[Golem]

Hi!!.
This is my first post so hello everyone!!.
Well I'll try to explain what my problem is, because I'm form Spain and sorry for my english!.
OK, I have to glue a little pieces of steel in a wood sheet. Have to glue tons of this steel pieces so I think that if I could use the CNC to put the steel in place it will be great.
Did someone made someting like that?, It's possible to do it without change the CNC?, Maybe with new software?. Thank you!!

[tobyaxis]

What your looking for is a "Pick and Place Machine". Siemens and Fuji make these types of machines for printed circuit boards.

First solder is screened on the board, in your case glue.

Second a Small Vacuum Nozzle picks up electronic components and places them precisely on the board.

Then off to the oven where the solder is heated to complete the task.

These are expensive machines that are in fact CNC's of a different kind.

[Golem]

Hi everyone!
Yeah, I need one of those, but is very expensive to buy one, as you said. Because of that I want to use a DIY CNC to do that. I'm sure that all the structure of a CNC is valid, (X,Y and Z axis), but the software is not appropiate for that. This true that I could programme the points to move to in G-code, but it will be a bit hard. Any ideas?.

[tobyaxis]

It is the same concept of a VMC but your picking up and placing components instead of cutting material.

[daedalus]

Are you just trying to do an electronics pick and place on the cheap, or is your application different from that?

If you are just doing pcbs, this has been discussed on the forum many times in the past, and the consenus was that anything built out of a CNC will be far inferior to a 10 year old pick and place from ebay.

There is a massive amount of engineering in them, which you would have to replicate, involving fields as diverse as computer vision, pneumatics, control engineering, etc. The structure of a mill is all wrong for this, as you want to place lots of parts fast in order to be competitive with other shops. If you cant afford a proper pick and place, why not just outsource the lot to a production boardmaker and save yourself the grief.

If your not doing pcbs let us know, and post some info about the parts you are gluing, and the amount of time you are saving by automation, and maybe we can give you some more useful advice.

[rowbare]

You should be able to do what you describe but it will take some work to get it setup. Depending on the size of the parts you could use a vacuum or electromagnetic pickup (though if the parts are stacked, the vacuum is the way to go).

At the very least you would have to build some kind of pickup device. This can simply be a part that you attach to the Z axis when needed or you can have in move into place under machine control.

Then you need some means of ensuring that the piece is properly oriented, see the linked video for an example of this.

Then of course you need to write a bit of clever g-code to tie it all together.

The video in the link shows a pick and place machine built from a taig cnc mill. This is a small machine but the video shows all of the concepts.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__dEMKzkLYc"]YouTube- Homebrew Surface Mount Pick and Place Taig Mill Conversion[/ame]

good luck
bob

[Eclipze]

I'm building my own pick and place for electronics. It would however be far more useful if I had a proper pick and place electronics package to drive it. Can anyone suggest a suitable software package?

[daedalus]

Eclipze, check this link out, its about the most DIY machine on sale at the moment, might be worth trying to get its manual and lift ideas from:
About the cheapest machine out there

I cant really recommend software, as usually its custom written for the tool in question. You are probably going to need to write your own anyway, as you need to control the feeders / vision system.

BTW, there is a really nice $40k motorola pick and place on ebay US at the moment for like $4k B.I.N., some days i really hate being on this side of the pond.

[Eclipze]

I had a look at the SX1010 and was considering it until I saw comments about it here...
http://www.electronicskb.com/Uwe/For...-Place-Machine
<copied below>

"I got my SX1010 exactly 1 week ago, a total disapiontment, not even in
my bad dreams I could imagine this is what I will spend $13500. We
needed the machine for prototypes and small batches of very simple
parts, for this reason we also ordered the dispenser option and nozzle
changer.

