[time-nuts] OT stuffing boards: was GPS interface/prototyping

[Mark Sims]

There are fairly decent small pick-and-place machines you can get for <$3000.  A usable re-flow oven can be had for $300.  At these costs, it does not take many outside assembly house runs to pay for the machinery... maybe even one.  If your board has components on only one side,  the do-it-yourself route is a bit easier.
I know a couple of people that made their own pick-and-place machines.  One is rather neat (optical imaging, etc) and out-performs some $10,000+ machines, except for maybe speed.  He built it over a couple of weeks from junk parts.