Hello,
I recently purchased a used (obviously!) Siemens ms72a pick and place machine. This is an old unit, that was "run" by an old HP9000 computer, over IEEE488 bus. Also, the machine came with no (zero!) documentation ! (not one book!)
Having no idea how to run the very un-friendly software that came with the hp9000, I decided to take on the challenge of re-writing the hp9000 code in Visual Basic, in an attempt to bring this machine into the year 2000, and in an attempt to gain knowledge of how it works. Results have been interesting..
The software is a little rough, but I have it functional, complete with co-ordinate rotation and translation based on fiducial marks. My only problems now are finding feeders and "spare" parts for this machine. If anyone has an old ms72, or has spare parts, I would be happy to work out something with you.
I am also willing to trade the software that I wrote for it. All you need is a windowz-98 or newer PC, and a National Instruments IEE488 interface card.
Thanks! ---Lou
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