The thing is, you can call and email these guys 100 times, if you are
familiar with SMT machines and you speak about a certain option, you
are sure they mean the same but in fact you are getting something
completely different. They sent me an oudated pdf file of the 3700
series, claiming it is the same software. I was supposed to get an
idea about the SX1010 from it.
So in this file you see mechanical parts feeders and full Z control,
just 2 examples. What I got is an air actuator Z spring pressure
controlled which almost for sure will damage large resistors for
example.
The feeders.... well, this is the best sad joke i ever seen. I would
laugh if it didn't costed $13.5K+shipping, now I cry.
It is a Madell's invention, a kind of slot where you place the tape,
then pull back the sticker and you attach to it a fishing weight with
a probe crocodile. You have to raise the weight every 200-300 parts
before it touches the floor. The advance mechanism is another air
actuator which presses a headless bolt on the tape and pulls it to
expose a new part.
What else, before touching the operational facts?
The machine looks like the aluminum parts are cut by hand saw, no
finish not to mention anodizing.
The dispenser control is the same stand alone box sold everywhere on
ebay for $100-130 and by Madell at over $340.
The air settings were lableled in psi, while the gauges are in MPa.
Try set a 5psi on a 0-1 MPa, 1" diameter gauge.
Then, when the Z was not moving, they said the 0-5 psi setting is a
mistake, it should be 30-50. It took us 3 hours to get this answer,
while thinking all the time we do something wrong.
The machine vs. computer dispay us up side down, if you want to move X
or Y you better sit behind the machine or if you are able to think
everything miirorwise then you are ok.
The dispalyed units are motor steps, not real dimensions. You have to
calculate everything using 1step=1/2000 inch.
In their web site and ebay store they claim the SX1010 is delivered
with 20 feeders, in fact they offer only 15.
I paid ( I don't believe I've done this) extra for another 5 feeders
and also ordered 5 "manual feeders".
As I described above, there is no difference between the manual and
the other (which ar not automatic of course).
An important thing with the feeders, if you plan to use anything more
than standard passives, you will have a problem with the height, as
the slots milled in a piece of aluminum are set at a thickness which
is for a minimal tape height. So tantalum caps, leds, and other taller
than a 0805 resistor are not feedable, you must use the manual feeder
where you have to stand like an idiot and push the parts one by one.
Right, they say there is another option, a loose parts tray.
They are not exactly loose, the tray should have specific places where
the parts are sitting, arranged as a matrix.

They claim the machine is delivered pnp, just add an air compressor
and computer and you are ready to place parts.
In fact they insisted to supply also a computer without monitor for
another $600.
I won't spend words on the computer's elemnts and quality, but the
hell, why it was supplied with 1/2 ton of viruses in it?
I plugged an USB stick in order to copy the user's manual from the
machine's computer and when I took it to my desk computer the anti-
virus went crazy, their computer infected my USB stick with a
dangerous virus.
It took several scans to clean all the junk from the machine's disk.
About the software, we had to look in all folders to find it and then
it was in 2 folders. From one location it worked and passed the homing
initialization, from the right folder (according to their instructions
it didn't). At this point we also received by email an updated manual,
once again for the 3700. Here we discovered for the first time about
the feeders, as the other manual had no mention of them.
We started to work as described, after 3 days looking to solve the air
issues, the right most feeder being unreachable by the pick up head as
it was installed by them in a wrong place and other 20 problems with
numerous emails back and forth.
Once again, we agreed to buy their computer as they claimed this is
the only method to supply the machine calibrated.
I don't know which calibration it was, but nothing was in place.
We are indeed stupid, we try to set everything up according to the
manual and nothing works. Why? because most settings in the book are
for the 3700. Usually every engineer according to a smart sentence
"opens the book only when nothing works" but here we worked according
to the book, where on every page you have to set something with the Z
height, while the machine has no Z control, simply one tiny subject
they forget to mention anywhere.
By the way, speaking about documentation, you need a lot of guessing
in installing the machine and attaching all connectors and hoses as it
is supplied without even a piece of toilet paper showing where
everything goes. We spent many hours figuring why the look-up camera
isn't working until we found a connector that plugs on it's bottom and
you have to disassemble the machine from it's table once again to have
it plugged and then it is squeezed between th camera and the table.

About operation, sophisticated windows based software and all the
wonderful stories, facto if you have a few pieces to assemble do it
with your soldering iron as you do it now, it will be much faster.
You have to become a photographer in order to use this machine and set
it up, everything goes on snap photos, absolutely everything, home
pointer, each feeder with the right part in it, the part above the
look-up camera, in every angle, fiducials, each part after assembly if
you want the inspection made, you mother in law's photo and etc.
Assuming somebody needs it indeed for prototypes, the setup of a 100K
parts/hour machine with 300 feeders takes much less.
So you might find yourself spending a full day on setup, and god saves
you if you need to change a reel with not exactly the same production
lot as the first one, you have to take all photo again.

