# A Benchtop Pick and Place with Stephen Hawes

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2025-01-21
- Episode: 686
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/686-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes/

## Summary

Stephen Hawes, founder of Opulo, discusses the development and business of the Lumen Benchtop Pick and Place machine, an open-source device for low-to-medium volume PCB assembly. He explains how the company evolved from a garage prototype to a scaling operation, detailing the technical challenges of software integration with OpenPnP and the pragmatic decision to use Marlin firmware. Hawes also shares insights on manufacturing operations, the importance of dogfooding, and his experiments with making PCBs using fiber lasers.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes#t=0) Introduction and Opulo's Origin Story
- [5:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes#t=324) Lumen PNP Product Definition and Target Market
- [12:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes#t=729) Software Strategy: OpenPnP and Marlin Firmware
- [20:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes#t=1233) User Workflow, Calibration, and Feeder Setup
- [28:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes#t=1703) Hardware Specs, Components, and Capabilities
- [1:03:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes#t=3826) Manufacturing Operations and Scaling Challenges
- [1:06:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes#t=3975) PCB Fabrication Experiments with Fiber Lasers

## Topics

- [PCB design & layout](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pcb-design)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Open-source hardware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/open-source-hardware)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Opulo (company)
- Lumen (product)
- OpenPnP (tool)
- Marlin (tool)
- KiCad (tool)
- Formlabs (company)
- Joel Spolsky (other)
- Stack Overflow (company)
- Trello (product)
- Neoden (product)
- Prusa (company)
- Blender (tool)
- Loctite GC 10 (material)
- Control EO (product)
- Open Flexure Microscope (product)
- Winter Bloom (company)
- Beautiful Modules (company)
- Thea Flowers (other)
- Micronics (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Ep. 0 - Introducing the OHM Podcast!](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2023-07-05-ep-0-introducing-the-ohm-podcast) (Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast)
- [123: Banished from Running Linux](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-10-28-123-banished-from-running-linux) (Embedded.fm)
- [Ep. 35 - 2024 Year-End Review](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2024-12-27-ep-35-2024-year-end-review) (Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast)
- [92: Everybody Behave, Please](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-03-11-92-everybody-behave-please) (Embedded.fm)
- [350: The State of the Empire Is Good](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-11-06-350-the-state-of-the-empire-is-good) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

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