#686 – A Benchtop Pick and Place with Stephen Hawes

Welcome, Stephen Hawes!

• Chris interviewed Stephen back in 2020 for his second episode of The Contextual Electronics Podcast. It was when Stephen was still working at Formlabs and the Lumen/Opulo were a glimmer in his eye.
• The Lumen v4 is a Benchtop Pick and Place machine that works with OpenPNP
• Where are we in relation to reprap?
• Powered feeders
• Videos about eeprom
• KiCad pos file
• Can reliably place 0402
• Lumen v4 product page
• Motherboard of v4
• Running Marlin FW
• Head has two heads/nozzles
• Compare the Lumen to other methods (hand placed, paying for assembly)
• OHM (Open Hardware Manufacturing) podcast
• What industries are open?
• Thea Flowers (of Winterbloom synth fame) just joined the team
• Microscope
• Other tools
• Space constraints
• Stephen does a great job talking through many experiments and upcoming features on his youtube channel
• Prototyping PCBs with a fiber laser 
• Micronix
• Making PCBs on a 3D printer (hack session with Stephen’s former employer)
• Timon (Skerutsch) makes double sided PCBs by inserting enameled wire through drilled holes

Is this the year you should get a Pick and Place? Stephen won’t say yes (but I will)