Guides

Buyer's guides and cost guides

Written to answer the questions people actually search for — starting with the ones nobody in this market answers.

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Most equipment sites answer “what does it do” and stop short of “what does it cost” or “is it right for us”. These guides take the second set. Where a number depends on your configuration we say so rather than inventing a figure — and we will send the range for a build that suits your part.

5 guides

Cost guides

What actually drives the price, and what the cost classes are. No manufacturer publishes this; a distributor can.

How much does a robotic soldering machine cost?

What actually drives the price of a soldering robot — head type, axes, vision, nitrogen and fixturing — and how the cost classes compare.

How much does a dispensing robot cost?

Why the valve often costs more than the motion platform, and what actually drives the price of an automated dispensing system.

How much does a screw driving robot cost?

Benchtop screw driving is the most affordable robotic assembly step most manufacturers will buy. What sets the price, and what imports leave out.

How much does PCB handling equipment cost?

Conveyors, loaders, buffers and inverters are priced per station. What each one costs you to leave out is usually the bigger number.

How much does a PCB laser marking machine cost?

Laser source, marking field, handling and software each move the price. What a traceability programme actually needs to buy.

6 guides

Buyer's guides

How to specify each machine type — the questions to ask before you shortlist anything.

Robotic soldering: a buyer's guide

How to specify a soldering robot: joint access, thermal mass, head type, fixturing and the questions worth asking any supplier.

Robotic screw driving: a buyer's guide

Feeder reliability, torque control, traceability and fixturing — how to specify a benchtop screw driving cell that actually runs unattended.

Robotic dispensing: a buyer's guide

Valve selection, fluid behaviour, height sensing and shot repeatability — how to specify a dispensing system around your material.

PCB handling: a buyer's guide

How to specify conveyors, loaders, buffers, inverters and inspection stations so an SMT line stops waiting on operators.

PCB laser marking: a buyer's guide

Source selection, marking field, contrast, verification and MES integration — specifying a marking system for real traceability.

Collaborative robots: a buyer's guide

Payload, reach, guarding, programming and where a cobot genuinely beats a fixed cell in electronics manufacturing.

4 guides

Comparisons

Straight comparisons where the answer genuinely depends on your process.

Benchtop cell vs cobot for screw driving

A decision matrix: when a fixed benchtop screw driving cell beats a collaborative robot, and when it does not.

Iron tip vs laser soldering

Contact versus non-contact heat: which joints suit an iron tip, which need a laser, and why many lines run both.

AMR vs AGV for material movement

Map-based autonomous navigation versus fixed-path guided vehicles, and what each costs you in facility change.

Selective vs wave soldering

Wave soldering treats the whole board. Selective treats the joint. Which one suits mixed-technology assemblies.

5 guides

Technical guides

The process detail behind the purchase.

Fiber vs CO2 vs UV laser marking

Three laser sources, three sets of substrates. Which one marks your material without damaging it.

PCB traceability: a practical guide

Unique identifiers, permanent marking, data capture and what IPC-1782 actually asks of an assembly line.

SMEMA integration: what it means in practice

What SMEMA handshaking actually does between machines, and the two things to check before assuming equipment will connect.

Robotic soldering ROI: how to model it honestly

The variables that actually drive payback on a soldering cell — and the ones vendors quote that do not.

When to automate an assembly step

A practical test for whether a manual step is worth automating — and the signals that it is not, yet.

Still deciding?

Tell us the process and the part. We will tell you which machine class fits — including when the honest answer is that automation is not worth it yet.

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