- Home /
How Many Feeder Slots Will You Need?
Feeder slots can be one of the most confusing aspects of pick and place machines. A machine that has 64 feeder slots won’t necessarily hold 64 feeders. Feeder slots are designed for 8-mm tape feeders. If you have larger tape feeders and/or sticks and waffle trays, each feeder will take up two or more feeder slots.
To determine whether a machine has enough capacity for your requirements, you will need to calculate just how many 8-mm feeder slots you’ll need.
Tape Feeders Slot Requirements
To calculate your feeder slot requirements, first list how many of each tape feeder size you will need. Then multiply each of those by the number of feeder slots the pick & place manufacturer says each will require.
If you also need two 12-mm feeders, and the manufacturer’s specs say that 12-mm tape feeders require two slots each, you will need an additional four 8-mm tape slots (2 feeders x 2 slots/feeder) for your 12-mm feeders, bringing your total slot requirement to 48.
Stick/Tube Feeder Slot Requirements
Generally, each manufacturer’s stick feeder will hold multiple sticks or tubes, so you’ll first figure out how many sticks or tubes of components you’ll have, then figure out how many stick feeders you’ll need in order to accommodate them, based on the number of lanes a stick feeder from that manufacturer holds. Finally, calculate out how many slots in the feeder base your stick feeder(s) will take up.
If you have 4 sticks and the available stick feeder holds 10 sticks, you would need one stick feeder. If the stick feeder requires 9 slots, your total slot requirement, building on the tape feeder example above, is now 57.
Matrix Trays and Cut Strip Tape Holders
Matrix tray holders and cut strip tape holders are sometimes mounted in feeder slots and sometimes placed in the board area. If the tray holder for the machine you’re looking at takes up feeder slots, you’ll need to find out how many and add that your requirement.
If, on the other hand, the matrix tray holder goes in the placement area, this will affect the size of the PCB/panel that the machine can handle, so be sure to keep that in mind.
-
SMT Assembly Lines
-
SMT Assembly Lines
Turnkey solutions consisting of stencil printers, pick and place, and reflow soldering for all levels of SMT production. Build your own or choose from pre-configured packages. -
-
-
SMT Stencil Printers
-
SMT Stencil Printers
Wide variety of solder paste printers for any level of precision, automation, and throughput. -
-
-
Pick & Place Machines
-
SMT Pick and Place Machines
Precision pick and place solutions for high-mix SMT assembly are available to place any SMD and to meet a wide range of throughput requirements. -
-
-
Reflow Soldering
-
Reflow Soldering for SMT Manufacturing
Convection and vapor phase reflow systems to meet any production need—inline or batch, lead-free or tin-lead solder. -
-
-
Selective Soldering
-
Selective Soldering Machines
Selective soldering machines include high-precision drop-jet fluxing and 360 wettable nozzles for automated soldering of through-hole components and connectors. -
-
-
BGA / LED / SMD Rework
-
SMD & BGA Rework
Remove, align, place, and solder advanced SMD and BGA components with extreme precision.
-
-
Wave & Dip Soldering
-
Wave Solder Machines & Solder Dipping
Wave solder and solder dipping machines for through-hole and mixed technology assembly.
-
-
AOI & PCB Inspection
-
AOI Machines & PCB Inspection Conveyors
Improve product quality and your manufacturing process with automated optical inspection and inspection conveyors.
-
-
X-Ray Inspection
-
X-Ray Inspection
High-performance x-ray inspection system designed for real time imaging of multilayer PCBs and dense metal BGAs, μBGAs, and chip scale packages.
-
-
PCB Cleaners
-
PCB & Stencil Cleaning Equipment
Environmentally-safe removal of rosin-based, water-soluble, and no-clean flux residues from PCB assemblies.
-
-
Component Counters
-
Component Reel Counters
Get quick, accurate counts of your component inventory.
-
-
Conveyors
-
PCB Conveyors and Board Handling
Automate your assembly line with loaders, unloaders, inline conveyors, and more.
-
-
PCB Depaneling
-
PCB Depaneling Equipment
Quickly and cleanly separate FR4, alumina, and other v-groove boards.
-
-
Dry Boxes
-
Dry Boxes for SMD Storage / Electronic Components
Store moisture-sensitive SMDs and boards or reclaim exposed components to eliminate moisture-related defects.
-
-
Hot Bar Soldering
-
Hot Bar Soldering
Also known as pulse bonding, hot bar soldering solves some of the industry's toughest soldering challenges.
-
-
Lead Forming
-
Lead Forming Machines
Precision cut and bend machines for taped and loose-fed axial and radial components.
-
-
SMD LED Assembly
-
LED Lamp Assembly Equipment
Manncorp offers a complete collection of SMT equipment designed specifically for the manufacturing of LED lighting products.
-
-
Thermal Profilers
-
Thermal Profiling Solutions
Improve your reflow soldering process with thermal profiling tools.
-