Many companies starting an SMT line for the first time with used placement machines require the selected placement machine to be relatively stable, have a low failure rate, be easy to maintain, and have low maintenance costs, etc. Therefore, there are still many concerns about buying a used placement machine. So, what should be paid attention to when buying a placement machine?
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1. Check whether the machine is from overseas.
Overseas placement machines have fewer running hours. This is determined by the difference in working styles between foreign companies and China SMT companies. Everyone should know that foreign companies have an 8-hour work system, right? When people move, the machine moves; when people stop, the machine stops. Look at domestic companies: no domestic boss would let a machine sit idle, right? Overseas placement machines are well maintained. Machine repair and maintenance are carried out frequently: daily maintenance, monthly maintenance, and quarterly major adjustments and calibration. In this way, used placement machines relatively rarely have faults. Many suppliers use this as a selling point, so you must identify it carefully.
In fact, after domestic machines are refurbished and maintained—refurbishment does not just mean exterior painting, but replacing internal precision parts and wearing parts and performing precision adjustment and testing according to new machine standards—all wearing parts are replaced. The appearance of the used placement machine will be the same as a new machine, and it can guarantee more than 90% of the functions of a new machine and can produce at full speed. Reliability and stability can be comparable to a new machine, and the price is about one-third of a new machine or so.
Large companies generally require a used machine (in stock) to have three weeks of refurbishment, calibration, debugging, and aging time, while ordinary used-equipment dealers may ship within one week. After many friends decide to choose used equipment, they also struggle a lot. There are too many domestic used-equipment dealers. Good and bad are mixed together, making it very difficult to choose. They often rely on introductions from friends, but this is not very safe either. After all, it is an economic society (you know what I mean).
Suggestion: Find large-scale suppliers. Whether it is early-stage equipment maintenance and refurbishment, mid-term training, or later-stage service, they are ahead of small companies. You can inspect the supplier and visit the customers they serve.
2. Whether the machine recommended by the supplier is suitable.
Many people, as soon as they hear that a customer wants a placement machine for a line configuration costing 300,000 CNY, immediately recommend a machine. They do not even try to understand what product the customer makes, how large the PCB is, what components there are, or what process requirements there are. This is very irresponsible. Customers should decide to buy machines according to the characteristics and output of their own products. Because there are too many used placement machines on the market and their speeds are different, customers must investigate and shop around before buying SMT equipment so that they can buy machines with high cost performance.
3. Buying a used placement machine without service.
Many companies now follow this practice, but for friends who are just starting out, it is not recommended. Not including service is cheaper, but if problems occur later, the loss will be more than just time. If you hire an engineer from outside, the time and price are decided by them. Large companies that provide services will do a good job in service for long-term development. In addition to maintenance, they also provide periodic maintenance. Large companies provide nationwide warranty service and have local offices, which ordinary used-equipment dealers generally cannot do!
4. The supporting capability of the used-equipment supplier.
Many manufacturers generally need to equip a complete production line along with a used placement machine, such as a reflow oven, solder paste printer, wave soldering machine, conveyor, AOI, etc. Of course, you can find a set of equipment from a used-equipment dealer, but their equipment generally comes from some unknown small factories.
With different equipment and different installation engineers, when problems occur, everyone will generally shift responsibility to each other, and in the end, the problems cannot be solved well. Therefore, find a larger manufacturer that has all the equipment itself and has full-time after-sales service engineers. Large companies generally can also rent and recycle equipment.
Earlier, the concepts of large companies and small companies were mentioned. Small companies are the kind with three to five people flipping orders every day. There are also individuals who place equipment in a large company’s warehouse and are affiliated with the large company. Large companies generally sell hundreds of machines a year, can configure an entire line, and can provide refurbishment, repair, and after-sales service because they have their own service team.
In fact, when buying a used placement machine, there are many things to understand. Just reading a few articles and asking a few suppliers is far from enough. It is best to inspect on site yourself.
