Smarter Feeders on the Cheap?

Feeder
1

G’day everyone!

Last week I was delivered my (first) pandaplacer and I got it up and running - I’m quite excited.

Yet I already found a “challenge” using the machine: It’s a pain in the bum to change components of a feeder (remove old, insert new, assign in OpenPNP).

So I want to achieve a more “professional” feeling for the feeders:

  • Load component into feeder
  • Store details of components (Component ID, Number of components, component spacing (= feed distance), optionally feeder ID) on an EEPROM inside the feeder
    This does not neccessarily have to happen in OpenPNP, can be done by using another application as well.
  • Have OpenPNP auto-detect the feeder, slot and component, so I don’t have to assign it manually and possible screw it up.

I know the feeders are built down to a cost and it is stunning to me, how well they work with printed parts out of the box!

So what would be required:

  • Add microcontroller, EEPROM, communication to feeder
  • Alter feeder controller to provide communication instead of servo signal to feeder

I’m guessing the BOM should end up in the range of 0.6 USD per feeder.

Not trying to re-invent the wheel here: Has this already been done or is there a reason my thinking is bad? :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Kevin

2

Hi,

Your idea is totally fine, this should be one of the future development directions for feeders.
Theoretically, there are no major obstacles here, though no such mature third-party system is currently available.
Since OpenPnP’s feeder controller can be a completely independent system, you could actually attempt to gradually implement such a system. This would involve creating a custom feeder controller and corresponding feeder board, adding the necessary MCU. You may also need to develop the corresponding OpenPnP code (I’m not familiar with Java development yet). I also welcome you to share some viable solutions in the future. :slightly_smiling_face: