Dual headed component pickup vacuum pen
Last goodie for today is a dual headed vacuum pickup pen. A pump creates a vacuum to the pin. Set it down on a part and cover the small hole in the side of the pen to suck up the part. Position and then release by removing a finger from the vent hole. This was probably $10 but might have been $7.
This entry was posted in #liveupdates, tools and tagged Shenzhen, vacuum pickup pen.
Comments
Got one of those as well….but I found it was too big for SMD resistors/caps. What tip are you using on it Ian?
This is literally the first time I’ve used it :) It came with two sizes of rubber sucker pads and two sizes of needle. Only one needle fits the suction cups so I assume the other is to pick up parts directly.
isn’t this same as EFD tips?, so if you use one with reasonable small gauge, you can pickup 0402, 0603 etc?
There are several of those including clones on ebay, but they all claim to be 220V (even though they have 110V plugs).
One could modify one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vacuum-Sucking-Pen-IC-SMD-Easy-Pick-Up-Hand-Tool-3-Suction-Header-/321035449691?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abf34355b
then do a vacuum mod on a cheap 110V aquarium pump. Several examples can be found via Google search.
BTW, how well do these work?:
ESD Safe Handi-Vac
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ESD-Safe-SMD-SMT-IC-Components-Extractor-Vacuum-Handling-Tool-4-Sucker-tips-/130738266504?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e709ba188
spatrkfun has a quite powerfull pump ypou couilkd use. i got extra bits and bobs ( a handle and pickup tips) for about 20 cents for sjaak. works ok but i can place and alignn with my tweezers usually so im not sure how’much use i will get out of it.
btw those plugs arw also perfectly acceptable small chinese plugs at 220. its a bit of a mix there and most power strips will takke a plug from anywhere in the world.
If you want some great tips on SMD board hand assembly, watch Mike’s video: http://youtu.be/pdGSFc7VjBE
There are some particularly useful tips about vacuum pens and where they are useful (short answer: when you want to pick up parts directly out of the tapes).
Sorry, I’m going to betray my ignorance here, but do these really make populating a board easier/faster than just using tweezers?
an tweezer can shoot the component out in the room, vacuum keeps it..
Yep. Shot a few SMDs across the basement…
i dunno yet, but maybe some is more knowledgeable than me. i can just do it with tweezers but the ickupnfrom trays is a lot easier with suction.
Right, the biggest advantage to vacuum is that you can easily pull parts directly out of tapes and trays. You don’t have to flip them over or orient them before picking them up. Check the video at MikesElectricalStuff that I linked to above. That shows a number of nice tips for speeding up board assembly when you are manually doing a few boards at a time.
This seems like a good item for Seeed to carry. With and without the pump.