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===== Budgeting for a pick and place =====
This is going to be the toughest part. You'll need to justify the expense of having a pick and place since it's not really something you want to have around just for looks. The cost will probably run you somewhere between $25k-$30k depending on the options and feeders that you get. It's obvious that it can save you time, but will it be worth the expense? 

Most people look at a machine like this and think that its a huge expense. In reality, it's called a capital investment, which means that its an expense that might actually generate income. So you need to assess if you think it can help you generate enough income to pay for itself. If you take out a loan for the cost of the machine and tried to pay it back over 2 years, you'll probably end up paying about ~$1500 a month after interest. If you think having a machine like this can help you generate that kind of monthly income, then you may want to consider it. If you haven't opened up a store yet, don't have the money to pay for the machine without going into serious debt, and haven't established that you can sell what you're making with it, then I would probably recommend against getting the machine at this time. However if you're already doing that kind of revenue on your boards, but find yourself spending all your time on assembly (or spending a lot of money on getting them assembled outside), then you may want to consider purchasing a pick and place machine.

So one way to calculate it is take the cost of assembling boards at a different company, then multiply by the number you think you'll do. If this number is x2 the price of the machine, then it may make sense. A lot of time (and money, if you're hiring a manufacturer) is spent setting up the machine so if you have time to spend configuring the pick and place that can also benefit you. However, you may want to start out by hand-assembling boards to see if it makes sense for your company.

|| *item* | *price* ||
|| machine | $25,000 ||
|| compressor | $1,500 ||
|| feeders | $5,000 ($500 each) ||
|| table | $300 ||

===== What machines did we look at? =====

We had a pretty strict budget of $30K USD (which despite being a huge amount is still very small). Because of our small budget, we had only a few options 

  * Buy a professional machine, used
  * [[http://madelltech.com/|Madell]] - Made and sold in the US
  * [[http://www.apsgold.com/|APS Gold / Novastar]] - Made and sold in the US
  * [[http://www.mdc-smt.co.jp/|MDC]] - Made in Japan, distributed in the US

===== Why did we go with MDC? =====

===== What to look for when buying a pick and place =====

===== Buying new vs. used =====
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