Take your electronics production to the next level with the Place Station Desktop Pick and Place Machine (PNP Machine) — a revolutionary, open-source, high-performance desktop solution tailored for India’s growing electronics manufacturing ecosystem. Whether you're building prototypes, executing batch production, or offering contract manufacturing services, this precision-engineered machine is your key to efficient, professional-grade PCB population without the need for bulky industrial infrastructure.
Built for low-to-mid scale production, the Place Station brings you all the power of a professional SMT assembly line in a compact desktop form. Featuring dual independent nozzles, the machine supports automatic nozzle switching, drastically reducing setup time and improving throughput. From 0402-sized passive components to 30mm ICs, this machine handles a wide range of components — ideal for IoT devices, LED boards, wearables, consumer electronics, and automotive modules.
Place Station Desktop Pick and Place
The Place station brings accurate, affordable, and speedy population to your benchtop.
Orders of magnitude cheaper than its next competitor, the Place station leverages the linear motion control advancements of the past decade from the commoditization of desktop FDM 3D printers and applies them to the SMT industry. Removing the need for high-pressure air or industrial power hookups
means the Place station can easily be deployed on your production line, or in the office
Making Machines for Mid-Scale Manufacturing
Board Size
The two staging plates provide a usable work area of 400mm in the X axis, and 240mm in the Y, with camera, datum board, and nozzle rack to be considered. While avoiding these, boards 120mm X 400mm, or 240mm x 270mm With a third staging plate, these expand to 240mm x 400mm, or 360mm x 270mm
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Dual Nozzles
With two nozzles, the Place station is capable of picking a wide variety of parts without needing to perform a nozzle tip swap (which the machine is capable of doing fully automatically). Correctly choosing your tips allows for the machine to pick 0402s and TQFP- 100s without a swap, greatly increasing job speed.
Control Software
The Place station is controlled using OpenPnP, the industry standard for pick and place machines of this scale.The
machine comes with ready-made con guration les, and we walk you through every step of setup and calibration in our thorough documentation. OpenPnP runs cross platform, so you're ready to run jobs with whatever control computer you have available.
Supported Components
- Down to 0402 Passives
- Up to 30mm x 30mm
- Up to 25 gram weight
- Up to 20mm tall
- BGA Pitch - 0.8mm
- IC Pitch - 0.4mm
Making Machines for MidScale Manufacturing
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Vacuum Detection
Two 24 bit pressure sensors come installed on each nozzle air line, allowing the machine to immediately detect a part mis-pick. This saves time by removing the need to jog to the bottom camera for part detection if a mis-pick occurs.
High Speed
Equipped with high-quality linear rails, the Place station is incredibly fast for machines in its class. It has TMC2209 stepper drivers for each axis, meaning the machine's motor movements are almost perfectly quiet, while providing exceptional current delivery
Configurable
The Place station is highly configurable due to its staging plate system. The staging plates are easily added or removed depending on your needs, and the standard Peek Array mounting hole grid allows for maximum exibility in mounting placement.
Easy Setup
Getting your Place station assembled and operational takes less than an hour. Every machine comes with a dedicated calibration kit, which walks you through setup and calibration of the machine so you're ready to run your own jobs.
Open Source
Everything about the Place station is completely open source. From the mechanical CAD, to the circuit board design, to the software, everything about the machine is fully available and ready to download.
Docs and Support
Our fully-documented assembly and calibration process is available online,
and there is always someone to help.
Vision System
Top Camera
The Place station comes with an integrated HD camera mounted on the head. This camera is instrumental in a number of calibration procedures that allow the machine to place parts at a high speed, with high precision. The top camera helps navigate the machine's working area, automatically nds feeder pick locations, and performs ducial calibration on the PCB being populated to optically calibrate every job.
Bottom Camera
The Place station also comes with a stationary camera mounted to the rst staging plate on the machine. This camera provides rotational and translational offset calibration for the parts after they've been picked by the nozzle. After picking, the machine can optionally move the picked part over the bottom camera and perform vision calibration to ensure that the part is placed exactly where it needs to go
Making Machines for Mid-Scale Manufacturing
Feeders
8mm and 12mm feeders are available now. 16mm feeders are in development along with 24mm feeders. 8mm and 12mm take up one feeder slot, allowing up to 50 to be mounted to the machine at a time. 16mm and 24mm feeders take up two slots.
