The Index Pick and Place Can Build Itself

It works!

Thank you to everyone that's been a part of this project, be it through watching videos, leaving comments, building an Index, or being part of development.

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Stephen Hawes
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[microdesigns]

I really enjoyed this video. When I made my first CNC board in 1996, my little family was poor and I relied on free samples from National Semiconductor and there was no PCBWay, so I etched the boards myself. Now that I'm done tooting my own horn, I'll tell you the fun part. I constructed two boards, each with about 300 drill holes needed. Meaning, I needed to drill them myself. I put them into my milling machine and put up a printout of an excel table of hole locations and drilled them all. It took about three solid evenings of work. When I was done drilling the first board, an idea popped into my head. "what if I populate this board for XY axes and use it to help me drill the other board for Z-theta?" I raced down to the basement and soldered all the parts in. I programmed the microcontroller. After a few days, I was ready to hook it up to the motors on the mill.

I laughed out loud like the guy in this video. I was alone in the garage when I yelled out loud. I saw my mill drawing a circle and that feeling of success in my gut made me cry out loud, "Its ALIVE!!!" I opened the door to the kitchen and yelled into the house, freaking out my wife. I'm sure the dog barked too.

So I really enjoyed this video because I know that feeling of, "its working". I've built machinery for the last 25 years, and each time I have satisfaction, seeing my software and designs serving a purpose. All those machines are like my little mechanical children. But some of those children were harder to get working, some very challenging. I appreciate what I saw in this video! Nice work!

[dracorep]

Congrats man, that is so awesome. I am sure this will make big waves in the maker community. Can't wait to see where this will lead.

[OddlyIncredible]

It's an absolutely amazing feeling when you bring a project to completion, and especially so if you're sharing it with the world. It's about the closest we males will come to giving birth to a child - it's the creation of a legacy, something that we hope goes on to greater things and eventually outlives us.

Since everyone's piling on the kudos, I'll throw one into the mix. I was so interested in building an Index for my own projects (including a few I hope to go commercial with) when I first heard of the project that about nine months ago I began building a 3D printer from scratch. What I built rivals comparable sized commercial systems and it has all of the features enthusiasts demand, and it was built to eventually build an Index. I'm now in the fine-tuning stages with it and have already made functional prints, so this pick-and-place machine has already spawned the construction of other machines, and thus has the Index already started to grow a legacy.

_Stephen, you've done something subversive and through it you've inspired others to do likewise._ There's no where to go but up, my friend - next stop, low orbit!

[MarlinFirmware]

Congratulations! A real affordable open source pick-and-place machine is one of those Holy Grail projects that's been on many a wish-list for a long time. It's a really good looking build, and we can't wait to see more of what it can do, a breakdown of the BOM, and how it compares in cost and performance to machines with similar capabilities. It's going to be a real game-changer for a lot of makers and maker spaces.

[nickmunro]

Congratulations. I've been watching since the beginning and can't tell you how excited I was watching this. You have every reason to be a little emotional, pride is justified given the countless hours you've put into this project. Kudos.

[fredflintstone]

Pick and place is a great idea. It's been around for decades. I worked at an IBM plant back in the early 1980s that had pick and place robots, wave soldering machines, and ovens for populating circuit boards.
Congrats!

[mikeselectricstuff]

For paste application you want a blade the full width of the panel

[lonewulf]

Watching this thing go from basic concept to initial design to prototype to MVP has been amazing. I have been wanting to get into designing my own custom mechanical keyboard PCB, and this has given me the drive to go for it!

[polkijain]

This project has taught me so much apart from tech stuff. You are an inspiration and gave me hope to continue my work ethic.
Thank you and congratulations. There is always hope in perseverance!

[Vrx-ypeu]

Very wholesome engineering, I love your project and I really like you as a human.

[JadenAndrea]

Amazing and inspirational as always Mr. Hawes! Congratulations on your achievement!!! Great job!

[properprinting]

Your persistency is admiring, what an accomplishment! Congratulations with this insane result!

[bytesizedengineering]

Congrats Stephen! I've had a blast following along in this journey.

[AaronEiche]

Congrats Stephen, That's a major accomplishment. It's really cool to see working end-to-end. Now that you've made a PNP machine, Maybe you can do an NPN? ;)

[danhellgren]

My experience of applying solder paste is: Put on all the paste you got on the stencil. Then ONE stroke only, never stroke it again. Can't wait to get to know the price of the PnP. Congrats!

[lesto]

not even a minute in the video, i hear your nervous laugh and i know that feels. Subscribed right away, only good things are coming from such laugh

[NotTheComet]

I’ve been watching since the first video. You have inspired me to start designing my own pcb and do more complex electronic projects. Thank you for your inspiration

[stivcen]

Congratulations, I have been following your project since day one and it makes me happy to see how time passed and see how your project progressed. Congratulations I start with my project

[dfn]

Congratulations. What an awesome project, thanks for sharing!

[TheMadManPlace]

Major kudos on the progress you have made.
I am guessing that all the people that have been having endless issues with the commercial PnP machines are keeping a VERY close eye on your masterpiece...