Circuit Break – A MacroFab Podcast

We’re joined by Alexander Vartanov, an electrical engineering student with a knack for hands-on projects. He discusses his journey from early soldering mishaps to his behind-the-scenes role in creative YouTube projects. We delve into his experiences with rapid prototyping for YouTube, his favorite solder, and shopping for surplus aerospace materials. Additionally, we explore his unique projects, including transforming ordinary alarm clocks into machines that shred money or douse sleepers with water. Tune in for a mix of engineering insights, student life, and tales of creative projects.

🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! 

Discussion Highlights: 

• Educational Journey: Alexander shares his experiences transitioning from high school to community college, emphasizing the shift in student and teacher mentalities, and his plans to transfer to California State Northridge for electrical engineering.
• Choosing Electrical Engineering: Discussion on why Alexander chose electrical engineering despite its challenges and the conversation extends to the hosts’ own educational paths and changes in majors.
• YouTube Projects and Experiences: Alexander talks about his involvement in YouTube projects, including some unique alarm clocks and LED installations on vehicles. 
• Childhood Inspiration: Alexander's initial fascination with electronics was sparked by his father giving him LED lights to experiment with. 
• Early Soldering Experiences: Alexander shares childhood memories of learning to solder, emphasizing the hands-on approach and learning from mistakes, like burning himself while reaching for wire.
• Impact of YouTube Projects: Discusses how rapid prototyping and pacing for YouTube projects have refined his engineering approach, teaching him to achieve functional results quickly.
• Favorite Solder and Surplus Stores: Alexander expresses his preference for Kester 60/40 solder and shares experiences sourcing materials from Apex Electronics, a surplus store with historical aerospace inventory.
• Advice for Aspiring Engineers: Alexander encourages finding passion outside of work and pursuing it professionally, ensuring a balance between enjoyment and responsibility.

Relevant links:

• I Tested Banned Alarm Clocks from Tyler Blanchard 
• The World’s Most Distracting Car (30,000 LED’s on a LAMBO) from Alex Choi
• Louis Weisz
• https://www.apexjr.com/ 

About MacroFab:

This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. 

We Want to Hear From You! 

Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts! And join our online Discourse discussion hub at forum.macrofab.com to keep the conversation going with electrical engineering experts and experimenters! You can also email us at [email protected].

Our hosts discuss Parker’s recent transition from Eagle to KiCad, facing challenges with library management and device layer integration. They discuss the new MacroFab Quote Wizard and our first entry to the MacroFab Food Device Design Derby Challenge! This leads to a discussion of comparing air fryers to convection ovens for fried food fun. The episode delves into adopting LibrePCB as an alternative EDA tool and the integration of Eagle into Fusion 360. Join us for an exploration of the evolving EDA tool landscape and practical design tips.

🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! 

Discussion Highlights: 

• MacroFab Quote Wizard Release: The new MacroFab Quote Wizard assists in early project planning and cost estimation even without complete data.
• Dutch Fried Foods: We’ve received our first food contest submission! Victor Koppen from the Netherlands has submitted a pocket air fryer! 
• Convection Ovens vs. Air Fryers: The technical and culinary differences between convection ovens and air fryers.
• Transitioning from Eagle to KiCad: Parker discussed the challenges and lessons learned transitioning from Eagle to KiCad for PCB design.
• Creating Libraries in KiCad: Addressed the difficulties in mapping multiple pads to a single pin in KiCad's library system.
• Integration of Eagle into Fusion 360: The implications of merging Eagle with Fusion 360 for design file sharing and collaboration.
• Multiple Package Limitations in KiCad: Challenges discussed include dealing with multiple packages for a single symbol in KiCad, compared to Eagle.
• Library Management in EDA Tools: Challenges associated with large libraries and symbol-footprint associations.
• Adopting SQL Databases in KiCad: Debating the efficiency and practicality of using SQL databases for device layer management in KiCad.
• Exploring LibrePCB as an Alternative EDA Tool: The episode evaluated LibrePCB's features and library management in comparison to KiCad.
• Community Poll: We want to hear from you, our listeners, what is your view on designing your own parts?  Head over to forum.macrofab.com for a poll on trusting footprints or designing your own library. 

Relevant links:

• CI/CD with KiCad automation
• A couple weeks ago we had Brenden Duncombe on to talk about CI/CD
• 8 *Must-Try* features in KiCad 8 from James Lewis

About MacroFab:

This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. 

We Want to Hear From You! 

Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts! And join our online Discourse discussion hub at forum.macrofab.com to keep the conversation going with electrical engineering experts and experimenters! You can also email us at [email protected].

Sergiy Nestorenko, founder of Quilter and former SpaceX engineer, discusses revolutionizing PCB design automation. He shares his journey from aerospace to starting Quilter, aiming to transform PCB design into a streamlined, AI-driven process. We delve into the technical hurdles, the fusion of engineering and advanced software, and the vision behind making circuit board design more efficient and intuitive. Sergiy also addresses the potential educational impacts and the future of hardware engineering in an AI-augmented world. Join us for a dive into the evolving landscape of PCB design and engineering innovation.

🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! 

Discussion Highlights: 

• Transition to Quilter: Sergi discusses his first experience with PCB layout at SpaceX and the realization that led him to question and eventually automate the process.
• Autorouters and their Limitations: Exploration of the limitations of current autorouting solutions in PCB design software and why they fail. 
• Quilter's Vision: Sergi outlines the long-term goal for Quilter to become the compiler for hardware, enabling engineers to focus on design creativity rather than manual layout tasks.
• Organic and Unconventional PCB Designs: Discussion on how AI and automation could lead to more optimal yet unconventional PCB designs, moving beyond traditional shapes and layouts.
• Aesthetics of Earliest PCBs: Questioning the assumptions of traces leads to a discussion about the designs of the earliest PCBs in history. 
• Simulation Integration and FCC Compliance: Sergi emphasizes the importance of incorporating comprehensive simulations, including electromagnetic and thermal, into the PCB design process for ensuring compliance and performance.
• Feedback and Learning from AI: The discussion reveals how AI, like Quilter, can introduce designers to considerations they hadn't encountered, fostering a learning environment while automating tedious tasks.
• Exploring Design Variations: Sergi envisions Quilter enabling engineers to explore thousands of design variations, including different stack-ups and materials, to optimize board designs beyond traditional constraints, enhancing innovation and performance.
• Neural Network Integration: The conversation delves into how Quilter utilizes neural networks not for direct layout generation but for guiding classical algorithms in decision-making. 
• Feedback Mechanisms: Quilter encourages user feedback through various channels to refine its algorithms and user experience.
• Future of Hardware Engineering: Reflecting on the future, Sergi and the hosts discuss the potential shift in hardware engineering roles with increased AI integration. 

Relevant links:

• Sergiy LinkedIn 
• Quilter Website
• Sergiy Twitter
• Quilter's AI design service nabs $10M to make circuit board design easier
  
  

About MacroFab:

This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. 

We Want to Hear From You! 

Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts! And join our online Discourse discussion hub at forum.macrofab.com to keep the conversation going with electrical engineering experts and experimenters! You can also email us at [email protected].

We dive into the intricate world of vintage computing with James Lewis, aka the Bald Engineer, who takes us through the journey of constructing a functional computer based on the Apple II GS's Mega II chip. He shares his nostalgic connection to the Apple II series, revered for its open design and pioneering hardware engineering. Our conversation spans the detailed architecture and challenges of his Mega IIe project, from initial concepts to the complexities of integrating modern microcontrollers like the RP2040 during pandemic component shortages. Tune in for a fascinating journey from the past to the future, bridging vintage computing with modern technology! 

🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! 

Discussion Highlights: 

• The Mega IIe Project: James built a functional computer around the Mega II chip from the Apple II GS, containing the logic of previous generations of Apple II computers.
• Nostalgia for the Apple II: James shares his personal connection to the Apple II, and explains why the Apple II is revered in the vintage computing space, particularly for its open design and hardware engineering aspects.
• Technical Deep Dive into the Apple II and Mega IIe: James dives into how Apple II's open design compares to other computers of its era such as the Commodore. 
• Bit Preserve Project: His GitHub project, Bit Preserve, is where people can contribute redrawn vintage computer schematics in KiCad.  
• Architecture and Development of the Mega IIe: James outlines the evolution of the Mega IIe project from a simple breakout board idea to a complex design involving multiple boards, fly wires, and the use of modern microcontrollers like the RP2040 due to component shortages during the lockdown period.
• Debugging Challenges: Difficulties encountered when integrating components and understanding undocumented features, such as the keyboard signals and slot communications. 
• Design Approach (Rev 2): A backplane system where individual blocks of the Apple II design were isolated into separate cards, allowing systematic troubleshooting and incremental progress, which significantly facilitated debugging.
• Video Signal Processing: Explored the challenges and solutions in handling video output, particularly transitioning from composite video to digital video using the Mega II chip's RGB output. 
• Rev 3 Development: The transition from a modular backplane system (Rev 2) to a single board computer (Rev 3), consolidating all functions and addressing issues like power supply design. 
• Future Directions and Learning: Reflects on the initial underestimation of the project's complexity and duration and discusses potential next steps, including the possibility of a shift in  focus towards modern technology areas like machine learning for edge devices. 

Relevant links: 

• Bit Preserve (Vintage Schematics in KiCad)
• 1st Video: Mega II video: Getting it to boot
• KansasFest 2022 Talk (before Rev 3 worked)
• 2nd Video: Getting to the first done
• Mega IIe Github
• Mega IIe Twitch Archive (hundreds of hours of content!)
• Circuit Break #411: Entropy rules everything with James Lewis
  • Reliability and component aging effects 
• Circuit Break #222: Turning It On - New Design Checklists with James Lewis
  • Testing and validating PCB assembly design
• Circuit Break #141: James joins us to talk about ceramic capacitors 

About MacroFab:

This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. 

We Want to Hear From You! 

Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts! And join our online Discourse discussion hub at forum.macrofab.com to keep the conversation going with electrical engineering experts and experimenters! You can also email us at [email protected].

Kent Johnson, Senior Corporate Advisor at the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation joins us this week to discuss the multifaceted role of religious diversity in the workplace.  Topics range from addressing challenges, fostering inclusivity, and integrating faith with mental health support. We discuss authentic expression and trust building, social media's impact, interfaith collaboration, and the intersection of religion and science. Join us for this exploration of how religious diversity is an important aspect of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. 

🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! 

• Defining Religion Broadly: Extending beyond adherence to sects and emphasizing shared values, principles, and beliefs that individuals adhere to with ardor and faith.
• Religion as a Business Issue: Affecting employee retention and workplace satisfaction. Highlighting the importance of employees feeling seen, appreciated, and free to express their beliefs.
• Challenges in the Workplace: Fear of disruption due to religious expression and the perception that religion is irrelevant to work, or prejudice for different ideologies. 
• Authenticity and Trust Building: Building trust in the workplace, emphasizing the positive impact of transparency and realness in fostering an inclusive environment.
• Religious Diversity Initiatives: Faith groups collaborating on community service projects, and inclusive worship services during religious holidays.
• Social Media and Echo Chambers: The impact of social media on amplifying echo chambers and reinforcing biases, contributing to increased polarization in society.
• Religion and Science: The intersection of religion and science, highlighting potential areas of activity and dialogue around this topic.
• Healing Through Interfaith Collaboration: The positive impact of interfaith collaboration, such as visiting each other's places of worship.
• Authority and Religion in the Workplace: The impact of an individual's position on expressing religious beliefs in the workplace is discussed.
• Wearing Symbols and Openness: Discussion on wearing religious symbols in the workplace as an invitation for questions and engagement.
• Integration with Mental Health Support: Connection between faith in the workplace and addressing mental health issues. Highlighting the issue of loneliness in the workplace.
• Avoiding Compulsion: Stressing that sharing about one's faith should not be compulsory, advocacy for an open-door policy rather than a forced one.

Relevant links:

• Religious Freedom and Business Association 
• Get in touch with Kent!  He’d love to hear from you. 
• Check out our episode about engineering ethics with Kent: EP413 The Gray Zone with Kent Johnson

About MacroFab:

This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. 

We Want to Hear From You! 

Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts! And join our online Discourse discussion hub at forum.macrofab.com to keep the conversation going with electrical engineering experts and experimenters! You can also email us at [email protected].

Parker and Stephen dive into the world of batteries, sparked by the BetaVolt BV100's claim of a 50-year lifespan. With discussions on its construction, potential applications, and recycling challenges, they unpack the implications of this revolutionary energy source.

🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! 

Discussion Highlights: 

• Introduction to the BetaVolt BV100 Battery: Overview of the Chinese-developed atomic battery boasting a 50-year lifespan, built with a Nickel-63 isotope and diamond semiconductor material.🔋
• Low Power Output and Future Plans: Discussion on the BV100's low power output and plans for a higher-powered version in 2025, anticipated to be larger in size.
• Bad Movie Tangent: Parker's love for terrible movies, including Leprechaun 2 with its leprechaun go-kart scene and the Tremors movie series. Sequels that violate their own universe rules.
• Battery Terminology: Explanation of nuclear vs. atomic vs. beta voltaic batteries, with a mention of photovoltaic technology.
• Recycling Challenges: Consideration of the challenges associated with recycling radioactive materials, including uranium ore. ♻️
• Decay Curve and Output Analysis: Deliberation on the decay curve and power output over time of the BV100 battery.
• Phone Application: Speculation on the potential use of the BV100 battery in smartphones, with the possibility of lasting 50 years without needing to be recharged.📱
• Quiescent Draw Calculation: Calculation of the quiescent draw that a smartphone would pull from the BV100 battery over a 24-hour period.
• Limitations and Usage Scenarios: Discussion on the limitations of low power and various usage scenarios for a nuclear-powered phone, including limited functionality and screen usage.
• Satellite Thrusters Application: The potential application of atomic batteries in satellite thrusters, particularly with the release of the higher-powered version.🛰️
• Radioactive Safety Concerns: Concerns raised about the proximity of radioactive elements to users' heads in a phone and its potential safety implications.☢️
• Quantum Entangled Energy Transmission: Extremely speculative discussion on quantum entangled energy transmission and its potential applications in the future. 
• Questions to our listeners: 
  • Invitation to Quantum Physicists: How badly did we mess up quantum mechanics? We’d love to have an expert join us to discuss quantum mechanics for a future episode!  
  • Also, if this becomes a real thing, how would you use 100 microwatts at 3 volts? 

Relevant links:

• Betavolt BV100 Atomic Battery 
• Quantum Entanglement and Multispace Conception
• Our last design contest: EP188 Design Contest - Useless Machines Wrap Up

About MacroFab:

This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. 

We Want to Hear From You! 

Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts! And join our online Discourse discussion hub at forum.macrofab.com to keep the conversation going with electrical engineering experts and experimenters! You can also email us at [email protected].

Join Parker and Stephen as they delve into Japan's decision to phase out floppy disks and CD-ROMs for government submissions. From reminiscing about nostalgic tech quirks to analyzing the challenges and benefits of this transition, they explore the implications for industries and digital competitiveness. Discussing Japan's slow tech evolution, resistance to cloud systems, and the enduring use of floppy disks in various sectors, they ponder the future of outdated tech and its impact on global standings. Tune in to gain insights into the end of an era and what it signifies for technology and society.

🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! 

