We have a Vitronics mySelective machine (model 6749, or "the Fat Bastard" as we affectionately call it). It's configurable with various combinations of "select wave" and "multi wave" pots. Ours has one of each. The "select wave" is for the most part a single point wave, though through nozzle selection we can, and do, solder multiple pins at a time. Tooling required would be the appropriate sized nozzles.
The "multi wave" portion consists of a custom plate with nozzles for each device/area to be soldered. The board is lowered onto the plate and all points solder simultaneously. Big time savings, but at a cost- especially if the machine is used for lead free, as is ours. The PB-free plate requires a special coating process which is long lead-time and expensive. A large plate with many nozzles could easily set you back $20K. A SnPb plate would be quicker to get and more reasonably priced. If thruput- especially with many points to be soldered- is your goal, the cost may be palatable to you. Using the selectwave can result in very long processing time, depending on what you're trying to solder.
Board enters the machine on a conveyor and is transported to the soldering station(s) via overhead gantry with a gripper setup. Depending on the size of the board(s) you process, you may require multiple gripper assemblies of different sizes. In some cases you can process without a process carrier but in many cases one is required.
It's definitely not a "no-tooling" approach.
Other machine notes: Head moves in X,Y,Z,U (rotation) and 3 different tilt axes (angle configurable at installation); IR preheater station, with convection option; independent pick-up and put-down stations allow for continuous processing. We purchased a 2nd, external fluxer so we can alternate between OA and no clean fluxes if desired (internal for NC). Programming can be somewhat cumbersome but can be picked up in a reasonable amount of time by a good tech/process eng.
We have no connection with Vitronics other than as a customer of many years as they are our preferred reflow oven supplier. This post is for FYI purposes only, and is not a recommendation for or against buying this machine.
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