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[on:]

Hello group,

I'm building a pick and place machine. I hope to be able to use this

http://garage-shoppe.com/wordpress/?p=109

to create enough vacuum to lift 1206 sized components (to begin with...hopefully eventually larger chips).

I hope to be able to place 10-20 parts per minute so I need to turn the vacuum on and off up to 40 times per minute. I could control the pump directly with a relay, but that seems like startup/shutdown would waste several seconds, and switching on and off so often would wear the pump out quickly. Or am I guessing wrong?

Therefore I think I need a pneumatic solenoid valve, and control that with an IO pin and a transistor. If so can anyone tell me if this is a suitable one

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-24V-1-2-2-Way-Electric-Pneumatic-Air-Solenoid-Valve-/320874215826?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D21%26pmod%3D270949264800%26ps%3D54#ht_1675wt_974

This is just the cheapest one I've found. I'll be using 1/4" silicon hose to connect the pump to the pick up head so ideally I'd like a valve with such fittings so I won't need a bunch of adapters. If anyone has any recommendations on such a valve I'd appreciate it.

Thanks as always.

[Reply #1 on:]

Don't know if this will work for your application, but it might be worth buying just to try:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G4521

[Reply #2 on:]

Don't know if this will work for your application, but it might be worth buying just to try:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G4521

Or this one:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/SOL-132/SOLENOID-VALVE/1.html

I don't think you'd wear out your pump by switching it off/on, but it would be pretty inefficient. Ideally you'd use the pump with a small tank (e.g. some PVC pipe with endcaps and a couple fittings) to create a bit of a buffer, and use a pneumatic switch to detect when you need to start the pump up again. That would make it a standalone unit that would not require Arduino control.

[Reply #3 on:]

Thanks very much for the info, I will check out both links.

Chris