Discussion Highlights: 

• War on Floppy Disks 💾: Discussing Japan's decision to end the use of floppy disks in government operations.
• Implications of Technological Obsolescence: Speculating on the challenges of transitioning from physical media to digital storage.
• Comparisons to Government Processes: Stephen shares his experience with outdated military specifications and discusses the reliability of military-grade components.
• Automotive and Military Testing: Comparison of testing standards for automotive, military, and space applications, highlighting similarities and differences.
• What does this mean for Parker’s FD5? 😭: The implications for Parker's FD5 camera and its reliance on floppy disks, is this a ticking time bomb? 
• Nostalgia vs. Modern Replication: Discussion on replicating vintage aesthetics with modern tech, including Parker's use of a disposable camera lens on a mirrorless camera.
• Grease Weasel: Explanation of the grease weasel device and its role in preserving data from old floppy disks.
• Floppy Disk Bombs: Stephen shares a fun and dangerous way of combining matches with floppy disks.  Don’t try this at home kids 🔥. 
• Digital Competitiveness: Japan ranks 32 in digital competitiveness. What are the factors that affect a country's technological advancement?
• Industrial Use of Floppy Disks: Some industries still use floppy disks, including automotive, medical devices and avionics. Chuck E. Cheese used them until at least 2023.
• Secure. Contain. Protect. (SCP): Tangent about SCP, a copypasta site about different creatures in an organization called Secure. Contain. Protect. 
• Predictions for Technological Obsolescence: Speculation on the last industrial or commercial use of floppy disks and potential next tech equivalents.
• We want to hear from you, so head over to our discourse to let us know: 
  • What industries that you work in are still using floppy disks?
  • What will be the next tech equivalent of a dinosaur? 

Relevant links:

• Japan government accepts it’s no longer the ’90s, stops requiring floppy disks
• Our last design contest: EP188 Design Contest - Useless Machines Wrap Up 
• Parker’s FD5 Camera: EP379 Taking Pictures With Magnetic Flux 
• SCP Foundation 
• Chuck E. Cheese still uses floppy disks in 2023, but not for long

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].

Discuss this episode.

We welcome Chris Gammell, Developer Relations Lead at Golioth, to explore the exciting world of IoT (Internet of Things) and hardware. Chris brings his extensive engineering background to Golioth, a software company with a unique approach to IoT solutions. Join us as we delve into Golioth's distinct strengths in security, developer experience, scalability, reliability, and interoperability. Discover the future of IoT device provisioning and explore Chris's intriguing projects. If you're curious about IoT, Golioth, or the challenges and solutions in this space, don't miss this insightful episode with Chris Gammell.  Some of the topics we cover include: 

• Getting the gang back together
• Developer relations = Application engineering
• A hardware guy in a software world
• Cloud engineers vs. software engineers: what’s the difference?
• CockroachDB “will never die”
• What does Golioth do?
• Learning about the Constraint Application Protocol (aka CoAP)
• Golioth vs. other IoT companies
• What is “Follow Along Hardware?” 
• Security by Default 
• Tales From the Encrypt
• Back to Bosch
• Microdecisions with huge implications
• “You don’t know what you don’t know”
• Individual key sets to minimize multiple device issues
• When Blu-ray got cracked
• Shout out to Joe Grand
• GolIoTh…
• Monitoring in the back end
• Bright, multicolored PCBs
• “Business in a box”
• Getting into Zephyr
• What is Golioth’s weakness?

About our guest:

Chris Gammell, the Developer Relations Lead at Golioth, combines his hardware expertise with Golioth's software focus in the realm of IoT. With a background in electrical engineering, he bridges the gap between hardware and software worlds, ensuring that Golioth addresses potential challenges proactively.

Relevant links:

• Golioth.io
• IoT Product Manufacturing with Golioth and Macrofab
• Chris Gammell on LinkedIn
• Follow Along Hardware blog post from Chris 

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].

This week Parker and Stephen welcome Brenden Duncombe to the show to discuss the pros and cons of continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (aka CI/CD) for hardware. Continuous integration (CI) refers to the practice of automatically and frequently integrating code changes into a shared source code repository. Continuous delivery and/or deployment (CD) is a two-part process that refers to the integration, testing, and delivery of code changes. In theory, CI/CD helps organizations avoid bugs and code failures while maintaining a continuous cycle of software development and updates, but we wanted to learn more about this with Brenden, so Parker and Stephen asked him about CI/CD, and also covered the following:

• Brenden’s product development background
• “What is a Director of Customer Engineering?”
• A brief history of CI/CD
• Why it’s the opposite of a nightmare
• Unit tests for software…how does it work for hardware?
• Pinball Wizardry 
• A “smearing” vs. a “silo”
• Test-driven dev benefits over the entire dev cycle
• Is CI/CD a hard concept to sell?
• How to make the investment worthwhile
• The Hardware Regression Struggle
• When start-ups aren’t really prepared for contract manufacturers 
• What is the ideal development cycle?
• Building something for your contract manufacturer? Always build two
• Teenage Engineering 
• Prep your firmware people with dev boards before the hardware reaches them
• “Like taking your specification doc and writing a test doc on top of that”
• Standard Fixtures and Future MacroFab Projects
• + more!

About our guest:

Brenden Duncombe is the Director of Customer Engineering at MacroFab. His extensive experience in Electrical and Systems Engineering, and his leadership in steering engineering teams from concept to manufacturing, make him an essential voice at Macrofab.

Relevant links:

• Enhancing Operational Safety: Cyber-Resilient Approaches for Physically Secure PCB Designs
  WEBINAR - January 30
• Brenden Duncombe on LinkedIn
• What is CI/CD?
• Circuit Break Podcast #15: Ridiculously Blinking LED
• A guide to continuous delivery in embedded development
• Circuit Break Podcast #40: Update on the MacroDuino and FX DEV Board
• DevOps vs CI/CD – The Key Differences

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].

Prepare to plug into the world of electrical engineering on Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast. Join two adventurous engineers, Parker Dillmann and Stephen Kraig, as they dissect the latest tech innovations, break down industry news, navigate the challenges of DIY projects and engage in compelling conversations with industry experts. Their real-world practical experience fuels their infectious passion and serves as the driving force behind a show that delves into both theoretical concepts and practical issues engineers face.  

Parker and Stephen speak with fellow engineers, makers, hackers, and business leaders, creating a dynamic space for discussing challenges in the realm of electrical engineering. They unravel the origins of product updates, ponder the lab-to-marketplace journey of technological advancements and reverse engineer the engineering process. They love to speculate about the decisions dev teams have made and boldly offer their own opinions. The show provides a unique window into electrical engineering for recent graduates and current students, who want a sense of what job markets and workplaces are looking for. 

About MacroFab:

This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. 

MacroFab streamlines the electronics manufacturing process, making it more accessible to a wider range of users, from hobbyists to professional engineers and business owners, many of whom Parker and Stephen welcome to the show regularly. 

About Parker and Stephen:

Parker brings a rich background in Embedded System Design and Digital Signal Processing (DSP). His journey in engineering began in 2005 when he hacked Nintendo consoles into portable gaming units. The following year, he pioneered an Atari 2600 video mod, eliminating RF fuzz and producing over a thousand mods. With a background in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Parker’s areas of interest include robotics, microcontroller theory and design, and image and signal processing with DSPs.

Stephen Kraig started his electronics career in 2003 crafting musical-oriented circuits. An avid guitar player, Stephen channels his passion into manufacturing audio electronics, including guitar amplifiers, pedals, pro and other audio gear. He has spent close to a decade perfecting his brewing rig to make the best beer possible, often sharing his experiments with listeners. A Texas A&M Electrical Engineering graduate with a B.S, Stephen has served as the COO of William Mathewson Devices.  

We Want to Hear From You! 

Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like what you hear or have something to say, join our online Discourse discussion hub to keep the conversation going with EE experts and experimenters! That’s also where we break down additional content based on each episode, and ask you, our dear listeners, to tell us who you want to hear from and what you want us to explore.

This week Parker and Stephen welcome Joe Grand to the show to discuss insecure IoT devices. Inspired by a recent incident where Bosch wrenches were infected by ransomware called DRILLCRYPT, the guys asked Joe to join them to talk about how attackers could compromise the safety of the wrench and cause safety issues for users. Of course, this kind of breach could impact almost any company and its products, and so many topics were covered, including:

• “Actually, it’s Dr. Grand…”
• If you’re in attack mode, firmware updates are great
• Supply chain issues are hard enough to manage without these security breaches
• A lack of security can be a business decision
• Give me convenience or give me threats
• The hardware industry isn’t as well-versed as the software industry is
• How to update 10,000 devices in the field
• Hacking is problem-solving (someone tell the FBI)
• “If you’re not being sued, you’re not working hard enough’
• Sourcing parts and the risk of getting counterfeit parts
• Why a firmware update shouldn’t disable your car
• Resisting Big Toilet
• Subscription models for…everything…
• The importance of Design For Security measures
• Is getting hacked more of a marketing problem than an engineering issue?
• Engineering ethics and hacking and design

About our guest:

Joe Grand, also known as Kingpin, is a computer engineer, hardware hacker, teacher, advisor, daddy, honorary doctor, and occasional video maker. He has been creating, exploring, and manipulating electronic systems since the 1980s. This is his third appearance on our show and first since 2019!

Relevant links:

• Enhancing Operational Safety: Cyber-Resilient Approaches for Physically Secure PCB Designs
  WEBINAR - January 30
• Bright Minds, Brighter Future Day of Innovation and Networking Event - February 1
• Meet Joe Grand
• DRILLCRYPT vs. Bosch
• Vulnerabilities on Bosch Rexroth Nutrunners May Be Abused to Stop Production Lines, Tamper with Safety-Critical Tightenings
• Circuit Break Podcast #73: Joe Grand: The Origin Story
• Circuit Break Podcast #185: What You Are Designed To Do - A Joe Grand Manufacturing Adventure

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].

This week Parker and Stephen welcome Kent Johnson to the show to discuss ethics in engineering. It’s a topic that has been alluded to over the course of Circuit Break, but this is the first time Parker and Stephen have delved into it with a real expert on the matter. Yes, most companies have standards and regulations and a moral code that guide them but, as Kent suggests, there are more ethical gray areas in the realm of engineering than we might realize. Topics covered here include:

• Discovering something isn’t being done properly at your new job
• Agreeing to work on something with life-or-death consequences, and you don’t really know what you’re doing
• Bypassing important project safety tests to meet a deadline
• Crediting others in an age of ChatGPT and redefinitions of plagiarism
• How do you credit and use open source code?
• Why siloed departments at companies are causing such harm to work dynamics
• The tyranny of the spec
• The true dangers of “failure” or “gotcha” work cultures
• Accepting accountability and being willing to change
• Avoiding QC by zipping the lip
• +more

About our guest:

Kent Johnson is Senior Corporate Advisor for the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and a management consultant on religious diversity at work. With over 37 years of experience as a Senior Counsel at Texas Instruments, Kent is a seasoned legal expert who specializes in corporate law, ethics, product liability, antitrust, medical/FDA law, and mergers and acquisitions. Since leaving Texas Instruments in 2018, Kent has been helping companies adopt best practices regarding religious diversity and inclusion in the workplace. He is also Stephen’s father-in-law, so this really a family show this week.

Relevant links:

• Kent Johnson (LinkedIn)
• Religious Freedom & Business Association
• Why Are Ethics Important In Engineering?
• Circuit Break Podcast #14: Discrepant Diodes
• Circuit Break Podcast #410: Eighth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special Somehow this Podcast Returned
• Join the Circuit Break Discourse Community!

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].

A recent Circuit Break Community thread about K-map design inspired a tangential conversation about how well certain subjects are taught in college. Parker and Stephen love a good tangent, thank you, and so they dug in by recalling their own experiences at school with excellent professors who clearly wanted electrical engineers to succeed, while other instructors and their teaching methods were challenging or else just downright bizarre. Other topics covered here include:

• How a terrible electronics professor can impact someone’s career
• Is a “self-paced” classroom really just lazy teaching?
• Still not knowing how Bode plots work
• A strange digital circuits analogy where chickens and snakes are shocked
• Watching videos like you’re in A Clockwork Orange
• A grade curve so severe, a 17% was a B
• Classes and profs we loved
• Was a class hard, or was the professor just absolute garbage?
• Still having nightmares about forgetting to go to class for a whole semester
• Heat Shrink Voltage Ratings
• +more

Relevant links:

• Attend MacroFab Founder Chris Church’s Presentation at Orbweaver’s Current 2024
• Using K-maps in circuit design
• Heatshrink Voltage ratings?
• Circuit Break Podcast #297: Modern College Education with Derek Fronek
• Circuit Break Podcast #18: Classy Capacitors and Lab War Stories
• [WEBINAR] Enhancing Operational Safety: Cyber-Resilient Approaches for Physically Secure PCB Designs

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].

This week Parker and Stephen welcome James Lewis back to the show after a rather long absence! The occasion stems from James chiming in on a Circuit Break Community thread that Stephen started, asking all about component aging effects. Stephen posed questions like, “What happens to resistors over 5 years? How about 20 years? Are there rules of thumb or better yet, calculations for aging?” And helpful engineer that he is, James got in there and tried to provide some answers before agreeing to appear on the show to elaborate. Other topics covered here include:

• How no one is completely sure about how to approach component aging
• When component aging actually affects designers
• The difference between aging and reliability
• The impact of components lasting longer than they were meant to
• Variables, parameters, and other factors that can inhibit and exacerbate aging
• Levels of violence in polymer tantalum explosions
• The history of constants
• Device longevity laws
• How to define rated voltage for a capacitor
• +more!

About our guest:

James Lewis aka Bald Engineer, is a freelance electronics content creator. You might recognize James from the YouTube channels AddOhms and Workbench Wednesdays from Element 14. His interests include talking too much about capacitors, repairing vintage computers, and making unique PCBs that go into poorly designed 3D-print enclosures. James has been on the show a few times now, including episode #141 and #222 to discuss testing and validating PCB assembly design. The episode about ceramic capacitors is still one of Parker’s all-time favorite episodes! 

Relevant links:

• Bald Engineer
• Component Aging Effects
• Circuit Break Podcast #141: It Depends – An In Depth Look at MLCCs with James Lewis
• Circuit Break Podcast #222: Turning It On – New Design Checklists with James Lewis
• Circuit Break Podcast #306: Removing The Barriers
• Join the Circuit Break Discourse Community!

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].

Not unlike Han Solo emerging from cryosleep, the annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special is back! Parker and Stephen welcome Josh Rozier, Chris Kraft, and Hyr0n to Circuit Break for a wide-ranging discussion covering at least the following about the Star Wars universe:

• The Most Ingenious Pieces of Technology in Star Wars
• The Most Underrated Characters 
• Favorite (and Most Profound) Star Wars Quotes
• Personal picks for cool lightsaber functions
• Do Star Wars ships and vehicles ever need gas?
• Medical care in Star Wars vs. Star Trek
• Whether or not you’re sleeping while encased in carbonite or just dead the whole time
• A burning desire for vibroblades
• The toilet paper situation in Star Wars
• Does Star Wars really illuminate the vastness of space?
• Chewbacca knows everything
• Spider-Man’s goo
• So many Star Wars magic tricks
• Tow Cable/Power Harpoon as a reasonable tactic to use against the AT-ATs on Hoth?
• Science-Fiction vs. Science-Fantasy
• “Skippy” and The Mandalorian
• FM Radio Transmissions in Caves
• Star Wars: Thrawn and the curious case of loading cargo and other bureaucratic tasks
• Engineering ethics in the Empire / Darth Vader and anger management
• Stewie’s Vader
• Kylo Ren, blasters, and magical gas
• Not loving JJ Abrams’ elimination of limitations
• + much more!