I thought it is the best idea to buy a new machine, the price is
tempting when you compare it to other desktop types, now I deeply
regret this decision, it was much better to buy an used machine for
the same price, where the head knows where each part sits, you can
load a pick and place standard file, set the offset and you are ready
to go. I did this google search about Madell as well, without any
results before I ordered it, I thought that if nobody speaks about it
it is also a good thing, as one of the other options, Manncorp is
severely criticized everywhere.

I could add $1000 and buy a ECM97 professional used machine or even a
Juki in good condition, but somtimes stupidity strikes you. I am
considering returning this machine, as I am not in the US the shipping
will cost another $1000, they will not refund all the money, the
return is at least 15% although I have enough reasons to receive full
refund.
So it costed me 13,500 + 1000 shipping, if I spend another $1000 to
return it and $2025 for cancellation I think we might keep it here and
make it a vey high cost dot glue dispenser for securing parts, I see
no other use for it.

I share my experience with you, I think such poor product is a shame
to manufacture, I saw Chinese machines looking and working 1000 times
better."


I only need to place 0805, SOT323 and 0.5mm pitch TSSOPs. Larger production work I get done externally, but I always prefer to build the first 100 units myself and have some niche market products that I couldn't afford to get loaded due to the low volume. Given the machines are +$10k plus, and I'd probably spend more getting them up to speed, I've been designing my own for some time. Only over these holidays have I almost finished the CAD models... just working on the wiring paths now. You are probably right about the software needing to be custom.... there will be some specifics regarding tape feeding, trays and paste dispension I'd need to address. I'm hoping Mach3 has the flexibility to create a useful driver, and then have translation software for the pick and place data to required gcode segments.

Although I'm not spending much to build it... cost aside, it's actually more about the fun of designing and building it. Some people build ships in a bottle, others find endless amusement designing CNC's

[daedalus]

I did consider building one myself a while back, but gave up as i didnt have the time to dedicate to it. You really do need to do your own software, as mach cant do closed loop control, and without visual servoing this will be a massive challenge to achieve.

Visual servoing lets you avoid calibration if your clever about it (like putting optical tags on your feeders), and saves a lot of time mechanically alligning parts, but obviously theres a fair bit of dev work involved. One of my areas is computer vision, so i might be able to steer you towards some open source libraries if your interested.

Do you want to commercialise the design? If not it might be worth doing some kind of open source design model, get some other people involved, as you really need software devs, a control guy, a vision guy, and mech eng's to do a project like that well.

[Eclipze]

I've kept the design to have both flexibility for modification as well as choosing components that aren't difficult to find - nor too expensive. So it's something that could lead to commercialisation, however this path isn't really what I've been aiming for. Too much of a requirement for support hahaa.... It's ultimately a DIY model, which is being built for my own commercial use. But I've got more interest in making it an open source platform. I would be really good to get design input/expansion from others with different skill sets, particularly for the software side. But I will consider manufacturing kits or partial kits for those interested in purchasing the mechanical component/assemblies etc...

It has two heads, which the second head for my machine will be paste dispension. However any significant prototype runs I machine stencils. It has a web camera for one of the heads. Mechanical alignment is done at the point of pickup, for each individual feeder. However I have plans to incorporate a mouse sensor for optical alignment - which I've already got the basics established with the sensor. I'd like to make it a neat self contained chip module, providing X/Y offset and rotation data. It's not on the cards to start with though, as it's an optional extra that I can add after I have the core mechanics working with precision. But there is potential to add a separate upward camera for the job. The deck area is flexible, so you could have a wide PCB area and feeders on one side, or smaller PCB area with feeders/trays both sides, and/or designate an area for camera, head changing rack etc...

[scsi]

Hi there!

I'd like to respond to a couple of things discussed on this thread as well as to show off my DIY PnP

daedalus -

1st - that Motorola machine on eBay costs way over $40K. I'd say the SPG gantry system alone is about $50K. I'd buy it in a blink of an eye but I already have a bigger one sitting in my garage and another one won't fit. They used to have fourteen of these and managed to move ten somehow.

2nd - you're right on Madell SX machine being the most DIY friendly.

3rd - you can get the software/vision package for it from Madell. At least I did. Anticipating an obvious question I will tell you that the price was a little over $2K and I believe it was worth it.

