• Short progress status

    Mika Heikkinen02/22/2019 at 11:07 1 comment

    No updates on hackaday but still lot of progress going on.

    Now testing ODrive as motor controller.  First tests look very promising but some issues still need to be worked out.

    There are also some major upgrades on mechanics tool as you can see on image.

    Some testing done with automatic toolhead changing.

    CNC machines and we are running long days to get parts available for others too.

    Some more images and clips Instagram too @innonium.

  • Stencil printing & backplanes

    Mika Heikkinen09/14/2018 at 06:55 1 comment

    There have been lot of activity in workshop in last months. Many new cnc machines arrived and those took it's own time to got setup. Now those are making effectively parts for brdMaker too. if interested what happens in workshop follow my IG account @innonium.

    Lot of work is done around feeder backplane. Feeders are now connected with I2C bus. Backplane defines slot based address for every feeder. All feaders can also be upgraded over I2C bus.

    One of the biggest change in the machine is the possibility to use brdMaker also as a precise stencil printer.

    Printing is yet manual but there are plans to make that automatic too.

    Just few improvements to mention from last weeks. Here few shots from the shop.. 

  • Quick change toolhead

    Mika Heikkinen03/28/2018 at 17:12 0 comments

    Lot of development has happened around brdMaker. One of the biggest changes has happened around the mechanics. On new mechanics all axes run on double rails to improve accuracy even more.

    Biggest change has happened on the toolhead. Whole toolhead is designed for quick replace. brdMaker can even replace toolhead on the fly.

    Pick and place toolhead is optimised for size and made compatible with quick connection.

    There is some initial development going on with paste&glue dispensing toolhead to name a one...

    Own magnetic nozzleholder is designed  to enable automatic nozzle changing with very low runout.

    Feeders are organised into racks having backbones. Lot of software development done on the feeder management system.

    Custom bottom light system works nice.

    Here some activity shots from our instagram account @innonium.

  • Progressing well..

    Mika Heikkinen11/15/2017 at 13:21 0 comments


    Sorry about the silence. I have been very busy starting new company - innonium.com

    There is lot of progress with the brdMaker.
    On feeders, there is second revision going on feeder controller. In picture there are some rev.1 feeders plugged into usb hub. in general works guite nicely. Gang mode(all feeders visible under one serial port) still needs some work. Now working with the feeder rack mechanics, so that feeders can be easily hot plugged into machine.

    in front there is own "smoothie compatible" controller pcb for the brdmaker. Own controller can be customized better for the needs of the pnp.

    On mechanic side there are huge changes. There is new design for the pnp head that enables automatic juki nozzle changing. Also other mechanic is under heavy redesign to optimize accuracy and work area.

    Thanks for following!

  • Feeder controller

    Mika Heikkinen06/21/2017 at 17:33 2 comments

    Controller now integrated inside feeder. Can be used/flashed over usb serial. Also contains rs485 for connecting multiple feeders into same bus(spring pins not visible). 2 motor drivers, 4 buttons and 1 rgb led on top.

  • Vacuum sense

    Mika Heikkinen06/14/2017 at 16:00 1 comment

    There is very good support for vacuum sensing in OpenPnp. I finally managed to draw board for the sensor. Sensor(MPS20N0040D-D) sticks directly into vacuum channel. There is op-amp on board as well as 2 HALS for Z height sensing. Going to use SmoothieBoard temperature inputs for the vacuum sensor input.


  • Feeder position tracking

    Mika Heikkinen06/05/2017 at 19:18 1 comment

    Hal sensors arrived from TI. They have great sample service provided by Digikey.

    I ordered drv5053's that are very basic linear output Hal sensors. After trying different location for detection i ended up to place sensors under the gear driven by the worm gear. After multiple trials i ended up to place 4 of those between every 90 degrees. Magnet was "stick" shape moving on radius between the sensors. Problem was that neodymium magnet was definitely too strong, it was saturating the HAL sensor when getting close. Also setup was very sensitive to many environmental changes. I decided to change setup so that magnet would be less powerful and circular shape having poles on round sides. Also sensors would work in differential mode, 2 sensors in x axle and 2 in y axle. Position angle would be calculated from x,y vectors. Lets continue when magnets arrive.

    An an alternative i decided to try to detect holes in in the tape. I placed LTE-302 or something similar and led very close to pickup hole and in correct height to detect the hole location. Also i added another pair 6mm away because smaller parts are placed with 2mm spacing. Photodiode output is fed into analog input so it is quite easy to locate different places of holes by software, begin of hole, end of hole, etc. Did some test when feeding real tape with motor and setup was working very fine. Now it is possible to detect end of tape and stuck tape conditions. Those sensors are probably not working with transparent tape, let's see. Magnetic position sensing is maybe the only way to go with those. Also there is now pcb's on bottom side too. top pcb will be just dummy board acting as a cover and reel holder. Thru plated holes of pcb will act as an bearing for gear axle, tin+copper, steel pair should work well as an bearing.

    So the feeder will be 18mm thick 4 layer pcb where 2 axis robot and controller is embedded in the middle insulator layer. Very traditional design..

  • Early OpenPnp testbed

    Mika Heikkinen06/02/2017 at 06:52 0 comments

    I know that there are many people out there who would like to experiment with automatic pick and placing.

    Photo is from very early openpnp tests. Elektor readers recognize the machine from more than decade ago.

    I posted this to show that making working pick and placing machine does not have to be complicated. Only two quickly printed custom parts, if you have some frame like this available.

    When you get your feet wet, you start to realize where you want to swim.

  • Bottom lights

    Mika Heikkinen05/31/2017 at 19:12 0 comments

    It is obvious that up looking camera needs proper lighting to detect alignment of different components.

    i did pyramid shaped light(4 pcbs) that each side has 24 pieces of ws2812b, total 96 leds that each can be controlled by color and intensity. Next task is to add support for those into SmoothieBoard.

    Plan is to have own bitstream file for every lighting profile. Profiles can be changed by custom G-Codes.

  • Feeder changes

    Mika Heikkinen05/27/2017 at 20:11 0 comments


    Great that there are so many new people following this project.

    There are numerous changes in feeder design.

    I decided to leave the concept of placing tape into gear manually. Now tape is inserted and removed always with the motor. Also added small part under the pickup location to push the tape upward. As you some tapes are thicker than another and tape cannot be loose at pickup location.

    Also tape now returns from back. Tape has to bend some amount to travel the route and requires some force for pending. Luckily the feeder is very powerful because of transmission, but i think still fast enough.

    Cover of the feeder will be controller PCB.

    Also started to think how feeders are connected to machine. Plan is to add "back plane" pcb, that will be electric gateway as well as mechanical locators for the feeders. Every feeder has four 4 mm "banana" plugs that will plug into back plane. Those "bananas" are heavy enough to mechanically locate feeders into their place. So there is no need for separate locator pins and connectors.2 pins will provide power and 2 act as an bus (i2c or rs485). Every reader has it's own address an there will be jumpers or dips for setting it.

    Some changes are still needed. Pickup location is for example now too "far".

    Just drop message if you tips or comments.

    Thanks for your support!!