About our guests:

• Josh Rozier
  • A business intelligence and data analytics professional for a large, east-coast insurance monolith. In his spare time, Roz spends his time building and tweaking guitar amplifiers and pedals. Co-owner of Empire Engineering with Stephen.
• Chris Kraft
  • A tinkerer currently working as a software engineer in the financial services industry. Extensive background in 3d printing and building anything that seems interesting.
• Hyr0n
  • A systems engineer. Hardware hacker of AND!XOR, a group that builds electronic badges for conferences, mucks in vending machines, and designs embedded system puzzles.

Relevant links:

• Circuit Break Podcast #357: Seventh Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special - We’re the Rebel Codebreakers!
• Circuit Break Podcast #307: Sixth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special - The Bad Hunch
• Circuit Break Podcast #255: Fifth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special – Neo Jedi
• Circuit Break Podcast #204: Fourth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special – C3PO Steals the Show
• Circuit Break Podcast #152: Third Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special – Vader’s Fake Finger
• Circuit Break Podcast #98: Second Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special: Jar Jar on a Harley
• Circuit Break Podcast #46: First Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].

Parker and Stephen discuss a recent news story about how car manufacturers are increasing their focus on Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs) which are cars that use more software instead of physical components to control vehicle functions. This prompted a comparison between SDVs and Drive-by-Wire or DbW technology in the automotive industry, which is the use of electronic or electro-mechanical systems in place of mechanical linkages that control driving functions, how DbW relates to Fly-by-Wire tech and the fate of the F-117 Nighthawk, how Marvell Semiconductor is working on technology, particularly Ethernet, to support this change to SDWs, plus we get a brewery project update from Stephen, and much more!

Relevant links:

• Marvell Sees Software-Defined Vehicle Readiness Near at Hand
• Circuit Break Podcast #65: Self Driving Cars With Josh Hartung From Polysync
• Circuit Break Podcast #396: PoE - Phantom over Ethernet
• Circuit Break Podcast #107: Orthogonal for Mutual Conductance
• Circuit Break Podcast #229: Get Cute This Weekend

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen welcome Pete Staples, the CEO and Co-Founder of Blue Clover Devices, to the show! Staples founded Blue Clover in 2003 to explore ways to make the electronics industry more efficient. Prior to that, he worked as a systems engineer at Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo near LAX. Blue Clover continues to hone their processes to eliminate waste and provide the best value for their clients. In 2018, those efforts culminated in the release of Blue Clover’s Production Line Tool (PLT), a cloud-native hardware test automation device. Because of his expertise in device testing, Parker and Stephen wanted to catch up with Pete to ask him some questions about such things, and so we’re happy to welcome him to Circuit Break!

Relevant links:

• Blue Clover Devices
• Circuit Break Podcast #404: The Barcode is 50 With its Creator, Paul V. McEnroe
• Circuit Board Testing Methods: What You Need to Know
• Circuit Break Podcast #189: Not Even My Final Form – Jeff Garoon on Industrial Product Design

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen discuss a recent article exploring how electrostatic discharge damage isn’t the only kind of static hazard your digital designs can face and possible solutions to such problems, a recent report that CHIPS for America published, entitled “The Vision for the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program” (NAPMP), which elaborates on goals and investment areas to establish U.S. leadership in advanced packaging and provide the technology needed for packaging manufacturing in the U.S, a rumour about Raspberry Pi and how Tesla released service documentation for its original roadster, addressing some commentary by Discourse Community members, Todd_Zebert and Pdp-1, 1960s Batman stuff, and much more!

Relevant links:

• The Other Kind Of Static Hazard To Your Logic Circuits
• Circuit Break Podcast #326: The Infinite Finite Grid
• Chips For America Publishes “The Vision For The National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program,” Supporting Leadership And Technology Growth
• Circuit Break Podcast #388: CHIPS Can’t Dip
• Join the Circuit Break Discourse Community!

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen welcome JITX CEO and Co-founder, Dr. Duncan Haldane, to the show to discuss his company, which is a code-powered PCB design platform that aims to revolutionize circuit board design by integrating automation with human expertise. Prior to co-founding JITX, Dr. Haldane was responsible for a “hyper-aggressive pogo-stick” robot called Salto-1P. After discovering just how much work went into designing Salto-1P, Duncan was inspired to start JITX, because he wanted a better way to design robots. In an approach that some engineers find divisive, JITX is innovating in ways to design circuit boards by writing code, and so Parker and Stephen asked Dr. Haldane to explain his background, the problems JITX is trying to resolve, the company’s plans to build a new auto-router, just what exactly the deal was with that “hyper-aggressive pogo-stick,” and much more!

Relevant links:

• JITX
• Circuit Break Podcast #21: Let The RF Hit The Noise Floor
• Circuit Break Podcast #30: You won’t believe this ONE WEIRD Engineering trick
• Circuit Break Podcast #52: Anti Fitbits
• Circuit Break Podcast #393: Recyclable PCBs, EOL Design, Cold Cuts
• Join the Circuit Break Discourse Community!

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen discuss the fact that physical limitations of shrinking process nodes are leading to new advancements in silicon interposers and enabling 2.5D packaging architectures, which is making 3D packaging possible, plus an exploration of what ChatGPT is and isn’t capable of, in terms of it answering our questions and whether or not it matters that it can’t draw upon its own experiences to relate to us, like say, wanting to have a beer sometimes. Plus, much more!

Relevant links:

• Why 3D packaging could be the next breakthrough for processing
• Circuit Break Podcast #118: Battlestar Galactic Grounds
• Circuit Break Podcast #17: System-in-Package (SiP) Platforms with Greg Sheridan
• How is ChatGPT biased? Researchers identify a variety of concerns 
• MEP EP#365: Let’s Segway into the Next Topic
• Join the Circuit Break Discourse Community!

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen speak with Paul V. McEnroe, an award-winning engineer who developed multiple state-of-the-art technologies during his long career, including more than two decades in leadership roles at IBM. McEnroe is best known for his primary role in developing the Universal Product Code (UPC), the barcode used on every product in supermarkets and the retail industry, and the scanners that read them. In 2023, the barcode celebrates its 50th anniversary but now Paul is setting the record straight on the real story with his new book, THE BARCODE - How a Team Created One of the World's Most Ubiquitous Technologies.

The discussion also covered subjects like being car nuts and Paul’s past ownership of a Buick Torpedo, a TR3, a Porsche Super 90, and a Jag XK150S Roadster, his apparent aptitude for being a mortician, control units and mainframes, where lasers were sourced from at the time, buying monkeys from Africa, owning the patent on the pistol grip scanner, what to make of QR codes, and much more! 

Relevant links:

• THE BARCODE - How a Team Created One of the World's Most Ubiquitous Technologies
• MEP EP#320: The Drop Ship Shuffle
• MEP EP#387: Recursive Vending Machines
• MEP EP#398: Duke Nukem v. Parker, Raspberry Pi 5, Weldestroyer!
• Join the Circuit Break Discourse Community!

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen check in with the new Circuit Break Discourse community and a Chip of the Week discussion initiated by mobius_striptease, a closer look at the LT3073 3A, Ultra-Low Noise, High PSRR, 45mV Dropout Ultra-Fast Linear Regulator, a discussion about in and out pads ensues, Parker digs into Weldestroyer updates and how he found that a footswitch could not handle sourcing much current, which means my analog solution is out of the question, Parker provides a Box Truk update, focusing upon the A/C Selector and Protection Panel, exploring Shore power, and much more! 

Relevant links:

• Chip of The Week
• LT3073 Datasheet and Product Info | Analog Devices 5
• MEP EP#276: Skippy Documentation
• MEP EP#398: Duke Nukem v. Parker, Raspberry Pi 5, Weldestroyer!
• MEP EP#378: Crawfish Conundrum
• Join the Circuit Break Discourse Community!

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen discuss Parker’s participation in Extra Life Day: Revenge of the Holiday Special on November 4, 2023, in which he’ll be playing and streaming STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order for 24 hours to raise funds for kids at his local Texas Children's Hospital, the related but unusual Star Wars Halloween costume he’ll be donning this year, checking in with the new Circuit Break Discourse community, how member Tom_Look prompted a discussion about how people organize projects, ideas, and part numbers, and extensive catch-up and update about Parker’s Box Truk, and  much more! 

Relevant links:

• Extra Life Day: Revenge of the Holiday Special
• Join the Circuit Break Discourse Community!
• Organizing and documenting projects
• Box Truk - Solar Panel Project
• MEP EP#378: Crawfish Conundrum

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen have a great talk with Greg Norman, a recording engineer, producer, and technician at Steve Albini’s studio, Electrical Audio, in Chicago, who also constructs and repairs various audio devices out of necessity and general interest, under the name, Normaphone. Greg discusses his background and early “pre-Google” experiments and learnings, how to create a low-noise studio space and how your neighbors might unwittingly interfere with such things, why he has had to invent or upgrade certain audio engineering tools and whether or not there’s a market for these products, learning from and helping others in his field, what it’s like working with musicians, plus much more! 

Relevant links:

• Electrical Audio
• Normaphone
• MEP EP#60: JOSH the mastermind behind the audio of the podcast
• MEP EP#56: Gotta Look Pro

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen celebrate episode 400 of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast and announce its relaunch as Circuit Break starting next week, plus a discussion about MacroFab’s tenth anniversary, the end of our Slack channel and launch of our new Circuit Break Community hub, a brief history of this podcast and its trajectory, key projects that have been completed or else relegated to the shadow realm, plus much more! 

Relevant links:

• Celebrating 10 years of MacroFab (twitter)
• *NEW* Join our Circuit Break Community!
• MEP EP#356: Don't Let AI Brew Your Beer
• MEP EP#355: The One They Talk About Football Fields For a Long Time

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen welcome Josh Manley back to the show to discuss how humans and CAD can interact! Josh is the co-owner and CEO of CADClass.org. Through a comprehensive array of courses and literature, CADClass.org provides education of various software and design methodologies, catering to individuals across all proficiency levels. Since 2010, Josh has been utilizing his experience to create educational opportunities for anyone and everyone who wants to learn engineering skills. Here, he joins us to have a spirited discussion about CAD, 3D, and how such things can communicate and be taught to students who want to dig into this exciting new technological realm!

Relevant links:

• MEP EP#389: The aCADemy of Education - Joshua Manley of CADClass.org
• The Ultimate Online Fusion 360 CAD School
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the CAD Industry

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected].  

Parker and Stephen discuss Parker’s past and upcoming Extra Life Day charity work, in which he plays video games like Duke Nukem and STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a rather deep dive into the newly launched Raspberry Pi 5, personal project updates from Stephen about the Weldestroyer 3000, and much more! 

Relevant links:

• Extra Life Day: Revenge of the Holiday Special
• MEP EP#105: Community Dice
• Introducing : Raspberry Pi 5
• MEP EP#361: Cold Welding This Podcast Together

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Parker and Stephen discuss community feedback that led Parker to order a Bambu X1 Carbon 3D Printer, which should be arriving any day now, S to the L to the A, “guardrails” that the U.S. Commerce Department has placed on the CHIPS for America program, the healthy job market for engineers in America right now, flagging down the double E’s, how to teach engineering students properly, new math, and much more! 

Relevant links:

• MEP EP#394: GPUs D.O.A, Reverse Polarity Problems, 3D Printer Pickles
• US Commerce issues final national security guardrails on CHIPS incentives
• How Does the CHIPS Act Affect Manufacturing?
• MEP EP#388: CHIPS Can’t Dip

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Parker and Stephen discuss the Cloudlifter mechanism they now use to help enhance the sound of this podcast, what phantom power is and what it actually does, more reverse polarity protections from the community, some of this show’s most audible fans, down with Slack, up with Discourse, an overdue box truck update, and much more. 

Relevant links:

• What Does a Cloudlifter Do (And Should You Be Using One)?
• What is Phantom Power & Why Do I Need It?
• Ideal Diode Bridge Controller
• MEP EP#110: Dangling Transformers

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Parker and Stephen discuss power-only USB Type-C connectors entering the marketplace, Apple being forced to convert iPhones to USB-C after the EU established and enforced the Common Charger Directive and what such government legislations might mean for tech innovation, community discussion about reverse polarity protection, how the new Slack GUI is both not good and unnecessary, busy work vs. actual redevelopment, and much more. 

Relevant links:

• UJC Power-Only USB Type-C™ Receptacles
• How to Navigate Apple’s Shift From Lightning to USB-C
• Apple adds USB 3 speeds to iPhone 15 Pro but you won’t get those out of the box
• MEP EP#332: This Podcast Intentionally Left Blank

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Parker and Stephen discuss some MacroFab updates including news about their pod community and Slack, what’s wrong and right about high-end GPUs and the marvels of KrisFix and his YouTube repair channel, what’s up with consumer electronics and their lack of reverse polarity protection, and Parker muses about when it’s time to call it day for a 3D Printer. 

More on these topics:

Community:

• New community hub! Shifting away from the Slack channel?
• Are you in or near Houston, Texas any time soon? Please come out to Beers for Engineers! More info below! 

Dead on Arrival for high end GPUs - Nvidia

• RTX 4090 - The biggest problem with modern cards that the manufacturer refuses to repair
• KrisFix’s repair skills
• Popping the pad
• Too much Board Flex
• “RTX Technology Package” (air quotes) 
• Decoding NVIDIA
• 5000 Series Rumours?

Why do so many consumer electronics not have reverse polarity protection?

• Looking through Windows
• Can’t turn it up to 11
• Motherboards of Invention 
• Guitar Pedal Problems
• The hot leg
• The P Channel Set-up
• “Slap a diode on it”
• Italian Decisions 
• Why Raspberry Pie “Won”

Personal Project Updates:

• Should Parker replace his 3D printer?
• When to pull the plug on such a hard-working machine

Good links:

• Beers for Engineers events!
• RTX 4090 - The biggest problem of modern cards that the manufacturer refuses to repair
• MEP EP#262: Flex PCB Primers 
• MEP EP#313: Another Tool for Your Toolbox

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab.com/slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Parker and Stephen discuss Infineon’s use of recyclable PCBs from Jiva Materials to create a soluboard, a recyclable and biodegradable PCB substrate, and its ecological and efficiency implications, an examination of the new Arduino Uno, which replaces the ATMEGA328P with two new models, Minima and Wifi, plus a CNC update and an extended meditation on saw blades and what they can and cannot actually cut.

More on these topics:

Infineon uses recyclable PCBs from Jiva Materials

• The fibers are natural and have a lower impact than traditional glass based fibers.
  • 7.1kg and the carbon footprint of one square meter of standard FR-4 PCB is estimated to be 17.7kg.
  • Does anyone really know what “carbon footprint” means?
• The non-toxic polymer that binds the fibers dissolves when immersed in hot water, leaving only compostable organic material. The polymer in the water can be disposed of in normal waste water.
  • 7.1kg and the carbon footprint of one square meter of standard FR-4 PCB is estimated to be 17.7kg.
  • A 60% waste reduction
  • Electronic devices can last FOREVER
  • Bad reviews vs. pollution vs. boiling the boards vs. useless promo items

Jiva Materials

• Compatibility with current PCB Assembly processes 
• Repair, don’t replace!
• Hoping for some Jiva experimentation 
• Board Mould
• Mmmm, PCB soup…
• Making puzzle badges but also, BOIL YOUR BADGE
• But is the PCB Spaceworthy?