Eclipze -

1st - I'd hate to put a nail in the coffin of the open source software development effort for the low cost PnP, but I'm a software developer myself with enough experience and after looking at all the stuff that's involved I decided to buy the ready-built package. Actually, Madell was the only PnP manufacturer that agreed to sell their software to a stranger and I was asking them all. Basically all low cost PnP vendors either denied to sell their stuff as it cannot be adapted to a DIY XYZ system or never responded.

2nd - the quote from the guy being disappointed about Madell tells a good story of a dude who decided to purchase the cheapest PnP machine possible and simply had wrong expectations about it. It's quite possible that he never looked at the other products in the sub $50K range or he would've found that there is no miracle there and everything has to be set up and tuned manually. Including taking pictures of your mother in law. The machines begin miraculously work when you pay over $100K or even $1M for a chip mounter. And even then it's not a plug-n-play experience with lots of phone calls and tech visits. The guy also criticizes the SX feeder functionality but forgets to mention the price per feeder. In other machines every feeder costs between $500 and $1K. With Madell's simple approach to the tape advancement it's essentially under one dollar per reel. That's the cost of the fishing sinker they are using to peel the cover tape and assuming you can make the tape guide yourself (the milling of it is shown in one of the videos below). Yet the SX mechanism is quite reliable and according to Madell, it can handle 0201 parts. I've tried it down to 0402 and it works amazingly well.

In fact, if it's not for Madell, I'd never even think of building a decent PnP at home. Luckily enough, Madell is using DeskCNC motion controller for their machines and I'm running DeskCNC software on it to get some parts done from time to time. I'm not telling which frame grabber and vision package they are using because they didn't want to give that information away until I paid. I still don't understand why - there is absolutely nothing to be shy about. The vision part is built on top of a very reputable industrial grade multi-channel grabber board and comes with a very decent image processing library all licensed for OEM use and stuff.

Well, now it's the show time. First, the machine in my garage is built on top of a very high end gantry system and it is a total overkill for the purpose. This can be done on almost any XYZ table that can show ~0.001" repeatability and at any speed. Size does not matter either. Second, the gantry is running on linear motors, but again, it's not necessary for the PnP. Just no backlash and higher speeds. And third, the machine is set up for milling plastic and aluminum and you will see it throwing some chips around in one of the videos.

1. The machine is moving 0402 resistors for the first time. Playing with a 1KW shop light to demonstrate the tolerance to the ambient lighting changes: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAwdO_bTOTA"]YouTube- Homemade SMT pick and place machine #4 Placing 0402 resistors[/ame]

2. Testing the automatic nozzle changer and then milling some HDPE at ~600 IPM and 0.8mm DOC: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYfD0UUKyek"]YouTube- Homemade SMT pick and place machine #3 Nozzle Changer and plastic chips[/ame]

3. Lower quality shot. The machine performs homing and then moves some 0603 resistors at a much slower speed. This was taken before I figured out the trick on how to deal with the DeskCNC acceleration profiles. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BauGFsM8GWQ"]YouTube- Homemade SMT pick and place machine #2 - Anorad gantry system[/ame]

Questions?

Regards,
Kyryl

[Eclipze]

Very nice scsi

Understand your comments regarding Madell. It's typical to only find complaints, but there is little else to go by to determine the level of interest.

Did you drill a hole through the shaft of the stepper for the vacuum supply?
I considered this approach, but the material is too hard and too long for me to consider trying to drill.

DeskCNC... never looked much into it. I remember it ran GCODE and used the serial port. Mach3 was of more interest when I was looking into CNC'ing due to flexibility and cost. Runs GCODE also, output via serial port. It would be interesting to know if the pick and place software support parallel port output type too.

Does the Madell software handle both the vision and the pick'n'place particulars? Such as teaching mode, place one component, place all, repeat, fidicual alignment and correction, tape feeding with the gantry etc...?

If I were to limit component size to 0805 and SOT23 devices... would you expect the visual correction to be a requirement for placement? I'm hoping that the error for this size components is relatively not significant, whereby during reflow the surface tension aligns them anyway. If there were a few components not aligned well, a check with tweezers for strays wouldn't bother me too much. The alternative is component bumping, albeit slowing placement speeds significantly.

The software is definitely going to be a sticking point, but one I couldn't commit to unless the actual machine I'm building could make use of it.

I started machining parts last week for mine.

