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Compressor for Pick and Place line

Compressor for Pick and Place line

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Hi all, what compressor would you recommend for pick n plac... - May 20, 2020 by Uzbek

Buy a dryer to go with your compressor. Compressed air traps... - May 20, 2020 by DWL

You want a big enough storage tank to smooth pressure. Figur... - May 20, 2020 by Stephen

everything Stephen said + it is really important that you ha... - May 21, 2020 by bukas

A cheap piston compressor (like you might use in a garage) s... - May 21, 2020 by Spoiltforchoice

Thank you all for the help! ... - May 25, 2020 by Uzbek

> A cheap piston compressor (like you might use in &l... - May 25, 2020 by kyleh04

No idea, could be a weird translation error, but its certain... - May 26, 2020 by Spoiltforchoice

The reason for recommendations about refrigerated vs. desicc... - May 28, 2020 by SMTA-Brandon SMTA

Uzbek

#84886

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 20 May, 2020

Hi all,

what compressor would you recommend for pick n place line consisting of two Essemtec FLX2011 machines?

Or what should I take care of when choosing a compressor? Also if we decide to run compressor lines throughout our workshop for other machines, is there anything special that needs to be thought before.

Thank you in advance!

reply »

DWL

#84887

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 20 May, 2020

Buy a dryer to go with your compressor. Compressed air traps a lot of water and you don't want that in your air lines on your P&P machines. Additionally, make sure you keep up with all the preventative maintenance and change out the filters as required. Many compresses use oil as both a lubricant and coolant. you don't want that in your air lines either.

reply »

Stephen

#84889

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 20 May, 2020

You want a big enough storage tank to smooth pressure. Figure out what size pipes you need and go a size bigger. Make a loop of the pipes with shut offs. That way you can shut down any section and still have air to the rest of the air line. Run the pipes with a down slope. After a certain distance or at corners have a vertical pipe. At the bottom of the pipe have a drain for water. At the top have the vertical pipe go up about six inches so that you can slope down again. The reason for doing it that way is for any water that your dryer may have missed. I think some people make a U instead of one vertical pipe, that way you can have a shut off valve at eye level instead of at the ceiling. Doing it the way I suggest could easily cost over twice as much up front but over time it will be ten times better. Also check for leaks right from the start.

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bukas

#84893

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 21 May, 2020

everything Stephen said + it is really important that you have correct diameter pipes. If diameter is too small there will be a significant pressure drop in pipes (and machines have their consumption 100-500 NL - normal liters / min) and pipe system wont be able to deliver the amount of air needed. to solve this you will need to increase working pressure of compressor and wear and tear it faster... so dont forget to account for consumption and leave it some room for expansion.

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Spoiltforchoice

#84894

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 21 May, 2020

A cheap piston compressor (like you might use in a garage) should be rated such that it has ~50% duty cycle, you don't want it running continuously. They are very affordable but do switch on and off between two essentially hardwired setpoints. The best ones for manufacturing are the rotary type which can run non-stop with a steady flow rate. They are also typically quieter so you can locate them more easily. They can include a dryer but do cost ~5x as much as a piston one.

Do read the specs of your equipment, some specify to not use refrigerant dryers on your air. I think Essemtec is one of these, however they aren't very fast or thirsty machines so you shouldn't need anything too fancy as long as you dry.Shop around tho'; I found one brand of dryer in the UK was like 1/2 the price of all the others and as far as I can tell they are all exactly the same unit with different branding. Basically every smaller unit out there looked like this unit https://www.beko-technologies.com/en-gb/gb/products/compressed-air-dryers/desiccant-dryers/ all that changes is the colour.

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Uzbek

#84916

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 25 May, 2020

Thank you all for the help!

reply »

kyleh04

#84917

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 25 May, 2020

> A cheap piston compressor (like you might use in
> a garage) should be rated such that it has ~50%
> duty cycle, you don't want it running
> continuously. They are very affordable but do
> switch on and off between two essentially
> hardwired setpoints. The best ones for
> manufacturing are the rotary type which can run
> non-stop with a steady flow rate. They are also
> typically quieter so you can locate them more
> easily. They can include a dryer but do cost ~5x
> as much as a piston one.

Do read the specs of
> your equipment, some specify to not use
> refrigerant dryers on your air. I think Essemtec
> is one of these, however they aren't very fast or
> thirsty machines so you shouldn't need anything
> too fancy as long as you dry.Shop around tho'; I
> found one brand of dryer in the UK was like 1/2
> the price of all the others and as far as I can
> tell they are all exactly the same unit with
> different branding. Basically every smaller unit
> out there looked like this unit
> https://www.beko-technologies.com/en-gb/gb/product
> s/compressed-air-dryers/desiccant-dryers/ all
> that changes is the colour.

Any idea why they wouldn't want a refrigerated drier? Surely they can't required a dessicant dryer?

reply »

Spoiltforchoice

#84918

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 26 May, 2020

No idea, could be a weird translation error, but its certainly something I have seen .

For an FLX they just ask for this "5-6 bar, clean, dry, oil free, filtered 2 µm, connection diameter 8 mm", 40litre/min

Personally I would go with a moderate piston compressor if you have somewhere you can keep it rated at ~150l/min make sure it has all the right filters between it and the appliance and between the dryer unit. Specialist sellers of compressed air equipment can advise you on all of it if you give them the spec. However there are decent deals on eBay or form your local specialist for refurb units or you could even try a Chinese dental compressor if you find one big and enough and feel brave.

Edit, I knew I'd seen it somewhere, our Essemtec machine requests ISO class 3 with a dew point <-20C. You can see it here https://www.essemtec.com/fileadmin/user_upload/produkt/pdf/EN/FOX_Specifications_V3.0.pdf, so you can see at some point they decided what they used to suggest wasn't good enough anymore. I do know from talking to the service engineer that they had more than one site in the UK that ignored any dry air advice and ****ed the placement head, think they were mostly post FLX machines tho'.

reply »

SMTA-Brandon

#84925

Compressor for Pick and Place line | 28 May, 2020

The reason for recommendations about refrigerated vs. desiccant dryers commonly comes down to the ISO class of compressed air they deliver. Refrigerated dryers are most commonly used in ISO Class 4 compressed air, and can't dry the air enough to reach the dewpoint requirements of the higher quality classes.

While the initial investment is higher, dessicant dryers can often be configured to run with a lower energy cost than refrigerated dryers - which can help your ROI.

Did the equipment manufacturer make a recommendation for the ISO class of compressed air supplied to the machine?

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