Vince, Take a look at the Allen-Bradley Co. home page @ http://www.ab.com Allen-Bradley offers vision systems for a wide range of applications with electronics being one of them. On the home page: Go to Products and Services Then go to Products Sensors Then go to Overview Then go to Vision Overview I hope this is useful information. --------------------------- John Laur (PCB Design) Rockwell Automation Allen-Bradley Co Inc. 1201 South Second Street Milwaukee, WI 53204 +1 414 382 2162 (fax) +1 414 382 2393 (phone) [log in to unmask] --------------------------- > From [log in to unmask] Wed Apr 17 20:52:10 1996 > Resent-Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 20:47:53 -0700 > Resent-Sender: [log in to unmask] > Old-Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]> > X-Sender: [log in to unmask] > Mime-Version: 1.0 > To: "Vince, Harlan" <[log in to unmask]> > From: [log in to unmask] (Jerry Cupples) > Subject: Re: ASSY: Vision/Inspection Equipment > Cc: [log in to unmask] > Resent-Message-Id: <"vbHLB3.0.KfH.ekNTn"@ipc> > Resent-From: [log in to unmask] > X-Mailing-List: <[log in to unmask]> archive/latest/3510 > X-Loop: [log in to unmask] > Precedence: list > Resent-Sender: [log in to unmask] > X-Lines: 48 > > Vince Harlan asked: > > > I am looking for inspection equipment that can visually inspect a > > circuit card assembly for defects. Major defects that I'm > > concerned with are: Wrong part numbers, wrong polarity, and > > missing components. > > > > I know there are many systems available but I am looking for a > > system that someone may have experience with that will do the > > job. > > I know that OMRON (Japanese OEM) makes one. We had one of these machines at > Fujitsu imported for our use about 5 years ago. It was very impressive, and > had advanced vison recognition to pick out missing, wrong and reversed, > theoretically even solder shorts. Cost mid 6 figure range. Learned from a > golden board. It was magazine load/unload conveyorized and we tried to use > it in-line after reflow. > > Used to tell people it was like having a Learjet in your driveway. > Impresses the hell out of the neighbors, but not very practical to get back > and forth to work. > > It will also reject boards when it sees the ink on the parts change color, > an IC changes its mold slightly, or for so many other things that change in > slight ways that it became impractical to use. Too many false rejects was > the main issue with it. I know that there is at least 1 US company (sorry I > can't remember the name) selling such systems. Not sure whether OMRON is > selling their machine in the US yet or not. > > It is a good technology, but like some advanced applications, borderline > practical, IMO. You can pay two ro three full time human operators for 5 > years for what that machine cost, plus it would require 50% effort from a > tech to keep it going and additional programming effort. Maybe it has > improved enough to be workable now, but I can't imagine a way around the > problems we were having in 1991-2... > > > > good luck, > > Jerry Cupples > Interphase Corporation > Dallas, TX USA > http://www.iphase.com > > > > >