New Arduino Uno:

• The ATMEGA328P is no more! Replaced with a 32-bit ARM Cortex M4.
• Comes in two flavors:
  • Minima which looks to just be the MCU and supporting hardware.
  • WiFi which has 2.4Ghz capabilities and a LED Matrix?
• The Minima has a proper SWD debug connector where the WiFi version does not?
• Gripes with Arduino
• Super crisp silkscreening 
• USB and HID Support 
• Raspberry Pie has bit the bullet

Once Year Since the CNC Project Began: An Update

• We are cutting!
• Getting garbage plywood and the state of Baltic Birch
• Building the interior of the box truck
• Always find a local source
• Using the wrong blade can feel so right
• SAW (blades)
• Metal and wood and cold cuts
• WARNING: PODCAST DANGER ZONE AHEAD

Good links:

• Infineon uses recyclable PCBs from Jiva Materials
• Jiva Materials 
• New Arduino Uno
• MEP EP#352: CNC Crafting

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Matt has been teaching Robotics and Embedded Systems at the University of Advancing Technology since 2019. Before that, he worked in the pharmaceutical Industry for 15 years, primarily for Cardinal Health where he made radiopharmaceuticals (radioactive drugs) and worked as the Quality Unit in production for seven years, before switching to R&D as a Senior Principal Scientist. 

Guests:

• Matthew Prater from the University of Advancing Technology

Increasing the dosage

• Matt on how he began making radiopharmaceuticals
• Going from manufacturing five to thousands of doses a day
• Programming robotics…with an Excel sheet?
• Enviable synthesis machines

Up Late to Fight Cancer

• Baking radioactive fluorine
• Cancer cells that eat and make babies
• Chemistry and Robots
• “$130,000 to go from 23 seconds to forever”
• Check flights to Fargo at 3 AM before drugs died
• House and ER and radioactivity and PET in cancer treatments
• Getting the fluorine carbon bond to happen where you want to
• A little bit of spicy sugar

The F-18 Radioactive Tracer

• Does F-18 spit out a proton?
• Giving up the graveyard shifts for R&D
• Cancer and hypoxia
• Working on Meds that Battle Alzheimer’s disease
• Drug trials and brain slides

Regs and Pigs

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Agreement States
• Storing radioactivity in a pig
• Oil pipelines made from trees
• Two terms for pigs that aren’t actually pigs

What’s the deal with the University of Advancing Technology?

• Red Blue Security Teams and serious competition
• The Automated Motorcycle Visor and Coffin Cases
• Virtual front row seats and concert drones
• An Empire 6C
• Not the end, the endotoxin
• Can you eat horseshoe crabs?

Summary/Takeaways: 

• Matt’s fascinating background as a chemist and robotics and embedded systems provides him with a fascinating foothold in two worlds that intersect in intriguing ways
• Based on the hazardous materials involved, the pharmaceutical industry is at the forefront of robotics and software technology 

Connect with Matthew Prater:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-prater-32b0727a 
• UAT Faculty: https://www.uat.edu/faculty-at-university-of-advancing-technology 
• MEP EP#193: Robots Have Fall Damage

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

This special episode is recorded at DEF CON, the annual hacker community gathering in Las Vegas.  Hyr0n and Zapp from AND!XOR dive into the troubleshooting and triumphs of the Snackey vending machine project. From battling long queues to AI-enhanced innovation and mind-boggling challenges, explore the technical and creative journey behind this badge that will ignite your taste buds! 

Guests:

• Hyr0n & Zapp from AND!XOR 

Troubleshooting Snackey at DEF CON 

• Snackey was a hit!  The vending machine attracted 2-hour long queues 
• Troubleshooting a myriad of issues from a bag of potato chips getting stuck to power and display malfunctions
• A primary glitch: Snackey refused to boot up, only to discover an extension cord mistaken for the real power source

AI-Enhanced Snackey and Delving into Design 

• Behind the scenes, the badge's back-end infrastructure hinged on CircuitPython, while AI, including Bard and ChatGPT, played a pivotal role in certain aspects
• An example of AI integration: modifying the progress bar script
• AI, however, was exclusively utilized for software, not hardware components
• AI came into play when a deep fake video featuring Billy Mays was created for the AND!XOR DC31 Trailer
• Zapp walks us through the intricate design layers of the badge which included woodworking & laser engraving

Badge Challenges 2023 

• The Gopher challenge presented a blend of traditional cybersecurity tasks and connection points, offering a puzzle for attendees to decipher 
• A coin cell on the back of the badge transformed it into Snackey Jr. and provided some clever misdirection for those who thought it was a battery cell slot 
• The Pizza Emoji Challenge, with its Morse code and homage to the TV remote inventor, showcased the multifaceted nature of Snackey's puzzles 

Summary/Takeaways: 

• A key challenge for next year will be elevating the speed of Snackey’s operations to reduce wait times 
• The collaborative essence of DEF CON highlights the ever-evolving landscape of hacking and creative engineering 

Connect with AND!XOR:

• Website: https://www.andnxor.com/ 
• Github: https://github.com/ANDnXOR 
• Hackady.io:  https://hackaday.io/ANDnXOR 
• X: https://twitter.com/ANDnXOR 

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Join physicist and electrical engineering historian, Kathy Joseph, as she unravels captivating human stories behind electricity's evolution.  Discover quirky experiments and eccentric scientists like self-deprecating Heinrich Hertz and self-proclaimed wizard Matthias Bose. Learn how historical knowledge and storytelling inspire present and future engineers.

Guests:

• Kathy Joseph, Physicist and Electrical Engineering Historical Expert 

Introduction to Kathy and Her Passion for the History of Science: 

• Kathy's spark for electrical engineering history ignited when students misconceived electricity's source as "a plug in the wall" 🔌
• Explore her popular YouTube channel, Kathy Loves Physics, and discover the inspiration behind her book, The Lightning Tamers 🌩️

Quirky Experiments and Peculiar Discoveries in Electrical Engineering:

• Kathy shares her extensive research process
• Incorporating storytelling makes science education more interesting, accessible and memorable
• We hear intriguing anecdotes about famous scientists like Heinrich Hertz, who despite a self-critical nature made groundbreaking discoveries in electromagnetic waves and modern wireless communication
• The Eccentric Matthias Bose: Meet the 18th-century self-proclaimed wizard 🧙‍, known for electrifying women he called "Venus Electrificatus"
• Polarizing Sheets and Edwin Land: Discover how Edwin Land's invention of polarizing sheets, born out of a father's desire to satisfy his child's impatience for instant pictures, influenced the modern Polaroid camera 📸
• Appreciate the passionate and artistic nature of scientists and engineers and the relevance of their stories to the present day 🧑‍🎨
• Looking Ahead: Reflect on the significance of historical knowledge in inspiring the next generation of engineers

Summary/Takeaways: 

• Kathy Joseph's passion for storytelling and the human side of science adds depth and relevance to the history of electrical engineering
• Understanding the context and personalities behind scientific discoveries enhances our appreciation for their significance

Connect with Kathy:

• Website: https://kathylovesphysics.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KathyLovesPhysics
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ILuvePhysics
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathylovesphysics/
• YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/KathyLovesPhysicsHistory

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

This week we’re joined by Josh Manley, Co-Owner and CEO of CADClass.org. Through a comprehensive array of courses and literature, CADClass.org provides education of various software and design methodologies, catering to individuals across all proficiency levels.  Since 2010 Josh has been utilizing his experience to create educational opportunities for anyone and everyone who wants to learn engineering skills. 

Guests:

• Josh Manley from CADclass.org

Overcoming CAD misconceptions

• 3D printing has incredible applications beyond "toys"
• Most YouTube portrayals of CAD often condense the work and set unrealistic expectations

Building a successful learning community:

• Going beyond video content
• Leveraging social discussion tools
• Giving the community a voice for their goals and needs

Summary/Takeaways:

• Effective education requires real-world (and exciting) applications for students
• CAD education must incorporate traditional engineering principals in order to have physical world success

Connect with Josh:

• Programs can be found at www.cadclass.org
• Josh’s physical book, Mastering Fusion 360
• Free or donation-based copy of the eBook is at www.cadclass.org/pages/book
• Twitter @CAD_Class
• YouTube @cadclassonline

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected].

This week we’re joined by David Schild, the Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA). PCBAA is a consortium of American companies supporting domestic production of printed circuit boards and the materials they are made of. An established leader and trusted advocate, Schild has over 20 years of experience managing political involvement, corporate public relations and public policy efforts for the aerospace and defense industry and advocates for the CHIPS Act and PCBS Act. 

Text:

Guests:

• David Schild from the PCBAA

Intro to U.S. public policy impacting the microelectronic industry

• The impact of globalization, corporate consolidation, and reshoring 
• The CHIPS Act as a model and way forward to avoid supply chain issues
• Bringing manufacturing ecosystems back to America
• The CHIPS Act’s $52 billion endowment with tax credits to motivate companies to create in America

How far can American manufacturing subsidies really go?

• “Private money follows public action”
• We’re down to single points of failure; one thing goes down, everything goes down worldwide
• Engineers don’t often get elected to Congress
• Fostering options for young Americans to follow career paths via local microelectronics 
• “The things we make in America, we can invent in America”

Summary/Takeaways:

• Making PCBs relatable to the general public and politicians is crucial
• The CHIPS and PCBs acts are a good start, but not enough

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Join us as we chat with Hyr0n and Zapp from AND!XOR Group about their iconic badges for DEF CON 31. Learn about the challenges and creative process behind their badges, including the returning Snackey Vending Machine. Discover how AI enhances their workflow while uncovering its limitations. Get ready for a captivating conversation!

Text:

Guests:

• Hyr0n & Zapp from AND!XOR 

Intro to AND!XOR and Previous Badge Designs for DEF CON

• A brief history of AND!XOR group 
• The origins of Hyr0n & Zapp’s involvement in creating badges for DEF CON 
• Recapping previous DEF CON badges, including last year’s Project Snackey 
• The challenges of previous years badge design, including troubleshooting voltage issues and a weird bug that developed in Snackey halfway through DEF CON last year

DEF CON 31: Snackey is back! 

• Exciting news: Snackey Vending Machine is back with new improvements! 
• Balancing aesthetics and technical features while troubleshooting badge challenges
• Leveraging AI tools to enhance efficiency and accuracy in badge designs
• Upcoming Hacker challenges at DEF CON including the mysterious Black Badges and announcing that Sanckey is an official challenge this year! 
• Building a strong community at DEF CON through collaboration and solving challenges together 

Summary/Takeaways:

• Embrace the journey and learn from failures as they often lead to the most memorable experiences.
• AI is a powerful tool for automating tedious tasks but won't replace programmers anytime soon.

Previous Episodes Featuring AND!XOR: 

• MEP EP#342: Hackery Experts
• MEP EP#238: Better Encryption than Zoom, Firmware Stacks with AND!XOR
• MEP EP#183: Feel the Hum
• MEP EP#109
• MEP EP#69

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

Delve into the world of AI in chip design, exploring the limitations and benefits of AI, its impact on productivity and the labor market, and the future of this technology. We also join Parker on another exciting installment of his Box Truck project as he converts a truck into an RV.  We discuss the limitations of warranties and power systems for conversions. Tune in for a captivating conversation!

Text:

AI Can't Design Chips Without People 🤖

• Advancements and challenges in AI's role in chip design, optimizing performance, layouts, and quality control
• The hybrid human-machine approach, leveraging AI while valuing design engineers' expertise and creativity
• Exploring AI applications in art, music, and the context of derivative and non-derivative works
• Examining the role of AI in increasing productivity and discussing labor implications in chip design and other disciplines 

Box Truck: Parker Project Status Update 

• Parker's ongoing conversion of a Box Truck into an RV 
• Encountering a challenge: engine won't start 🤦‍♂️
• Costly towing bill due to a faulty fuel module replacement
• Dive into discussions on power systems, wiring, battery technology, and power management complexities
• Catch up on the Box Truck saga in previous Episodes 376, 378, and 379

Summary/Takeaways:

• Reflections on the importance of the human element in collaboration with AI to achieve optimal results 
• Consider the challenges and complexities involved in converting a Box Truck into an RV, from engine issues to power system considerations

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

In the spirit of summer, we kick off this week with a  timely discussion of whether you can cook food on the engine of your car; how hot would your exhaust pipes even need to be? Stephen shares the current challenges he’s facing with his CNC (computer numerical control) project; avoiding messy wiring, dos and don’ts of using electrical tape and when to upgrade to a bigger 3D printing.  We also discuss the special place in Hell for the person at the hardware store who puts the wrong screw in the wrong drawer. 😈

Manifold Destiny: Cooking on a Car Engine 

• Experience the culinary adventure of transforming your car into a BBQ hotspot 
• Exhaust pipes can reach temperatures of up to 1200°F; certainly enough to cook an egg 
• Stainless steel changes color based on heat, with blue occurring around 550-650°F and brown near 450°F
• We compare the artistry of welding techniques on Instagram akin to the Mona Lisa to the practical Parker-style welding approach 

CNC (computer numerical control): Stephen Project Status Update 

• Stephen provides a status update on his ongoing CNC project 
• Tips for avoiding messy wiring and achieving a professional look in CNC projects
• Discussion on the dos and don'ts of using electrical tape
• Considerations for upgrading to a larger 3D printer, expanding your printing possibilities 
• The special place in hell for the person who puts the wrong screw in the wrong drawer at the hardware store 

Summary/Takeaways:

• Transform your car into a BBQ to unlock the culinary potential of your vehicle’s engine
• Avoid Mad Max-style wiring, elevating the overall aesthetic and functionality of your CNC project 

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected]. 

The concerning news of a missing submarine near the Titanic wreck site this week sparks conversation about the implications of using a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering, the importance of regulatory bodies for deep sea exploration and why backups are essential for critical systems. We also explore the question; is an engineer a scientist? Lastly, we discuss a breakthrough in laser-based data transmission that could revolutionize internet connectivity.

Submarine Safety: Unconventional Controls and Engineering Design

• Suitability of game controllers for critical systems
• Regulatory compliance and safety standards in engineering projects
• What can we learn from this story and why backups are essential 

Engineer vs. Scientist: Perception and Practice

• Proficiency at something vs. being an expert 
• Education vs. professionally paid for your work 
• “If you wear a white lab coat in your day job, you are a scientist” 
• Inspired by u/amirouche_up’s question at r/askengineers 

Laser Internet: Overcoming Atmospheric Interference for Enhanced Connectivity

• If Stephen was in charge of this project, the first message he would send across would be “Gondor calls for aid”
• Advantages of lasers in data transmission compared to undersea fiber optic cables 
• What if you could curb a laser?

Summary/Takeaways:

• Lessons learned from the submarine incident and best practices for engineering safety
• Perspectives on the engineer-scientist debate 
• Future prospects and applications of laser-based data transmission technology

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected].

MEP EP# 383: Screaming into the Social Media Void

AutoDesk is dropping support and development for the dedicated Eagle EDA tool and moving efforts to the AutoDesk Fusion 360 Electronics. This has set the electronic enthusiast online communities ablaze with KiCad users and supporters frothing at this opportunity to take market share away from Eagle in the EDA space. Parker and Stephen discuss this and more on this week’s episode of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!

Topics:

Parker was on The Coriolis Effect last Friday with Bill Herd and Ben Jordan! Check out the episode here. 

AutoDesk dropping dedicated Eagle Support.

