0 to 1,000 in 18 hr 33 min; Whoohoo!

Hi,

I just finished running off 1,008 (84 panels, 12 per panel) G320-
REV7s on my new pick-and-place machine today. This is the 3,000 IPM,
(yes, really 3,000 IPM) 12-servo, 4-laser, 3,000 lb, 5' by 5' by 5'
monster that replaces Ursulla, the evil and cantankerous benchtop
machine.

This was the first real shakedown cruise to see what it can really
do. It took 18 hours and 33 minutes to find out. It also took 2
months to learn how to program her and to learn her ways.

Here's the stats:

126,000 parts placed (125 surface mount parts in the G320).
270 miss-picked and/or rejected parts.
66.25 seconds to assemble a G320.
6,792 parts placed per hour.

I started about 3:30AM when I'm usually up and ready to go, and
finished at 10PM. I'm a "morning person" and I sleep 6 hrs by habit,
so it was pretty much a normal day for me.

My day's result is an 8" by 8" by 11" volume of finished panels. They
all need to be inspected under a micrscope (all 1,000) tomorrow for
placement defects before they are sent out to the contract electronic
assembly shop that adds all the thru-hole components and returns the
finished assemblies for final test.

I'm as tired as a dog, at this speed I have been running all day to
keep the "monster" fed with parts; 126,000 today. 5,000 resistors and
4,000 capacitors per 8mm reel, 48 and 96 ICs per tube for the linear
feeders. It eats a lot and it eats often!

Altogeth a terrific day. 1,000 drives, a month's supply in just 1
day. Ursulla took 10 days to do the same.

Mariss