Category Archives: Smoothie

Retrofitting a Charmhigh CHM-T36VA Machine with OpenPnP

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OpenPnP is a great open source framework for building a DIY SMT Pick&Place machine. But it does not stop there: It is possible to use OpenPnP with a commercial pick & place machine, for example the Charmhigh CHM-T36VA. This Chinese machine comes with its own controller software which works but is not that great. The good news is that it is possible to hack and retrofit the machine so it can run the much more powerful OpenPnP.

Retrofitted CHM-T36VA

Retrofitted CHM-T36VA

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Building a DIY SMT Pick&Place Machine with OpenPnP and Smoothieboard (NXP LPC1769)

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This article is about a project I have started back in January 2018. As for many of my projects, it took longer than anticipated.But now it is working, and the result is looking very good: a DIY automated pick and place machine to place parts on circuit boards. In the age of cheap PCBs, that machine closes the gap for small series of boards which have to be populated in a time consuming way otherwise.

OpenPnP Pick&Place Machine

OpenPnP Pick&Place Machine

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