• Effective June 7 2026. Autodesk will no longer sell Eagle
  • Fusion 360 Electronics is the “path forward” 
  • Supposedly Eagle files are fully compatible with Fusion 360 Electronics
• Hackaday’s take on this: “They used to be a big shot but now they are no more”
• Discussion points: 
  • What will happen to all of the historic Eagle materials out in the world?
  • What will happen to stand alone eagle? 
  • Is this a big deal because the hacker/maker community is loud?
  • The move of everything to subscription models, is it a good business move, or the death knell for these products?
    • Pros
      • Continuous improvement
      • Access to most or all tools even the expensive ones
      • Support
    • Cons
      • You don’t own your tool
      • Your designs feel like they are held hostage
  • Is KiCAD a good open source alternative to Eagle, and will it be competitive to Fusion? 
• Takeaways: 
  • What will the future look like for these types of products - will Fusion 360 be strong? 
  • Will subscription models continue to gain momentum? 
  • Hobby vs profit

Ex-Samsung executive alleged to have stolen tech to recreate chip plant in China

• What was this executive planning to transfer?
• Modern plants are highly integrated and specific with supporting equipment needed to drive those tools.
• Maybe it was Samsung’s secret sauce? Software packages and tooling guidelines? 

Unconventional fathers day gift ideas?

• What does an electrical engineer give his dad?
• Tools
• Steaks
• Just give him a call!

MEP EP#382: The Danger Pool

The CHIPS act is in full swing with Texas Instruments, TSMC, Intel and other chip manufacturers scaling up and building new facilities in the United States. There is just one problem however, the engineering manpower required to run these high tech facilities. TSMC is struggling to fill hiring quotas and articles are citing TSMC working conditions as the reason. Stephen and Parker decide to explore the possibility of more reasons for this on this week’s episode of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast.

Chipmaker TSMC needs to hire 4,500 Americans at its new Arizona plants.

• We touched on this in the past with the chip act. 668,000 domestic manufacturing jobs for the chips act on Episode #345 - The Hot List of Tasty Chip Fabs
• TSMC says it will hire 4,500 new workers to support its two Arizona fabs, a sizable chunk of the total new jobs created. So far TSMC has hired ~2000 but say it is tough to hire.
• Compensation and hiring
  • TSMC pays up to $160,000 annually for Ph.D.s with some good experience where that same Ph.D. can earn some $30,000 more at Intel
  • Intel is giving raises of $10K - $20K over TSMC offers to stay. 
• More students in STEM in Taiwan vs US : 31% compared to 17.5%

Apple launches Vision Pro AR headset to ship next year

• $3500 When the VR industry is getting less expensive and in a hardware purchasing decline?
• Pro price but no pro applications?

The Danger Pool

• What would it take to make a “solder pot”
  • Assembling Transistor Radios 1955
• Simple calculations
  • 60/40 specific heat = 0.173 J/g-C
  • 60/40 melting temp = 190c
  • Energy to raise temp -> specific heat equation
  • Energy to raise 5kg temp by 165C = 142.7 kJ
  • Enthalpy of fusion = 37J/g
  • Energy needed to “melt” = 185kJ
  • Total Energy = 327 kJ
• Joule is W.s
• If we wanted to deliver this much power in 30 minutes
• 182 Watts
• Kitchen stove burner
  • Small ~1200W
  • Medium ~1500 to 1800W
  • Large ~2500W
• 500mm x 175mm size

MEP EP#381: Bil Herd - Back Into the Storm

Bil Herd, one of the early engineers of Home Computers, joins as a guest on this week’s episode of the podcast. Bil led the hardware design for the Commodore C128 and Plus4 Series of computers in the 1980’s and currently co-hosts a weekly webcast which can be seen at Coriolis-effect.com

Topics:

Back Into the Storm: A design engineers story of Commodore Computers in the 1980’s

Vintage Computer Festival

• Returning to Texas this June
• June 23rd - 25th VCF Southwest
• August 4-5th VCF West
• Vcfed.org

Coriolis-Effect

• Bil co-hosts this along with Ben Jordan! 
• Summary of the show / Topics
  • Deep dives into circuit analysis
  • Signal integrity

DFM and assembly process

• The Commodore C128 was designed during the era of through hole components.
• How did the advent of Surface Mount Tech change design? 
• Through hole is still used today and what mistakes do modern engineers and designers do when using through hole components?  
• How often did “green wire” fixes go into production?

MEP EP#380: The Simplest SMT Component… In The World

Stephen’s CNC steps closer to being completed on this CNC electronics centric podcast! We discuss design snafus and problems with poorly constructed CNC controllers and design misses in the mechanical assembly. Then Parker receives a newsletter that has the simplest SMT component in the world. What could that component even be used for?

Topics:

Stephen’s CNC - What remains?

• The 2000 mm ball screws in right before the episode
• Drives/drivers/power supply have arrived!
• Need to order
  • Controller - purchased NVEM
    • Now the STB4100
  • Limit switches
  • E-chain
  • MPG
  • Safety stuff like the change over switch and breaker
• Need to make a box for the FRO/SRO/SJO
  • Why this isn’t a normal thing is strange
• Making the surface of the table
  • MDF with sunken screws
• Software
  • Making control box wiring diagrams
  • Brewery controller
    • Thunder ohm style wiring
    • Max max
  • Printable heat shrink to match diagrams
• Electrical Enclosure 
  • Vevor 24x24x8
• Cabling woes

The Simplest SMT component… In The World

• Harwin Surface Mountable Contact Pads
• Marketing material states
  • Surface mountable contact pad, ideal as a mating area for Spring Contacts, Spring Loaded Contacts and Spring Loaded Contact Connectors.
• Any reason to use these? 
  • Datasheet shows that the gold thickness is no thicker than normal ENIG
    • Contact Pad 0.025um - 0.075um
    • IPC-4552 0.05um - 0.20um

MEP EP#379: Taking pictures with magnetic flux

Two major topics this week! Major Box Truck updates and going over the Texas DMC Occupations Code for what a Motor home is. Then we flash back to the year 2000. Parker was only 13 years old when he took a photography merit badge class for scouts and was introduced to digital photography through the Sony MVC-FD5. This Sony camera stores images on a floppy disk. Will this archaic storage media sink Parker’s nostalgia for this camera or will it just spawn extra projects?

Podcast News:

• Switching Podcast hosting seems to have gone seamlessly!
• Trying out a new piece of recording software this week.

Topics:

Box Truk Updates

• Brake Lights arrived and installed!
• Spare tire holder built and installed
• 360 degree camera system partially installed
• Starting work on the “RV” portion
  • Built the shower stall so far
  • Texas DMV Occupations Code, Section 2301.002 (21)
    • “Motor home” means a motor vehicle that is designed to provide temporary living quarters and that:
      • (A) is built on a motor vehicle chassis as an integral part of or a permanent attachment to the chassis; and
      • (B) contains at least four of the following independent life support systems that are permanently installed and designed to be removed only for repair or replacement and that meet the standards of the American National Standards Institute, Standards for Recreational Vehicles:
        • A cooking facility with an on-board fuel source; Motor Vehicles Adapted or Designed for Human Habitation Assembled and Reconstructed Vehicle Manual 11-2 TxDMV October 2020
        • A gas or electric refrigerator
        • A toilet with exterior evacuation
        • A heating or air conditioning system with an on-board power or fuel source separate from the vehicle engine;
        • a potable water supply system that includes at least a sink, a faucet, and a water tank with an exterior service supply connection; or
        • A 110-125 volt electric power supply.

Sony MVC-FD5

• Digital Camera from Parker’s past
• Floppy Drive problems
• Building a “fake” vintage luggable computer

MEP EP#378: Crawfish Conundrum

Cooking crawfish a mile above sea level? How will the crawfish cook differently? On this episode of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast, Parker and Stephen discuss the different seasoning, boil and soak times, and building an inexpensive boil pot from materials and supplies Stephen already has. Parker also makes the Box Truk an official project on the podcast even though it has nothing to do with electrical engineering. The last topic is on 3D printing and what is the state of Parker’s and Stephen’s machines and what they use the 3D printers for.

Podcast News:

Switching Podcast Hosting Companies

Topics:

Box Truk Updates

• Transmission cooler and fan installed and wired up
  • Thermal switch and relay setup
• Finished up the rear light wiring but waiting on the brake lights
• Installed a used on board air system for filling up tires and running pneumatic tools
• Next on the list
  • Install a spare tire holder
  • Check for leaks in the transmission lines
  • Install the 360 degree camera system

Crawfish Boil

• Keg conversion
• What do we need?
  • Boil ingredients
    • Butter
    • Salt
    • Crab boil
    • Crawfish oil
      • Louisiana oil
    • Minced garlic
    • Corn
    • Potato
    • Sausage
    • Mushroom
    • Tortellini
  • Post boil ingredients

Three Dee Printing

• Tony_W from the slack channel 
  • “I find 3D printers to be close to magic. You make a wish in fusion 360. Export the wish to the Voron. And voila, when you wake up the next morning, there is your wish on the build plate.”
• Parker’s current state of Printing
  • Currently just print polycarbonate from polymaker on a modified Wanhao D6
    • Other materials to look into? 
    • TPU based materials for making rubber isolators
  • Resin printer is an Elegoo mars 3
    • Want to experiment with more resins but haven’t found the time.
    • What materials should I look into? 
    • Upgrade the printer to the larger versions? 
    • Chrome plating 3d prints

MEP EP#377: Countdown to Hype

Component selection for your next product design is difficult as is with having to juggle temperature requirements, supply chain availability problems, and functionality parameters. Now consider your product in an environment that will actively destroy the semiconductors. This episode we dip our toes into Radiation exposure for electronics!

Topics:

Electronics and radiation

• Radiation Handbook for Electronics
• Silicon does strange things in the presence of radiation
  • Failures - 
    • Two Flavors - non permanent or permanent
    • SEE (single event error)
    • SEU (single event upset)
    • SEL (single-event latch-up)
    • SEGR (single-event gate rupture)
    • SEB (Single event burnout) 
  • PN junctions
  • Fets
  • CMOS - Memory
• Types of radiation exposure
  • TID (total ionizing dose)
    • Rate specific
    • ELDRS (Enhanced low dose rate sensitivity)
  • Proton
  • Neutron

SpaceX starship

• Starship is the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever flown and the first intended to be fully reusable
• Launch was great to watch
• Damage to launch pad
• Twice the thrust of the Saturn V

What kind of topics and discussions do Senior or Principal Engineers Care about?

• How many times can you sit through an introduction on a topic?
• Ion Open Accelerator: Designing & Manufacturing A PCBA

MEP EP#376: Starting From The Beginning

When did you start listening to the podcast? Have a favorite episode? Let Stephen and Parker know which is your favorite. Also, we are going to do another design contest! The Box Truck also gets an update from Parker.

May the Fab be with you! MacroFab event page.

Topics:

Favorite Episodes from listeners? 

• When did you start listening to the podcast?
• Stephen’s Favorite episode?
  • Brandon Sander of Inheritance Machining
  • Idea Tank episodes
    • Episode #77
    • Episode #223
  • Episode #296
• Parker’s Favorite episode?
  • Centex Paranormal Episode
  • JOSH - the podcast editor
  • James Lewis on MLCC / Ceramic Capacitors
• Top downloaded is #153 Discrete Atomic Luffa Control

Next Electrical Engineering Contest

• Projects that use FR4 in structural ways
• Listeners have any ideas?

Box Truck Build Update

• Auxiliary Power Infrastructure
• Figuring out automotive wiring schematics
• What has been completed so far
  • Under hood
  • Factory Auxiliary Fuse Box
  • Trailer Controller
  • Banks iDash

MEP EP#375: From Zero to Hero in Python

Topics:

Why is python requested in embedded software/firmware engineer jobs?

• The Complete Python Bootcamp From Zero to Hero in Python - Udemy

Rapid Harness Software

• Designing some pinball harnesses
• Powerful for a single task
• Has a free version but limited

CNC stuff

• Critical speeds on ball screws
  • Length
  • Diameter
  • End supports
• SFU2010 got 700in/min which is almost a foot a second.
• Rotational speed of 1778 RPM
• Power supplies for stepper motors
  • Shared axis power supply considerations.

MEP EP#374: Brandon Sander of Inheritance Machining

Brandon Sander:

Classically trained in mechanical engineering, Brandon inherited his grandfather’s personal machine shop in the winter of 2021. He created a Youtube channel to document restoring these machines, continuing his grandfather’s legacy, and getting back to his metalworking roots.

Topics:

• How inheritance machining came about
• Making drawings by hand
• Projects
  • Useful items - knurling tools/ tap follower/ etc
  • Tool upgrades - tool holders/better hold downs
  • Restoration projects
  • Which project did you like the best? The worst?
  • The most difficult?
  • Have there been any projects for YouTube that have been scrapped midway through?
• What you hope to do with the shop
• Most recent episode showed working on “organic” material - will there be more of this?
• What is left to do to call the shop "done" (I know this is probably not achievable!)
• Machine setup
• Filming “tools”
• What are your plans with the channel going forward?
• Do you have any advice for a young guy about to start work in a machine shop?

Joel Westerberg is head of IT at teenage engineering. Joel started at teenage engineering in 2013 by working on the OD-11 loudspeaker project. Joel has been involved in building the teenage engineering factory system and various other projects. Joel does everything from backend services, embedded development, to pcb design.

David Eriksson is the head of hardware and co-founder of teenage engineering. A DJ and synth enthusiast since age 12, David started teenage engineering in 2006. David is responsible for platform and electronics design, software architecture, and designing manufacturing systems.

Topics:

• What is Teenage Engineering?
  • How did the company start?
• Managing the scaling from your first product launch of the OP-1 to the wide selection of products you currently offer
  • How do you handle all these products?
  • Shared components and Designs?. 
  • Button design - OP-1
  • PCB design - OP-1
• The Pocket Operator
  • How did you come up with the pocket operator idea?
  • 9 different operators with some special edition Capcom and rick and morty versions
    • Any more in the works?
  • The LCD screens
• Product design cycles
  • Design for manufacturability rules?
• Biggest Achievements and Wins?
  • What is Teenage Engineering the proudest of?
  • Worst moment? Hardware is hard. What is a problem you had to overcome and beat?

News:

May the Fab Be With You

May 4th, 2023

6:00 PM - 9:00 PM CDT

10305 Round Up Ln Suite 400

Houston, TX

Topics:

Bud Industries - Board-ganizer Enclosure Kit

• Combine breadboards and evaluation boards into an enclosure

Fluke 87V multimeter Vs Centech 61593 (also got a rigol DS2072 oscilloscope)

• $520 vs $39.99
• 6000 count vs 2000 count
  • Fluke can do “High Res” mode and go to 20,000 count
• Autorange vs range select
  • Benefits of both
  • Manual range might be better for keeping your ducks in a row.
• Main difference - the fluke is basically 4x or better on nearly all measurement accuracy
• The all important beep test
• Parker uses a ‘Velleman’ DVM850BL

Debugging things that don’t work

• Wagoneer was not happy recently
• Events that lead up to the problem
• Problem solving techniques
• Resolutions?

Power Distribution Module 

• What is up with this project?
• Building an adjacent community for long term discussion of the podcast and projects

The MacroFab Podcast Contest IS BACK

• Details at a later podcast episode

Riley Hall

Riley is the Director of Product Marketing for Fictiv. He has over ten years of experience working in highly technical manufacturing engineering environments at companies including Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, Hilti North America, and Markforged. Riley holds a B.A. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan as well as an MBA from the University of Colorado Boulder and lives with his wife Hannah in Denver, enjoying hiking, skiing, and the occasional Colorado brewery.

Topics

• Fictiv
  • What is Fictiv?
  • Mike Geyer from Fictiv was on the podcast back on episode 187
    • We talked about Fictiv’s State of Hardware Report for 2019
    • State of Manufacturing Report
• Enclosures for Electronics
  • Types of enclosures
  • Manufacturing Processes
    • 3D printing
    • Injection Molding
    • CNC Machining
  • Material Selection
  • DRC verse DFM

Denes Szabo

Denes was born and raised in Colorado. His parents owned a machine shop where Denes worked from a young age till 50. Denes now runs the tooling department at the US Mint Denver.

