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Mecademic Meca 500 Diode Soldering Practice

Having a soldering iron, a few build-a-breadboard kits, and a precision robot, it was only a matter of time before I made a robotic soldering video.

In another video- Mecademic Meca 500 Diode Loading Demo – we saw how the Meca 500 had the precision and agility to pick ‘n’ place diodes with delicate, easily-bent legs. The key to placement, I found, was inserting a “shimmy” during the -Z motion; the EOAT essentially “shivers” to ensure the diode legs don’t hang up on the edges of the breadboard ports. Details & code available in my post, “Mecademic Diode Load“

I had intended to print a custom EOAT to grip the soldering iron, but had an extra-long print running at the time ( base adapter for our new Elephant Robot ); I ended up using a utility EOAT with through holes for zipties to securely attach the iron.

To determine TCP (tool center point), I measured EOAT length to center of iron for Z (35.55mm), and centerline of EOAT to tip of iron for X (96.0mm).

Fine-tuning the smooth motion necessary for the delicate job of soldering is a joy with the Meca 500’s ability to jog in extremely small increments; I practiced on both of the following boards, using the 10 LED board for the video:

10 LEDs Soldering Practice Board

Electronic Piano Soldering Kit

As mentioned before, I love this soldering iron kit; it’s great value for money as well:

WEP 927-IV Soldering Station

I re-ran the motion sequence several times during filming with the iron off, to make sure the soldering tip wasn’t impacting the diode legs with too much force. I kept the blending value at 0 for the fine motion, as speed wasn’t the goal. The move / safe motion between diode legs is a little exaggerated, so it was more visible in the video.

The cold iron practice has a 1 second dwell at each diode leg. For the segment where I actually solder, I increased the dwell to 2 seconds per leg to make sure a good melt & solder joint was possible.

Here’s the code for both 1 sec and 2 sec dwell soldering sequences:

solder-1-secDownload
solder-2-secDownload

Here’s the link to the video on Youtube: RoboFiesta Mecademic Meca 500 Diode Soldering Practice

Disclaimer: As a participant in the Amazon Affiliate program, we earn a small commission if you make a purchase through one of the links in this post, at no additional cost to you.

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Why Not Teach a Robot to Play a Kalimba

Especially a robot with the exceptional precision & control of the Mecademic 500.

This was just a short trial run, me basically playing around to see if:

  1. It was possible to create a robotic motion which played or “plucked” the tines to produce a tone similar to what is made when a human finger plays the keys, and
  2. The movement of the robot with “safe” position between tines / keys would allow for reasonable pace / rhythm in a short practice tune.

The first kalimba I tried is a nice basic unit with lovely tone, it’s been a lot of fun as an introduction to the instrument.

You can check it out on Amazon here: 17 Key Kalimba

I found that, though not a problem for humans, the tines required a bit too much force for the robot end effector. The 1.5mm aluminum probe tip kept bending after a few keystrokes.

A little searching online found another type of kalimba, this one with a specialized key design that required a lighter touch. It also came in more than 1 variety, with different numbers of tines.

This kalimba is more polished / professional; I purchased one from Amazon with 2 day delivery: MOOZICA 36 Keys Chromatic Kalimba

There wasn’t a ready-made .stp file or any CAD available for the kalimba, so I improvised in AutoCad Fusion to make a basic stage layout:

The tines are smaller and more rounded than the first kalimba, which made precision end effector placement & motion critical to tone. Just moving the EOAT vertically in a short rapid motion didn’t work; there needed to be a diagonal component, effectively “sliding” the probe tip off of the tine in a particular manner.

The robot motion was a sequence of move-to positions with some speed changes and delays to produce the timing of the tune. The move-to-safe motion is larger than it really needs to be, but I was concerned about clearances as I moved the blending values higher for smoother / more rapid motion. This is the code I programmed for the short video sequence:

Meca-Kalimba-Concert-1Download

I am working on a better CAD model of a kalimba, with the tines placed accurately. The whole stage could then be imported into a simulator like RoboDK to teach songs or melodies quickly. I did this one by eye, experimenting with different positions & motions to produce the best tones.

You can watch the YouTube video here: Mecademic Meca 500 Kalimba Concert 1

Product Links:

17 Key Kalimba
36 Key Kalimba

Robot stage

Optical Plate Flat Aluminum Honeycomb Breadboard: https://amzn.to/4aKMuYR

3D Printer

We highly recommend the Flashforge line of 3D printers for printing your robotic EOAT and staging parts:
FLASHFORGE 3D Printer Guider II Large Size Intelligent Industrial Grade 3D Printer https://amzn.to/3VKaGGA

FLASHFORGE Guider IIS 3D Printer Auto Leveling with High Temperature Nozzle https://amzn.to/3xpxJMF

FLASHFORGE Adventurer 5M Pro 3D Printer with 1 Click Auto Printing System https://amzn.to/3TQxYYz

FLASHFORGE Adventurer 5M 3D Printer with Fully Auto Leveling
https://amzn.to/3TMprpS

FLASHFORGE 3D Printer Adventurer Series with Auto Leveling with Quick Removable Nozzle https://amzn.to/3PSmeDO

Disclaimer: As a participant in the Amazon Affiliate program, we earn a small commission if you make a purchase through one of these links, at no additional cost to you.