Having manually pick'n place'd thousands of boards I just don't see the point to dropping that kind of change. Not to mention you can buy full-on PaPs for about $6K.
For my manual PaP I have a 2 foot by 1 foot table top that glides right and left about 14". Standing over that without touching it is a 5 sided box. The sides are about 2 inches. There is a two inch gap cut front to back of the top box in the center. The left entire side of top (left of the gap) is piano hinged at the back so it can be lifted up exposing the gliding platform.
The top box has four of those rubber feet that screw in and out like on a washing machine to level and adjust the top box height above the boards.
You open the left side load all the boards you want to stuff on the glider. Then you close it.
Now you can pile parts on both sides of the gap and use it as your work surface. The stuffed boards glide back and forth below the top deck only exposed in the narrow gap. Add a vacuum pick-up, a circular lit magnifier, and a clipboard spring bail on a block of plastic. You can easily pick up SMD parts and place them on the boards without accidentally touching the partly stuffed boards and scrambling the stuffed parts. You use a finger under the front edge of the top box to herd the glider back and forth precisely. Works like a charm.
You work the same part on each board so once you find it's location you just repeat it across the 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 12 boards (depending on size) then go to the next part. Step-and-repeat. When done you flip up the left side lid and cart the boards to reflow.
Keith Cress
kcress -