Topics

• What is the process of getting US currency made?
  • Making changes and updates?
  • How does this differ from other currencies?
• What goes into creating the tooling?
  • Materials
  • Files for creating the tools
  • How are they approved
• Quality controls on currency manufacturing
• Producing at scale
• Inventory and Logistics

News

• May the Fab be with You
  • Show off the new factory!
  • Star Wars theme of course
  • Contest for best Star Wars Costume
  • Food and Drink
  • Possible Cantina Band?

The State of Electrical Engineering Jobs

• Denver Industries
  • Medical
  • Aviation
  • Space
  • Communications
  • Manufacturing
• Commonalities
  • Design - Hardware
  • Design - Firmware
  • Board stuff
  • Cad/Cam and mechanical
  • Regulations
• Most stuff
  • Secret clearance
  • Repair
  • Manufacturing practices
• Knowledge
  • High speed electronics
  • RF
  • Communication protocols - Some board level stuff but lots of ethernet

Follow up from last week

• What happened last week?
• New Computer? 
• Ordered a case
  • Sliger CX4200i 
• Building a new rack for this

News

• May 4th, Bringing back the MacroFab meetup.
• Stephen Kraig looking for a job. Email [email protected]

Another thought on ground planes

• Finally tried an honest to god ground plane on an amp and the results are what you would expect.
• Realizations
  • Component placement matters as much if not more than trace routing
    • Pool analogy
  • Understanding current is key
• Trade offs
  • Makes ground easier while making signaling harder
  • It is possible to have too much ground

Venting of Sealed (washable) Relays (that have vents provided)

• TE Connectivity application note about sealed relays 
• Unless specifically advised otherwise by TE Engineering, all sealed relays (that have a venting means provided by the manufacturer) must be vented after PCB assembly and cleaning, but before use electrically, in order for published ratings to remain applicable.

Dumb Aviation plug

• Stephen bought GX16 aviation plugs
• Need Gx20
• What does the number mean? The mounting hole size….

News

• May 4th, Bringing back the MacroFab meetup.

Question From slack: Eric Smith

• How do you find new machines for the factory lines?
  • Google
  • Youtube
  • Vendors
  • Resellers
• Do you guys get mailed catalogs?
  • Auctions yes. New machines no
• Do you go to conferences?
  • I have been but never to purchase a machine  
• if you find something which could be potentially good, how do you evaluate it?  Is there something like a trial period with the manufacturer?
  • Research is key. Evaluation is difficult to do.  
• Do you have an examples of machines you purchased but regret? Or examples of machines that helped a lot?
  • Mimaki Printer
  • Stencil printer
  • Datron CNC
• Direct question
  • I'd also be curious if you prefer to keep homogenous lines or do you prefer to optimize some lines to a particular task, i.e. Less precise but more throughput.    I can come up with good arguments either way.   It sounds like you all keep things pretty dynamic and reconfigure fairly often.

MacroFab News

• May 4th, Bringing back the MacroFab meetup.
• MacroFab moved into the new headquarters and we already produced our first products!

Checker Battery Box

• Materials arrived Monday, will need to weld it
• Designing for laser cutting / welding

New Project Car - 2021 Chevy Express 4500

• RV / Camper / Tow Rig build

The CNC is coming together!

• Finally got all of the extrusions
• Been taking my time and savoring it.
• Have to rearrange basement to get everything to fit
• 4 rounds of buying hardware
• What remains
  • Get the drive electronics
  • Get the ball screws
    • SFU2010 - 2000mm and 1950mm for the X and Y axis C7 grade
    • Dual x drive - slave axis
  • Build the electronics cabinet
    • NVEM ethernet stepper controller.
  • Run all of the wire management
• 8020 3d printed cable management
  • First attempt is good but needs some adjustment
  • Probably too tight
  • Add tabs that will allow you to turn it by hand when in the slot
  • Add some features that slowly allow it to engage with the slot instead of all at once

MacroFab News

• May 4th, Bringing back the MacroFab meetup.
• MacroFab is moving headquarters!
• New Website! The podcast and all that content looks sexy now.

Chat GPT NPC

• Instead of the standard tree format of communication - just use ai
• AI dungeon master?
• How easy would it be to break?
• Segway announcement on Good Morning America

Checker Battery Box

• Relocation of the battery
• Tool Storage
• ⅛” 304 Stainless Steel

Cat Feeder Unreminder

• Schematic completed
• Been “bench testing” for the past couple weeks
• Enclosure design roughed in

Previous Episodes

• Misha last heard on MEP EP #142: Supply Chain Conspiracy Securities
• Chris last heard on MEP EP#212: The End of Electronics Manufacturing?!

The State of Digital Manufacturing

• What is digital manufacturing?
• Is there a definition of digital manufacturing?
• Other players in this space.
• Some business models are winning, some models are stuck in neutral.

New Round of Investment

• Why does a manufacturer need investment?
• The nature of investors

Does anyone actually care about this?

• What does this all mean for new technologies and business models in manufacturing? 
• Does anyone care? 
• Or is it just normal sorting of what works from what doesn't?

Reshoring

• Nature of People 
  •  Many “Talks the talk but don’t walk the walk”
• Who currently cares about this? 
  • Procurement?
  • Engineering?
  • Maybe just Parker? 

MacroFab History

• Original MacroFab concept
• Pivots
• Chris Church’s “Rules for Start Up Names”
• What is next? New Head Quarters.

Breadboarding your circuits

• Why even do it? 
  • Time savings
  • Quick check of your ideas
  • Leave breadboard assembled for future pcbs
• Breadboards do not break physics - all the same rules apply
• What you put into it you get out 
  • Cleanliness matters
  • Plan out your circuits 
    • You will likely find that you do not need extra jumpers if you plan the circuit
  • Measure and bend leads - 0.1” pitch
  • Use good components
  • Use the bus strips for power and ground
  • You can get away with high voltage if you plan for isolation
  • Keep connections short. If the components can be the connection that is ideal
  • Feedback and shorts - keep them short
• Know the limitations - breadboard what you need 
  • Breadboards may not be a one stop shop - use them to prove what you need to

First R2R bill passes and it is…

• NY gov Kathy Hochul signed into law one of the first R2R bills
• Hochul agreed to sign the bill with some last minute changes
• Hochul wrote in a memo that the legislation, as it was originally drafted, "included technical issues that could put safety and security at risk, as well as heighten the risk of injury from physical repair projects."
• Changes 
  • Stripping requirement for OEMs to provide to the public any passwords, security codes or materials to override security features
  • bundle "assemblies of parts" instead of just the specific component actually needed for a DIY repair if "the risk of improper installation heightens the risk of injury."
• Applies to devices built or sold in New York after july 1st
• the bill's revised language excludes enterprise electronics, such as those that schools, hospitals, universities and data centers rely on

Designing new Footprints in the year 2023. Why does this still suck?

• As Electrical engineers that dabble in mechanical design
• New footprints are one of the leading causes of a prototype or first article run going wrong
• EDA Tools do absolute coordinates
• Mechanical Tools do “dimensioning”

Adding Cold Welding Function to any Welder

• Cold spot weld function
• Most tig welders interface with a 5 pin foot controller 
  • 3 pins for potentiometer - analog signal telling how much amperage
  • 2 pin switch for initiating the arc
• Made a circuit to spoof the footswitch 
  • 555 timer to set the duty cycle
  • Monostable mode
  • Capacitively coupled to allow for single button presses
• Range: 1ms to 100ms

Framework, Noctua, and other brands add official 3D models to Printables

• Prusa Research’s “Printables” website added a new section called “Brands”
• Manufacturers and OEMs can upload verified models for their products

CNC Update

• All of the fasteners arrive this week along with the aluminum extrusions
• Build weekend
• Developed a 3d printable cable tie for 4040 t-slots 
  • 3d prints with planned bending sections
  • Other than iteration and experience is there a way to design this?
  • Elastic deformation in the area that we want - avoid plastic deformation on stress-strain curve
• Will be printing along with the spray system from episode 354

The Return of the Cat Feeder Unreminder

• MAX9019 Comparator Oscillator
• Low power design considerations 
  • Consider every current path for leakage current
• Super Capacitor Leakage Comparison 
  • DSF505Q6R0JBG 
    • 5F at 6VDC
    • 40uA leakage
  • HSL0814-3R8106-R 
    • 10F at 3.8VDC 
    • 2.0-3.0uA leakage
• Get the timer working  
  • LTC2956-1
  • 0.8uA
  • Use the enable output to switch between what segments are being driven on the TN LCD
• DG419 signal switcher

Picking a part for your design

• What is your process for selecting a part for your design?
• What is your preferred method of learning about electronics?
• How would you make the process of selecting parts for your design easier?

The Return of the Cat Feeder Unreminder

• Experimenting with the AEM10941
• User Interface changes? 
  • Segmented LCD 
    • VI-422DPRCS
  • Driver? 
    • Need 3VAC - 6VAC
    • Made an oscillator with a 4049 hex inverter
    • More power reduction? 
      • CD4047 oscillator, mxshift from slack says it will pull around 20uA
      • Comparator in a oscillator configuration, metacollin says ~1uA

Porsche’s synthetic gasoline factory comes online today in Chile

• Way back on episode 265 (Feb 2021) we talked about this announcement from Porsche.
• Production 
  • 34,000 gallons (130,000 L) a year
  • 14.5 million gallons (55 million L) a year by 2024
  • 145 million gallons (550 million L) a year by 2026
• Wind power to electrolysis water into hydrogen and oxygen 
  • The hydrogen is then combined with carbon captured from the air or industrial sources to synthesize methanol
  • Then be converted into longer hydrocarbons to be used as fuel
  • Recycling CO2 in the air
• Is this the future of current Internal Combustion Engines? 
  • Direct drop in for normal gasoline
  • “Carbon Neutral” way to run your classic car

Chip manufacturing equipment sales record in 2022

• Record fab constructions have driven total semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales to cross the $100 billion mark for a second straight year
• Chips Act is $280 billion.  
  • China, Taiwan and Korea are projected to remain the top three destinations for equipment spending in 2022.
• Most of this money is going towards Wafer Manufacturing Equipment with a focus on wafers for logic / active components like microcontrollers

Why The Computer Company Raspberry Pi’s New Hire Caused A Social Media Firestorm

• Hired an ex–police officer, Toby Roberts, as its maker-in-residence. 
• “I was a Technical Surveillance Officer for 15 years, so I built stuff to hide video, audio, and other covert gear”

Spoilers for recent Star Wars shows like Andor included for free!

This Year's Guests

• Josh Rozier
  • A business intelligence and data analytics professional for a large, east-coast insurance monolith.
  • In his spare time, Roz spends his time building and tweaking guitar amplifiers and pedals.
  • Co-owner of Empire Engineering with Stephen.
• Chris Kraft
  • A tinkerer currently working as a software engineer in the financial services industry.
  • Extensive background in 3d printing and building anything that seems interesting.
• Hyr0n
  • A systems engineer.
  • Hardware hacker of AND!XOR, a group that builds electronic badges for conferences and designs embedded system puzzles.

Topics

• Latest in Star Wars Media
  • What has been released since last year’s Star Wars podcast episode 307? 
    • The Book of Boba Fett
    • Obi-wan Kenobi
    • Andor
  • The High Republic
• Stephen's Topic
  • A hammerhead corvette was able to move an entire star destroyer in Rogue 1. Is this even possible?
  • Given the movie footage, are the acceleration and velocity values reasonable?
  • Does the corvette have the thrust to do this?
  • What does this mean for other battles?
• Hyr0n's, Roz's, and Chris' Topic
  • Andor Widget Productivity analysis.
  • The Andor Post Credit scene… we see what those racks (parabolic facet joints) are for.
  • How many Superlaser Focus Lens facet joints are needed for Death Star?
  • How long would it take Narkina 5 prisoners to produce that many?
• Parker
  • Star Wars Episode: ai
  • Using ChatGPT3 to write a better Star Wars Movie than Disney can
  • Will have an opening crawl and 4 acts
  • Each person will have a roll in the script

PDA - Parkers Death Amp

• Going to do a restoration on it and a recover
• Need to get rid of the death parts
• Some scary stuff after looking at the schematic

Chat GPT-3

• AI computer model for conversations / text generation
• People have been putting assembly into and and asking for notes on what the code does
• The AI sounds very sure of itself when giving completely wrong answers
• Suggested as a replacement for general internet searching 
  • How do you know what data it is pulling from or if it is even correct?
  • Could push us further down the slope on the reduction of critical thinking in our society
  • Reduction of solid researching skills
• “What connector should I use for my power distribution module”

CNC update:

• Anodized parts for the brackets are completed
• Extruded aluminum for the strand is on order
• Going to be a while till another update

End of 2022 Engineering Questions?

• What trends in the past few years have changed PCBAs the most in the last few years? 
  • Weird SMT packages are starting to become more normal
  • PCBs themselves are being used more as a structural part of the overall product
• What do you think will be the next “big” thing that will change the way EEs design PCBs? 
  • Rigid Flex changed the way compact consumer devices where designed
  • Advancements in mosfet technologies and materials increased power densities

PDM

• Listener Questions 
  • During the project do you plan on hosting it so it’s accessible somewhere like GitHub?
  • Why plan for peak currents on constant current rating on the pins?
  • What are the plans for customer connections? 

StarWars Christmas Special will be December 13th

• Returning Cast! Roz, Chris Kraft, and HyR0n!

Louis Rossmann’s fresh start in Austin, Tx

• Moved his business from New York to Austin, Texas
• Learn how to open and fix things
• Classes will be free

Mercedes Makes Better Performance a $1,200 Subscription in Its EVs

• Subscription to make your car vroom vroom faster
• Acceleration from 0-60 mph is said to improve by 0.8-1.0 seconds and the overall characteristics of the electric motors are supposed to change as well

Microjet Spray System

• Started 3d modeling the idea
• Amazon link
• Venturi Mist system with separate air and alcohol controls
• Multiple ball joint nozzles that are individually adjustable

StarWars Christmas Special 

• December 13th?

Jeep Prop Fan Thingy

• Jeep Prop Fan thingy
• Spec Sheet
• Connectors 
  • The Quest for 25 Amps
  • TE Connectivity 1-1418362-3
  • Pg 63 of this catalog
• Haltech released a new PDM
  • 10 8A
  • 4 25A
  • 2 Push Pull

Arduino Opta

• Arduino's First Micro PLC
• supporting standard languages including LD (Ladder Logic Diagram) and FBD (Function Block Diagram)
• STMicro STM32H747XI dual-core microcontroller
• Opta Lite, Opta RS485, Opta WiFi
• High-power relay switching (4 x 2.3 kW)

Manim

• Episode 340 Necrobiotic Synthesizers
• Finally got it installed and playing
• Looking into circuit animation

November 5, 2022 - Extra Life Recap

• Improvements to the script
• Thank you to everyone that hung out, supported, and donated!

