SMD workstation question

[capacitorless]

I'm older and while I thankfully don't have anything like Parkinson's, sometimes I don't have the super steady hands that I had when I was younger. Especially after coffee. So, I'm looking for ways to assist SMD work. One, of course, is a good magnification setup.

Is there some kind of device that would translate larger movements into finer ones, and/or support SMD devices while being placed on a circuit board?

It could be as simple as a squeeze-to-release tweezer mounted on a flexible wand, or more elaborate like a robotic device thingy. I just haven't run across such a thing myself, so far. I've got a PanaVise, just looking for something more precise and more reliable than my hand.

 

[JohnRoberts]

What you are thinking of is a pantograph placement mechanism. I can't say that I've ever seen or heard of one, but that's what it would be called. Might be easier to program up an X-Y robot arm.

One good thing about SMD is that the parts are so small that surface tension will often self-align components onto the pads after heating them up hot enough to melt the solder, when placed roughly in the ball park.

JR

 

[capacitorless]

Since I'm brand new to SMD (both building new boards and doing rework) that's great to know.

I should practice some and revisit this idea afterwards. It might simply be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Philbo King]

I used to hand solder parts as small as 005010 (5/1000" x 10/1000"). It required a 40x power zoomable microscope, high precision tweezers ($75 & up) and abstaining from coffee.

Hint: Buy more parts than you need; if the part slips from your tweezers you'll never see it again. These were about the size of table salt grains.