[scsi]

Hey Eclipze,

No, I didn't drill the stepper. They usualy use hardened stainless shafts and you don't want to drill that. Search fo "hollow shaft" motors and you may find nice deals on ebay. I bought mine from Madell for something close to a hundred. I wanted to use their nozzle holders and their motor fits nicely as you can guess.

DeskCNC is used for motion control. Basically the software tells it to move from point A to point B and the controller generates the pulse train accordingly. Madell's SW is tied to this particular MC for now.

And yes, DeskCNC can run GCODE through their software. Refer to their web site for that or contact IMService.

Good question on vision and particulars. The answer is yes, it's full blown PnP solution with all the things that you mentioned being implemented and then some. The fiducial detection/correction via top vision, teaching mode as well as visual component search on SX feaders. Bottom vision with multi camera support and different vision modes. Various component placement modes, visual inspection after placement (need the in-law picture for that too). Basically all the features that are available on any of their machines is implemented in the software. It's just one common EXE for all models with a bunch of text config files. Very easy to understand how it all works, you just need to read the manual 12 times and then read it again backwards.

In my opinion the vision is not technically required for the 0805 and SOT-23 components. That's assuming you can be certain that the parts will get picked up from the tape very consistently and the tape advancement mechanism is very repeatable. Madell's SX feeding system relies on the top vision camera to aim for the part it's about to pick up. The advancement mechanism can be really sloppy and still work without a single miss on 0402's. I'd say, without vision at all, you will have to use some professional feeders. I believe Madell supports Fuji's or at least they look like Fuji on their pictures. $200-300 used on eBay...

Regards,
Kyryl

[Eclipze]

It looks like the DeskCNC software is the same type of step/direction control. Good chance I could work something out... it's no show stopper.

Perhaps they didn't want to mention which frame grabber/vision package they used because they could have lost the sale. Quite understandable.

Are you using a camera for component pickup, or just for inspection once the part is taken? For the overhead camera inspection, does the software require direct overhead, or can the camera be mounted at an angle to the placement head?

What quality level of camera is needed? Would I be aiming too low if I'm using a webcam? They can certainly focus at very close range with the lens screwed out.

With the pickup head, I'm watching closely to see if the mechanism but I can't quite make one aspect out. Is the needle spring loaded?

<breathe>

You've ignited my interested up a level

[scsi]

Yes and no. Just to clarify. DeskCNC CAM uses outboard microcontroller to calculate the motions from coordinates and generates step/dir pulses in hardware. The host PC is running DeskCNC CAM software and translates GCODE into their protocol and then passes the coordinates to the DeskCNC controller board via RS-232.

Madell's PnP software uses similar protocol and also talks to the DeskCNC controller directly passing the motion commands that in turn get translated into step/dir pulses. The DeskCNC CAM software is not necessary as long as you won't use the machine in CNC mode.

On cameras. Yes, the top (down looking) camera is used in many modes including component pickup from the SX tape feeder. Direct overhead is not required, You just enter the XY offset of the camera to the nozzle and that's it. On my videos the camera lens in hidden by the black cylinder object just to the right of the stepper. It's the LED ring light that is surrounding the lens.

Camera can be very fancy or very cheap. Only B/W analog cameras are supported for vision functions and webcam won't do it. There are some cheap board cameras on eBay with Sony CCD's that cost less than a webcam. Just search for Sony Board Camera and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's basically your webcam without a USB on it. Pick one hat can take a C-mount lens or you will be stuck with mediocre optics. Cameras plug in directly into the vision grabber board that comes with a dongle for three cameras. In my case I had some good industrial Sony cameras laying around but almost any CCD camera with C-mount lens (CCTV) will work just fine. The better the lens, the flatter and sharper the image and higher contrast. There's lots to chose from. I'm using Tamron's and Cosmicar's for top and bottom. Both 25mm with a 5mm extension ring to shift the focusing distance. I feel that the top mounted camera can use 16mm lens better though. On the bottom you can have as many cameras as you want (up to four). Two cameras would work nicely with 12mm and 50mm lens for large QFP's and BGAs and some very small parts. They also have a tricky mode by adjusting large IC's by looking at the corners of the IC and not requiring the qhole picture. Haven't used it though.