Feeders use an open source protocol
called Photon, which allows for feeders to self-report complex data back to the
controller, including feeder position, feed and tape status, along with the feeder's universal ID. Because of this rich communication, feeders can be swapped to different slots and the Place station is able to dyamically nd, command, and pick from the newly placed feeder. This means job setup and feeder configuration is order of magnitudes easier than with other systems.
If you have components in tape widths not compatible with powered feeders, or you've fully lled your slots and have remaining parts in your job, the Place station is con gured to support a wide array of strip feeders, with widths ranging from 8mm, 12mm, 16mm, 24mm, 32mm, and 44mm tape.
Staging Plate Count
The basis for the majority of your machine's config is the number of staging plates that you have mounted to the frame. Using only the default two plates means you have both the front and back rail available for powered feeders, allowing you to fit to up to 50 total. This is the recommended configuration. If you're populating very large boards that require the third plate for mounting, then only the front rail is available for powered feeders. You might also need three staging plates if you have many tape widths not supported by powered feeders.
Config Tool
It's easy to nd the optimal configuration for your Place station using our Config Tool. Simply input the unique part count for each tape with in your job, assign which parts are priority to be fully automated with a powered feeder, and an optimal Place station configuration will be rendered in full 3D. We also outline all the parts required for your config, and a link to purchase them.
Summary:-
| Category |
Details |
| Machine Capability |
- Up to 50 powered feeders
- Up to 79 unique components
- Supports down to 0402 |
| Software |
Completely Open Source |
| Deployment |
Deployable in any setting |
| Ideal For |
- Low to Mid-Scale Production
- Prototype Runs
- Contract Work
- Makerspaces, Universities |
| Contact |
Email:- sales@bombayelectronics.in
Phone: +91 7738961235 |
Applications:
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Low-to-mid volume PCB production
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Rapid prototyping for startups and design houses
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Contract assembly work for Indian SMEs
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Engineering colleges, research labs, and makerspaces
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Batch production for IoT, automotive, LED, and consumer electronics
Key Features:
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Dual Nozzle System: Supports wide range of SMD components without frequent nozzle changes
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Top & Bottom Cameras: High-precision alignment and mis-pick detection
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OpenPnP Control Software: Cross-platform, open-source, fully configurable
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Silent Stepper Drivers: Ultra-quiet operation with TMC2209 drivers
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Vacuum Detection: 24-bit pressure sensors detect part pickups in real-time
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Fully Open Source: Mechanical CAD, electronics, and software — all customizable
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Flexible Staging Plates: Supports large boards and optimized feeder configurations
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🇮🇳 Made in India, No air compressors or 3-phase required
Technical Specifications:-
| Parameter |
Details |
| PCB Size (Dual Plate) |
120×400mm or 240×270mm |
| PCB Size (Triple Plate) |
240×400mm or 360×270mm |
| Component Size Range |
From 0402 to 30×30mm; 0.4mm pitch ICs, 0.8mm pitch BGAs |
| Max Component Weight |
25 grams |
| Max Component Height |
20 mm |
| Component Capacity |
Up to 79 components; 50 via powered feeders |
| Feeder Support |
Powered: 8mm & 12mm tape; Strip: 8mm–44mm |
| Machine Dimensions |
765mm (W) × 710mm (D) × 270mm (H) |
| Power Supply |
100–240V AC, 50/60 Hz, Max 145W |
| Control Software |
OpenPnP (Linux/Windows compatible) |
| Camera Inputs |
Supports dual 720p USB webcams & 1 USB serial port |
| Motor System |
Linear rails with TMC2209 drivers |
| Setup Time |
< 1 hour (with included calibration kit) |
Package Includes:
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1 × Place Station Pick & Place Machine
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2 × HD Cameras (top & bottom vision)
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1 × Calibration Kit
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1 × OpenPnP Configuration & Support Guide
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1 × Power Cable (India-compatible)
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1 × User Manual (Digital)
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(Optional) Strip & Powered Feeders as per order
