Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

By MacroFab, Inc.

Dive into the electrifying world of electrical engineering with Circuit Break, a MacroFab podcast hosted by Parker Dillmann and Stephen Kraig. This dynamic duo, armed with practical experience and a p... more

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FAQs about Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast:

How many episodes does Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 448 episodes available.

Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast episodes:

September 17, 2022EP#344: Fierce Key Inventory
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
...more
48min
September 09, 2022MEP EP#343: Bricking Bad
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
...more
1h 1min
September 02, 2022MEP EP#342: Hackery Experts
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 …
...more
52min
August 26, 2022MEP EP#341: Project Snackey Recap
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
...more
58min
August 06, 2022MEP EP#340: Necrobiotic Synthesizers
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
...more
1h
July 29, 2022MEP EP#339: Educated Compromises
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.
...more
53min
July 22, 2022MEP EP#338: Feature Complete or Minimal Viable Products
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?
...more
59min
July 15, 2022MEP EP#337: CSV File Woes
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
...more
1h 1min
July 09, 2022MEP EP#336: Heirloom Documentation
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?
...more
1h 5min
July 02, 2022MEP EP#335: Your Toaster is Toast
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
...more
48min

FAQs about Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast:

How many episodes does Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 448 episodes available.

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