Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

Does anyone have a vacuum pickup tool suggestion?
 
I really want one with a solenoid that turns the air on/off.
 
I was thinking I could throw it on my sherline mill and place some objects.  I would use the rotary table to spin the pcb and the Z axis to place the part.
 
This would just be manual and only for fine pitch devices. 
 
I can put down 0603 with tweezers but fine pitch devices < 1mm I have problems getting into place without smearing the solder paste. 

My technique usually involves dropping it down then tapping it gently from the side until I get it on.
 
Again with ICs my problem is that this tends to smear the paste.
 
Any other suggestions?  I want to be able to do <.5mm pitch QFP pieces.




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