Gary Campbell wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 12:36 pm
It's simple, they are a US made product that chooses to use US made fastener sizes
Almost every fastener I have seen in US Customary sizes was made somewhere else and exported. Also, are you 100% certain the Acorn boards are actually manufactured in the US?
Yes, I have visited the Centroid plant in PA and saw the board mfg dept and pick and place machine.
Gary Campbell wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 12:36 pm
It's simple, they are a US made product that chooses to use US made fastener sizes
Almost every fastener I have seen in US Customary sizes was made somewhere else and exported. Also, are you 100% certain the Acorn boards are actually manufactured in the US?
Yes, Made in USA. During the pick and place process, the board is located in the pick and place machine by the 0.150" holes. The pick and place fixture is also used with many other Centroid PCBs. Changing the hole size is not a tiny change at this point.
eng199 wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 10:29 am
The components are placed in the USA. During this process, the board is located in the pick and place machine by the 0.150" holes. The pick and place fixture is also used with many other Centroid PCBs. Changing the hole size is not a tiny change at this point.
Every board is a different size, with holes in different places. The fixtures and tooling for each board will be made up for each design, so you could easily enough choose whatever pin size you want. Having worked in N America / Canada for some years developing PCBAs for both US and international customers, made both locally and of course in China, I've been there and done that many times. It's surely just force of habit and what happens by default. Not a problem but easily changed unless they are truly using machines from the Ark.
We can only ask for improvements - voice of the customer etc! Happy to leave it there....
suntravel wrote: ↑Fri May 20, 2022 3:39 am
With Acorn most things are easy
There are very long discussions in German forums how to use encoders with mach or Linux CNC....
... with Acorn wire like documented, make a few settings in the wizard and in 15min you are ready to go
Uwe
Indeed, as I lack the required PhD in LinuxCNC and have a life to live, I've reverted to Acorn for my Tree lathe update. Commissioning looks like something I should be able to start today, so I'm hoping this time round will be like before - and in line with Uwe's experience!
eng199 wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 10:29 am
The components are placed in the USA. During this process, the board is located in the pick and place machine by the 0.150" holes. The pick and place fixture is also used with many other Centroid PCBs. Changing the hole size is not a tiny change at this point.
Every board is a different size, with holes in different places. The fixtures and tooling for each board will be made up for each design, so you could easily enough choose whatever pin size you want. Having worked in N America / Canada for some years developing PCBAs for both US and international customers, made both locally and of course in China, I've been there and done that many times. It's surely just force of habit and what happens by default. Not a problem but easily changed unless they are truly using machines from the Ark.
We can only ask for improvements - voice of the customer etc! Happy to leave it there....
Centroid considers all suggestions and appreciates the feedback. It would not be out of the question to change the hole size or location. But I can tell you for a fact that almost all Centroid boards designed in the last 16 years are run on the same fixture. I wrote the pick and place programs for all of them. There are 3 to 5 holes on the boards (depending on board size) that are in the same relative location for fixturing.