The needle is spring loaded but just in case. I adjusted the pickup and placement Z-height so that the nozzle barely touches the component and pneumatics does the rest. Speaking of which, all the pneumatic functions are handled by a small SMC Ejector module mounted somewhere on the Z-axis. It takes ~60psi air input and has two solenoids to control vacuum and blow-off air. Something like these here. Make sure you check ebay before you buy from SMC. I got mine for something like $10 ea new.

-Kyryl

[Eclipze]

I have one webcam looking at a 48 degree angle at the board level. It doesn't track with the Z axis movement, it's fixed position (although has good vertical adjustment and some angle adjustment). I could place another on the other side, however I never considered a second webcam due to the limitation of windows for running two simultaneously. But I could change one bracket to have it (or appropriate Sony CCD B/W) faced perpendicular to the board. I've always considered pick and place software as unobtainable and/or not generic to fit. I couldn't afford it either at the moment.

It's really good to see your system running... it the best performing DIY I've seen!

My design is very much a feather weight design approach. Your C-Axis rotating stepper looks much larger than either of my X or Y axis steppers hahaa... my C-Axis stepper is 20x20mm square, 32mm high. It's tiny. The design approach has been to make it very light, to enable fast acceleration and movements. It should have good peak speed, but the emphasis has been on high accuracy and acceleration. As well as keeping the part cost low where possible, but I couldn't skimp on cost when it come to getting good linear bearings.

Your approach has definitely opened up the possibilities... which I'II keep in mind. I'm going to continue with the build and see what sort of performance and placement accuracy I can achieve for 0805 without vision based correction. The software will be a tough one. I have done a little vision based processing work in the past, so I understand enough to not be ignorant of the complexity and querks with such systems. I still have some ideas on an alternative vision based alignment correction system, implemented as an embedded device (not PC based). Unsure if it's going to be a necessity or just a performance upgrade. But otherwise the PC software side scares me. I'd be happier developing it within Matlab, unless I can rope a colleuge into getting the base functionally written/running so I can take it over and spend hours adding the refinements.

Really have appreciated your input Kyryl!

[Eclipze]

I've starting machining the parts for my pick'n'place machine :banana:


Details pictures here...
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?p=720245

I'II post some updates and pictures as I progress.

[dandumit]

Great pieces of information where.
I would like to adhere and enter in this endeavor to build myself a slow pnp machine.
In this moment I am playing with OpenCV to make it able to recognize rectangular shapes of smd parts. I hope that next days I will have an acceptable example running.

I am playing with a toy like this :
http://ro.farnell.com/duratool/d0099...usb/dp/1693470

As Kyryl said to reach this performances are needed better cameras than those cheap webcams.
More than that, setup proposed by Kyryl gives great results for a buget. Unfortunately I understood that special macro objectives have a better Depth Of Field wich is critical on those high magnifications.
I have comments to add to ringlight too : this one it's critical also for functionality of machine. I have seen on pictures of professional machines that ringlight consists of leds mounted on an aproximate 45 degrees angle. And not perpendicular to component.


@Kyryl - I have a question : top view camera, when detecting components in a tape. If the tape it's black and component body also is black . How does it performs ?

[scsi]

Unfortunately I understood that special macro objectives have a better Depth Of Field which is critical on those high magnifications.
I have comments to add to ringlight too : this one it's critical also for functionality of machine. I have seen on pictures of professional machines that ringlight consists of leds mounted on an approximate 45 degrees angle. And not perpendicular to component.


@Kyryl - I have a question : top view camera, when detecting components in a tape. If the tape it's black and component body also is black . How does it performs ?

First, I don't believe that special macro objective lens will provide greater depth of field. You can use regular C-mount lens and play with iris to get better DOF and the working distance can be easily shortened with extension rings.

Second, those cheap webcams will work as long as you can disable the auto exposure and auto white balance in the driver settings. If can't, give it as much light as possible so that it will have to use the shortest exposure automatically and yield 30FPS frame rates.

Third, the ring light is always nice. One trick would be to use red LED and red light filter on the camera. This will help with ambient light if becomes a problem. In my experience, with enough light provided by LEDs the ambient conditions won't matter much.

And finally, I don't know how well Madell's software would deal with the condition you described (black part on black tape). In case if the component has some leads visible from above, it will work just fine by recognizing the leads. If it's a lead-less QFN/DFN device, then the lighting should be setup at such an angle that the boundary of the component becomes visible on the dark background.

Regards,
Kyryl