Grabbing SMD parts with a regular tweezer can be hard. It can come in contact with solder paste which makes it sticky, just won’t release! Also tiny parts can be extremely hard to pick up, let’s move to a more professional tool: vacuum pickup.
Pro tools can be expensive and while they are packed with handy features (like the pixel pump), ordinary people only need a cheap but reliable tool. Manual vacuum pens are a joke, but a good starting point. The straight and bent tips (probes) with those rubber pads (cups) are hard to make at home, so first order one of these cheap junks. One more thing to order: a vacuum pump. Order this or a similar with the same mechanical part. Reclaim the pen’s head, and 3D print the adapter. Download the model from printables or thingiverse.
The pump should fit perfectly, but the pen head was designed with more tolerance. Glue the head and give power to the pump. Operating is easy: just use your finger!
And why is it ribbed? The original plan included recycled vape pens, but ended up like this. I would like to keep it for the history.
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