What is next for CNC

• Parametric cnc model in fusion 
  • Model by Ed Frazier
  • https://grabcad.com/library/parametric-cnc-router-1
• Changed to a 5x5 cutting surface
• All 8020 construction with good bit of milled aluminum
• Added a 40 series table
• ATP-5 aluminum by vista metals 
  • https://www.vistametals.com/assets/pdfs/products/atp-5-precision-tooling-plate.pdf
  • Precision tooling plate
  • Cast aluminum 5000 series
  • Can be welded and about 5% lighter
  • Excellent corrosion resistance
  • RMS value of 15 to 20
  • Thickness tolerance of +/-0.005
  • Good flatness tolerance 
• Building up Z axis after the pod
• Next steps:  
  • Finish drilling and tapping all the holes
  • Buff all of the surfaces with scotch brite wheels
  • Anodize

Python Demo for Extra Life API

• Stream Date: November 5th, 2022
• Python to OBS functioning!
• Websockets. What are they? 
  • HTTP is unidirectional where the client sends the request and the server sends the response
  • Websocket data is continuously pushed/transmitted into the same connection
• OBS has a built in local server that you can establish a websocket with another application
• Python module obswebsocket 
  • Provides a wrapper for all the OBS websocket functions
  • Can basically control anything in OBS it seems
  • Documentation is a bit lacking and module is out of date
• Build animations and transitions in OBS and modify them with the python connection
• Building a donation progress tracker? 

Signal switching tips

• Maneuvering signals around your design
• Methods of switching on and off portions of your circuit 
  • Series
  • Shunt
  • Series-shunt
• Relays
• DG series of analog switches 
  • Virtually every configuration
  • single, dual, quad SPSTs and SPDTs, 4:1 and 8:1 multiplexers
  • Many have separate control and signal voltage inputs

Estimating project time

• Follow up from slack
• Josh Pieper - Doomcheck
• Takes in a text file and uses probability distribution to estimate timing for projects

Python Demo for Extra Life API

• Stream Date: November 5th, 2022
• Functionality so far 
  • Check Extralife API for donations 
    • This is done with the requests module
    • This endpoint seems to return old and new donations
    • There isn't a “new donation” end point it seems
  • Get the donation IDs and compare them to a local file 
    • Local file is made with the pickle module
    • Pickle allows you to take any data structure in python and “package it” into a binary file for storage. 
  • If there is a new donation ID that isn’t in the local file 
    • Queue up a random audio clip
    • Record the donation ID to the local file
  • Audio is placed through the playsound module 
    • Weird “bug” that short audio clips get cut off
    • Add a little sleep after the call to get around it
  • Auto parses the audio folder for the files 
    • Looks into audio file
    • Gets all the file names
    • Adding a new audio clip is as simple as dropping it into the folder
  • Preventing truly random files 
    • Made a rotating buffer
    • Used the collections module to implement a bi-directional “stack” 
      • Think like a bitwise shift but with an array of strings
  • Multithreading! 
    • Threading module used to setup the API and Audio player queues 
      • API runs every 20 seconds
      • Audio player runs every 30 seconds
    • If a new donation, global mailbox variable increases one for each new donation.
    • Audio player runs and looks at that global variable. 
    • Threading has a “lock” function to prevent race conditions on that global variable.
• What is next? 
  • Play graphics in Open Broadcast Software
  • OBS has some python hooks that I am just starting to learn 

Chip Fab Jobs

• Need practically every engineering discipline
• Mechanical to design and maintain equipment
• Chemical for designing the masking / chemical bath processes
• Electrical for testing and validation 

Estimating project time

• PCB layout
• New project revision 
  • About 1600 parts
  • Lots of duplicates
• Things that impact timing 
  • Components 
    • Parts with pours and complex ground
    • Specific trace routs like differential or snake traces
  • Layers
  • Duplication
  • Rest day
  • Cleanup day

November 5, 2022 - Extra Life

• Haven't had a chance to work on this yet
• Going to stream working on it?

Adventures in injection molding

• PINNACLE 5112C3
• 8% haze - this is pretty low. Any lower and it would be considered “clear”
• Low melt flow, excellent processability - Voids
• Two ways to create diffusion 
  • Haze
  • Surface Texture

Jeep Prop Fan 

• Half bridges for each output
• Current sensing 
  • INA219
• Inputs 
  • Found a product that will do the thermocouples on canbus
  • Instead of that crazy LTC2986 chip 
    • Just expose an ADC 0-5V 
• Connectors are the hardest part of this project so far 
  • Dictate the entire specifications

RFAB2 Lab - an expansion of the RFAB1 Lab

• Sept. 29, TI announcedt began initial chip production at RFAB2, a new 300-mm analog wafer lab in Richardson, TX
• 300 analog fab 
  • digital isolator
  • Ethernet transceiver
  • brushless DC motor driver
  • digital-to-analog converter
• 100M units/day within a few years

November 5, 2022 - Extra Life

• Content for the stream
• API for Extralife
• Custom plugin that goes to a Duke Nukem Sound Board
• Trying to get it to play gifs 
• Working with Open Broadcast Software now

Live podcast Nov 22 in Houston

Microchip woes?

• Microchip has got back to us about the firmware - no issues on their end
• Suggested using the command line interface
• Originally thought pullups on the reset line but they are not needed 
  • Tried them with no luck

Jeep Prop Fan 

• Recently talked about designing a PCM (Power Control Module)
• Essentially control all the none engine related functions in a car
• Need a new name since it's not for the Jeep nor uses the Parallax Propeller
• Raspberry pi pico 
  • Do we do Arduino style C or Micro Python? 
    • Micro Python will be cool to try out!
  • PIO will be used for controlling reactionary lights 
    • Turn signals
    • Headlights
• Solid State Relays are EXPENSIVE 
  • Mosfets for sure
  • H-Bridge for bi-directional motors
• Combine with OCTOPROBER?

November 5, 2022 - Extra Life

• • I play games for children's hospitals
  • Raised $5,169.42 last year
  • Was the number one raiser for the Texas Children's Hospital
  • What game for this year?
  • What should I make for the stream? 
    • API for Extralife
    • Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens Colonial Marines 
    • Custom Stream plugin for the games

Live podcast Nov 22 in Houston

Hacking FR4 for light transmission

• Using FR4 as a light diffuser
• Things to consider 
  • FR4 material 
    • Yellow
    • Blue Green
    • Gray
  • Distance
  • LED Angle
  • LED brightness
• Light Bleed 
  • Pipes
  • Dividers  

PCB Ruler Redux

• James Pleger from slack channel
  • “Credit card” style
  • Different stackups of material

November 5, 2022 - Extra Life

• I play games for children's hospitals
• Raised $5,169.42 last year
• Was the number one raiser for the Texas Children's Hospital
• What game for this year?

CNC

• Calibration
• 90
• Dust Collection 
  • 2/4/5/6 in pipe
  • Thinking I will do an overhead PVC solution
• Have to design a skirt capable of interfacing with a 4 in hose

Battleship Texas

• Going to try to get someone on to talk about the restoration 

PCB Ruler Redux

• What do people want to see on them?
• What makes it actually useful? 

Live podcast Nov 22 in Houston?

Pool Shark Update!

Wolfspeed fab for NC is latest on CHIPS Act list

• 668,000 domestic manufacturing jobs
• Global Unemployment. Do we have enough people for this?
• What technology are they aiming for?

Here’s the latest hot list of cool chip fabs coming to the US

• GlobalFoundries 
  • 180nm down to 12nm
• Intel 
  • Ohio
  • New Mexico
  • Arizona
• Micron 
  • Memory Chips
• Samsung 
  • High end computing
• Texas Instruments 
  • 45nm+ analog, embedded electronics
  • Articles say it will complement other factories already in Texas
• TSMC 
  • 5nm
• Wolfspeed 
  • Worlds largest silicon carbide manufacturing facility
  • Much higher power devices with higher voltage capabilities due to large band gap

Failure Friday - Break something at the office this week? We want to hear about it!

• Billed the wrong phase of a project
• Dry air means static buildup, I don't think my 3v test circuit appreciated being a path to ground :'-(
• I ran over a 3D printer with a forklift
• Saw a customer supplied "napkin sketch" that stated 12'x12" (12 feet x 12 inches). 
  • "I read it as 12 inches x 12 inches, product was cut to that size."
  • Customer was not happy
• Sparky sparky boom boom

What to do to make your open source project more accessible - or more popular

• Use popular tool chains and environments for ease of access 
  • If the tool chain is not simple to install, offer a docker or really good instructions
  • Document your process and have someone test your instructions!
• Cherish all feedback
• If someone has a problem, do not say "works for me" 
  • They may have found an edge case to fix!

Differential probe design update

• Trying to reduce part count - Want to make it simple
• Decided to go with Caddoc 1776-C681 resistive dividers. 
  • Used this on the bias test system
  • 1:100 divider with high voltage, good tolerance and good thermal performance
• Challenge is to get the dividers to fit
• 3d printed case

Air Filter / Canister

• Turned out great so far will have to see how it holds up under the heat
• Pictures on the blog

Digikey Newsletter

• Check Out Digi-Key’s Stock of Toshiba’s Power Management and Circuit Protection Products 
  • Email received at 8:25 AM
  • Sold out by 9:14 AM
•  Toshiba TPH9R00CQH

MEP EP#343: Bricking Bad

Bricking Microcontroller - Watch those fuses

• Pic, AVR, STM
• Atmel ATXMEGA16A4U
• AVR studio and microchip studio
• AVRDUDE

Air Filter / Canister

• Long Running Project between Chris Kraft and Parker
• Mods on the red Jeep necessitated moving the original air cleaner
• First design was all 3D printed around 2016 / 2017
  • This is right around when 3D printing large objects like this started to get fessable on a hobby printer
  • PLA glass fiber
  • Worked but the material couldn’t handle the underhood temperatures
• Second design was welded together out of steel
  • Material was due to tool and cost constraints
  • Working to this day
  • Used a filter that is not manufactured anymore
• Third design is a combination of everything Parker has learned about 3d printing
  • Polycarbonate seems to hold up in under engine bay temperatures
    • Endcaps printed in this material
    • Heat set brass inserts for screws
  • Aluminum mounting brackets for 3” hoses 
  • Carbon fiber for the main body

MEP EP#342: Hackery Experts

HyR0n

• Mathematician
• Computer Scientist
• AND!XOR employee of the month
• Working on badges and things Hackery

Previous Podcast Episodes

• Incognito Mode episode number 69
• Arduino, The Gateway Drug To #BadgeLife episode number 109
• Espress-ify? Designing Products Around the ESP-32 Platform episode number 144
• Feel the Hum episode number 183
• Better Encryption than Zoom, Firmware Stacks episode number 238
• And a couple of the Starwars Specials

DEFCON 30 AND!XOR Badge

• Its a watch, with some watch things, hacker apps (TV B Gone, BLE Interrogator), Games, & Challenge
• Give them away for free at DEF CON following sponsorship from companies and philanthropists.
• Off the shelf device with hacked firmware
  • LilyGo T-Watch 2020 V3
• But how did we get there?
  • A story of supply chain woes
  • Original Watch idea - supply chain issues and crazy costs / quantity buy requirements
  • Look at consumer watches we could hack (PineTime, then LilyGo)
• It wasnt just software, a true micropython implementation was done for firmware
• Always interested in python
  • We always lived in a C world
  • Makes hacking it easier for end user
• Micropython vs Circuit Python
• The Hacking Challenge - BENDER 
• Flashing Party - Things you should think about - i.e. Design for Drunk Hacker Production
  • You’re going to do the same thing thousands of times, what do we automate?
  • Loop script for provisioning
  • Push bare minimum over serial, then use wifi to complete
  • Turning screen green once flash done and charge at 100%
• Other thoughts?
  • Really different than what we do, was really fun
  • People like bling more than function, but …

MEP EP#341: Project Snackey Recap

Project Snackey at Defcon30

• What we did
  • CTF
  • Codes
• What went wrong
• What went right
• People’s reactions
• Improvements for next year
  • Lock Picking Village
  • Hardware improvements
  • Physical Security

MEP EP#340: Necrobiotic Synthesizers

Project Snackey

• See y'all at defcon 30!

Stuff you want to learn about?

• Canbus
• FPGA design
• AWS web development
• Manim - python

My Spider-sense is Tingling

• Spiders are just hydraulic animals

MEP EP#339: Educated Compromises

Project Snackey

• Announcement video lands before this podcast gets released.

Project Diffprobe

• Looking at teardowns of other diff probes
• ADA4817
  • 2pA input bias
  • -3dB bandwidth of 1050MHz
  • Very low input capacitance
  • Combine to make an instrument amp
• Perhaps going with an integrated instrument amp
  • INA12
  • Page 27 of the datasheet -  Right-Leg Drive

Hardware subscriptions?

• BWM to offer heated seat subscription
• 18/mo 180/year 300/3year 415/unlimited
• These subscriptions are for “luxury” items in the car, what is next?
  • Subscription based displacement? 
    • Displacement as a Service - DaaS
  • Thanks I hate it.

MEP EP#338: Feature Complete or Minimal Viable Products

Project DiffProbe

• Landed on the topology Stephen wants
  • High voltage dividers
    • Compensation capacitors
    • CMRR calibration (120dB rejection)
    • Offset correction
  • Buffers and Instrumentation Amplifiers
  • Differential Stage
  • 10x and 100x attenuation means offsets have to be bang on
• Opamps (3 of them)
  • Buffers
    • Low input bias current
    • Low offset
    • Bandwidth?
  • Differential amp
    • Low offset. Capable of driving 50 ohm load to the scope
  • Gain setting resistors
    • Vishay ACAS 0612 - Precision resistor network
    • 4x0603 resistors to make a diff amplifier with a gain of 2
    • Relative tolerance of 0.05%
    • Worst case relative temp-coefficient 15ppm

Project Snackey

• Firmware is “feature complete”
• Display Commands
• How the vending motors actually work
  • INA219 Current Sensor
  • Interrupts
  • Improved method for next revision?
• The one byte Serial Buffer problem
  • NEOPIXEL (WS2812) vs APA102 (SK9822)
  • Blocking functions
  • DMA - Direct memory access
  • Importance of full system integration testing
• Timer Lockouts for motors
  • Is there a better way?

MEP EP#337: CSV File Woes

Project Snackey

• Input Firmware is completed
• Output Firmware is skeltonized/frameworked
• Need to add a “Power Good” signal
  • Auxiliary circuits need software resets on power cycling
  • Due to how Arduino hardware/software works

The Dangers of Basing your Project on Someone Else’s

• ExtractModel
• Fortran
• No Github
• One CSV file change causes script to break
• Is it really broken?
• What to do?

DIY Meat Smoker Ideas

• ~$1600 for the smoker body “round” part
• Currently 534lbs

JWST sends its first official photos

• Incredible engineering feat
• Had to start with “what do we need to invent” to make this

MEP EP#336: Heirloom Documentation

UtracerV6

• The right way to do instructions
• Full table of contents
• Broken out into sections. The ref designators match the section
  • Build
  • Test
• At the end is a full calibration section
  • Section for logging your calibration values
• A whole section for building enclosures and wiring
• dos4ever.com

Project Snackey

• PCBA completed!
• Smoke monster is still contained within the circuit
• Wrapping up the wiring inside the machine before moving onto code
• Installed a kiosk receipt printer where the coin return used to be and got it working
• Microswitches - The fidget spinner for electrical engineers?

DIY Meat Smoker Ideas?

• Introducing the Low Poly Smoker!

Nvidia could spend $10 billion to secure RTX 4000 components

• Hold there place in line at TSMC?

MEP EP#335: Your Toaster is Toast

Project: Diff Probe

• Circuit Cellar design
• Hack a Day project
• Active Differential probe with 600V Common mode and 600V differential mode
• Measure virtually any two points. No need for ground reference.
• Perhaps a battery system with a boost converter?
• Excuse to finally use that 3d printer to make a case
• Basically all precision components

UtracerV6 enclosure

• Decided to make an enclosure that better suits my use case
• Stripped down from last time. It does not need all the bells and whistles from last time.
• Fixed sockets
• FTDI and SMPS for 6.3V and 19.5V

EOL: The Chip Shortage You Don’t See Coming

• Instant obsolescence
• No phase-out period
  • Foundries are booked three years out
  • Suppliers are working on their most profitable lines and filling standing orders
  • New fabs coming online won’t be buying old wafer equipment
  • New foundries will be making new parts
• Avoiding instant obsolescence
  • What parts are more readily available and are continuity coming back into stock
  • Look at the market segments using the components you need
  • Put out orders for the components that you need regardless of lead times.

