.. The instructions say to turn it one way until the paste comes out slowly, then turn it back quarter of a turn.. But this seems a little bit hit and miss to me already.. But I also suggested on their forum was a software option to actually draw some test pads somewhere on the board and have the software manually increase and decrease the pressure on various pads and just let the user decide which is the best one to use.. Of course I'm not saying this is ultimately bad thing either way, but I think the manual process and trial and error steps could be automated away with a little tweaking software to print test pads out first.
Of course I have not fully explored the software or even read the manual.. So there may well be features in there I have not yet seen yet... But I just wanted to post the initial stuff of what happened overall today more than anything..