Ask and Engineer on MIT website

MEP EP#334: Double as good!

Project: SNACKEY

• PCBs and Components arrived
• All PTH components fit
• Assembly starts tomorrow

Nichicon Obsolescence

• Removing 8 and partial 2 of there SMT Aluminum Electrolytic lines
• Nichicon has 43 lines of SMT Electrolytic capacitors alone
• Lines they are getting rid of have these qualities:
  • Standard range
  • High reflow temp
  • Low impedance
• New series is UBH which seems to partially cover what they are removing
  • High Temperature Range
  • Vibration Resistance
  • Low temperature ESR specification

Jeep A/C Troubles?

• Jeep AC started acting weird
• Vacuum leak
• Replaced the controller module and introduced new problems!

uTracerV6

• New version arriving soon
• 1000V @1A
• Check out the previous version Stephen modified on episode 135

MEP EP#333: Cody's Corner - Q2 2022

Cody Endlich

• 10 years experience in electronic component distribution and commodities trade
• Currently the head of strategic sourcing at Macrofab
• Last seen on episode 318 to discuss Strategic Component Sourcing and MacroFab joining the ERAI

What we saw in Quarter 2 2022

• Russia's invasion of Ukraine
  • Ukraine and Neon gas
  • Neon gas is used in semiconductor production for running the lasers required for the lithography
• Lockdown hits Shenzhen as Covid Infections Increase
  
  • Components that come out of China directly effected
  • Raw material shortages causing ripple effects in other countries manufacturing
• New Earthquakes hit Japan and Taiwan
  
  • Magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred off the coast of Fukushima, Japan on the evening of March 16
  • Renesas and Murata operate factories close to the epicenter
  • Took 3 days to reestablish production
• A Logistical Headache
  
  • biggest problem for MLCC suppliers at this stage is they cannot deliver materials to Shanghai and Kunshan

Magic 8-Ball

• Cody thinks there will be a loosing of supply chain due to the impeding recession
• Parker see's the industry streamlining catalogs of components similar to 2018 Ceramic Capacitor shortage

MEP EP#332: This Podcast Intentionally Left Blank

USB-C will be mandatory for phones sold in the EU ‘by autumn 2024’

• The rule will apply to other electronic devices including tablets, digital cameras, headphones, handheld video game consoles, and e-readers
• Laptops will have to comply with the rule at a later date
  • What about laptops and devices that fall out of the 100W?
  • USB “Extended Power Range” or EPR for 240W of power
    • More Voltage 48V from 20V as max, still 5A
    • Are there any USB Type-C connectors rated for the 48V yet?

Stretching Stainless Stencils? PART 2

• Continuation of last weeks topic
• Ended up being that ⅓ of the panels had poor copper registration from the PCB manufacturer

Project: SNACKEY

• PCBs ordered from OshPark
• Parts ordered from Mouser
• Drop in Mosfets to replace TIP 102 and TIP 107?
  • IRL510 for N-channel
  • IXTP76P10T for P-channel

Time to Say Goodbye, Floppotron 2.0

• The stack of floppy drives, harddrives, and scanners is finally being put to rest after 6 years
• Supposively Floppotron 3.0 is coming soon though!
• The Floppotron: Doom E1M1 - At Doom's Gate

Prep your boards!

• Some things to consider when preparing your designs to send to your CM
  • Part placement
  • Edge is the wrong place to put parts for many many reasons
  • Leave room for fiducials
  • Provide a Stackup - we are regularly asked for that
  • File naming - use a common naming system or provide info on which files are which
  • Do no provide every layer your EDA tool exports, some are blank!

MEP EP#331: The PCB Plague

Neutrik EtherCON Ruggedized RJ45

• Lockable RJ45 cable within an XLR style housing
• Also come in a sealed version that offers IP65 rating

Interesting PCB failures

• “The Plague”
• Black Pad
• Very poor to no solderability

Effect of Moon Phase on Tombstoning

• Many factors play a role in the overall outcome of PCB assembly, especially when very small components are involved. Broadly speaking, tombstoning is a problem with very small 2-pin components (0201 caps and such) and we've filtered out the following challenges:
• - proper paste application
• - component placement
• - designing for "good" thermal properties of the PCB with regard to tombstoning
• - moon phase

Stretching Stainless Stencils? Oddity Today

• Interesting manufacturing defect surfacing
• Stencil “stretches” ever couple panels or so
• Anyone ever seen or experienced this before?
• Solutions? Next Steps?

Project: SNACKEY

• Hacking a USI/Vendnet/FSI 3159
• Theory of how a snack machine works
• Interesting Parts
  • UCN5890A
  • UCN5842A
  • SC529136CFN2
  • M48T18-100PC1
• What I am doing to hack it
  • Motor control
    • High/Low side transistors
    • Might change this to mosfets to reduce voltage drop
  • Arduino all the things
  • Current sensing
    • INA219 High side sensing

MEP EP#330: Rogue Gerbers - Jerry McDaniel of Customer Care at MacroFab

Jerry McDaniel

• Has been at Macrofab for over 5 years
• Currently the Director of Customer Success
• Previous life, he was the CTO/CFO of Litigation Records Services
  • A records retrieval company in Texas managing litigation records for both Plaintiff and Defense attorneys
• Application support for Presensoft Inc. for almost 11 years

Customer Success

• How do you figure out how customer's act?
• What is the advice you can give to engineers?
• What is the weirdest thing a customer has ever done?

MEP EP#329: Supply Chain Crunches

Reddit Question from r/ECE What are some pros and cons of becoming an electrical engineer?

• I'm a senior in high school, and I am giving great consideration to majoring in electrical engineering. What are some pros and cons that I should know about?
• From r/ElectricalEngineering - If you get an electrical engineering degree, you can get a software job. The reverse is not necessarily true.

Pinotaur Supply Chain Crunches

• Replacing a Relay with a Mosfet
  • Looked into Solid State Relays but nothing seems to fit
  • Design concerns?
  • Mosfet drivers like the IRS25752
  • A primer on high-side FET load switches (Part 1 of 2)
  • Integrated or discrete load switch: which one should you use? (Part 1 of 2)
  • Constant Innovation in Quality Control
• Current Sensors
  • Replace integrated solution with more discrete solution
  • Little differential opamp
  • Current shunt
  • Sprinkle in some bypass capacitors

MEP EP#328: Berry Based Physics with Collin Anderson

Collin Anderson

• Computer scientist turned electrical engineer
• Has worked on things as varied as:
  • Quantum key distribution at Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • A tool to help decipher glyphs of the classical Mayan civilization
  • FPGA firmware at the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory
• Currently an engineer and co-founder of Orthogonal Systems
  • An engineering and software development firm specializing in:
    • Custom test & measurement hardware
    • Databases
    • Data analysis

What are Particles Really?

• Thinking of sub atomic objects as particles muddies the water
• Starting with an understanding of wave theory
• Knowing particles are waves, the weirdness is less weird

Electron Standing Waves

• Current flow is more like a sound pressure wave
• Each electron is kinda doing its own thing

MEP EP#327: Mike Kahn of Elemental Machines

Mike Kahn

• Been working in the high tech industry for over thirty years
• The bulk of this time he has been involved in the architecture and design of complex electronics and embedded systems across a wide variety of segments including general purpose computing, digital communications, digital video, medical devices and life sciences instrumentation
• Currently the Vice President of Device Engineering at Elemental Machines, a startup that has created a service that allows LabOps professionals to monitor their lab equipment through a combination of IoT devices and a suite of cloud applications

How did you get started in the industry?

Elemental Machines

• What is it
• How is it all integrated
  • Cloud
• Vice President of Device Engineering
  • What is your primary focus?
• IoT connectivity for data gathering
  • What is being sensed
• Industries served
• How to get started?
  • Services for outfitting labs

Manufacturing and bringing products to market for Enterprise customers

• Consumer VS Enterprise
• Custom specifications
• How rigorous your documentation and process is
• ISO9000

MEP EP#326: The Infinite Finite Grid

PART 2 : Is there a macgyver way to measure voltage without a multimeter?

• Lots of great suggestions in our slack channel
  • Recreating older devices before digital multimeters where available
  • Galvanometer
  • Electrostatic Voltmeter
  • Most of these require lots of experimentation or other precision devices to calibrate
• Let's explore the electrolysis method further
  • Tools and measuring devices required
    • Watch / time keeping
    • Container of known volume
  • Materials
    • Distilled Water
  • Equations from Purdue
  • Amps & Time <-> Coulombs <-> Faradays <-> Moles of Electrons

Interesting EE homework question

• Calculating actual component resistance by in circuit resistance measurements

MEP EP#325: Metric Knuckle

Keystone Cool Part

• Countersunk parts?
  • Have you used any parts like that?
  • Design considerations
  • Possible Assembly issues
  • Cool 16x2 character display

How do I branch into Electrical Engineering?

• Is it worthwhile to get certifications?
• Projects
• Finding your path.

Is there a macgyver way to measure voltage without a multimeter?

• Electroscope - pith ball or gold leaf
  • Vacuum may be necessary

MEP EP#324: What Would You Say You Do Here?

MacroFab Platform Update

• Six new component vendors
• Enabled consignment to the 10-day manufacturing service
• Exciting update for the platform as it will help address supply chain issues everyone is facing in the industry
• Better part availability and more flexibility!

SparkFun Mousebites White Paper

• Written by Nick Poole
• IPC-7351
• Max mouse bite width
  • Hakko CHP DP-2
• Parker’s only complaint is that the method of measuring breakaway torque was not mentioned
• Component proximity
• Total number of bites
• Panelization Talk

So You are New at your Job?

• Building off our series of resume, interview, and interviewee podcast topics.
• You just started a new job - what should you do first?

MEP EP#323: Hyperspace Part Packages

The Worst Timeline: A Printer Company Is Putting DRM in Paper Now

• RFID chips inside the label spool
• What kind of RFID chip are they using that is this disposable?
• EFF Article Link

Component marking with the manufacturer in mind

• Why put indicator marks?
• Where?
• Both inside the footprint and outside
• Double and triple check that things are right on the design side
  • Diodes - Making Anode and also having the diode symbol on the board
• Vias and marking
• Numbers for marking?
• TSSOP and similar style packaging
• Own your design and be prepared to support it

MEP EP#322: Measuring up Your Interview Questions

Previous Podcast where we discussed Engineering Resumes

• MEP EP#279: Avoiding The HR Pit of Doom, Resume and Interview Tricks for Engineers

Interviewer Questions and Techniques?

• Stephen
  • Schematic PDF for the test
  • There is no output when a 10Vp-p signal is injected into the input. Turning the pot or applying a voltage to the input cv jack does not have any effect on the output. It is stuck at zero volts.
    • Alternate – What if the output was stuck at + or – 11V?
  • The output is stuck at unity gain. 10VPP in results in 10VPP out. The pot and CV controls do nothing to adjust the output level.
  • The unit seems to work for all controls other than the CV offset input. That seems to only be unipolar. Positive voltage does not have an effect but negative voltage does.
    • Hint: The output of U5.1 with zero volts in is reading zero volts.
    • Bonus – What is the input range for the cv input if the microprocessor has an input range of 3.3V?
  • The unit turns on and trips the constant current trigger on the power supply – What do you do?
  • What is the input impedance of both the signal input and the CV input?
    • What is the output impedance?
  • What is the purpose of C1, C2, and C3?
    • What is their cutoffs?
  • What does R2 do in this circuit?
• Parker
  • Resume
  • Data Support Technicians
  • Test Engineers
  • Putting together test question / examples

PCB Ruler

• Don’t want to do just a normal one
• What do engineers actually want on these?

MEP EP#321: What Engineer’s Seek

Comet Grounding

• After over 7 years of sitting on the shelf I finally got the motivation to finish building the OD3 project.
• The electronics and chassis are done
  • Finally got to test true star grounding
• Episode 316 - Chunk 2 Chunk Current Returns
  • Results?
• Building a wood enclosure right now
• Need to design and finish the foot controller

Western Electric is looking to expand American tube production.

• New sensor - Expo-pul facility in Saratov, Russia
  • 8 days ago
  • 6 days ago
  • 35% tariff imposed by the US
• Western Electric in Rossville GA.
  • Looking to expand their offerings from just the 300B

Question that Parker was asked by the MacroFab sales team

• Engineer’s and Sales never get along but
• What can a salesperson say or do that will spark the interests of an engineer?
• Especially since they don't like speaking to us, what would make the conversation more intriguing to them?

MEP EP#320: The Drop Ship Shuffle

Testing Ratchet Wrenches

• Update on the design
• Found a digital torque wrench adapter that can handle the torque
  • Will hack to get the signal recordable
• Use a Linear actuator to apply the force
• Once the parts arrive the design will be finalized

Finding Parts Regardless of Industry / Hobby

• Intake Manifold for the Jeep Grand Wagoneer
• The Drop Ship Shuffle

EU Parliament adopts new draft legislation about batteries and phones

• Dictating manufacturers of smartphones that batteries must be designed so that consumers and independent operators can easily and safely remove them themselves by 2024

MEP EP#319: Work to Automate the Work

Feedspot has ranked this podcast #1 for Best 10 Electrical Engineering Podcasts. Thank you everyone for listening and sharing this podcast with others. We are just getting started!

MacroFab Updates

• KiCad 6 support!
• PI DAY Contest
  • March 14th (3/14)
  • Stop by the MacroFab website to take a pop quiz for a chance to win some free pizza

Testing Ratchet Wrenches

• Wrench qualifications
  • Ratcheting Wrench
  • Non-Reversible
  • Zero-degree offset
  • ½” hex
  • 12 or 6 point
• Have collected 20 ratchet wrenches so far
• Why? Broke one and wanted to try out all the different styles and brands before buying a set
• What are we testing?
  • Thickness of the wrench
  • How does it feel?
  • Max torque to either failure or cam out
  • Any other tests?
    • Thickness to torque rating
    • How much mechanism play
    • Measure ratchet dimension
• How?
  • Quick tests show I need more than 100ftlbs but less than 250ftlbs of bolt torque
  • Load cells to measure the clamping force between 2 plates
  • Need a “screw” drive to handle the force
  • A normal ½” bolt is usually 5/16-18” which handles ~30ftlbs before pulling the threads
  • Two Paths
    • Take a ¾” bolt and machine the head into a hex
    • Take a ½” allen socket with a ¾” square drive and attach that to a bolt

Automate the Boring Stuff

• Spending 20 hours to save 1 - the engineers life
• Making API calls with the requests library
• Requests: HTTP for Humans
• Openpyxl for creating excel
• Commenting code
• Automate the Boring Stuff

MEP EP#318: Strategic Component Sourcing with Cody Endlich

Cody Endlich has 10 years experience in electronic component distribution and commodities trade and is currently the head of strategic sourcing at Macrofab.

• What does Cody do at MacroFab?
  • Strategic Sourcing
• Cody’s announcement - ERAI
• What is the ERAI?
• What does this mean for MacroFab customers?
  • Supply Chain Reports
  • Confidence
• How can Engineers get ahead of supply chain problems?
  • IHS
  • Life Cycle information
  • Manufacturing supply issues