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:

February 05, 2022MEP EP#314: Plastic Deg-Ra-Dation with Scott Hansen of Retro-Brite
MEP EP#314: Plastic Deg-Ra-Dation with Scott Hansen of Retro-Brite
Our guest this week is Scott Hansen, Founder of Retro-Brite. Scott holds an B.A. in Finance from the University of South Dakota and Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M.
Previously Scott was on MacroFab Engineering Podcast episodes
EP#77: The IdeaFab Podcast

EP#223: The Inverted Success Funnel – IdeaFab

EP#296: IdeaFab – Does This Podcast Change The World?

Scott’s background at NASA
Thermal Systems Engineer

Retro-Brite
Why plastics yellow?

Chromophores

Reversing the yellowing process

Blog posts
Into/Summary into plastic yellowing

Chromophores

Mechanisms of Degradation

What Happens In The Plastic?

Does Bromine Cause Yellowing?
...more
1h 4min
January 28, 2022MEP EP#313: Another Tool for Your Toolbox
MEP EP#313: Another Tool for Your Toolbox
3d Printing - Is It Time To Get Into It?
Types of printers at the personal hobbyist level
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

Stereolithography (SLA)

Stephen's Hopes and Dreams
Budget $400 to $600

Biggest print surface

0.001” (0.0254mm) accuracy

Requires only setup/calibration/maintenance
No mods just to get it to work

What does Stephen mean by "work"

What to use the 3D printer for
Jigs and fixtures

Wire harnesses

Complex Air manifold

Testing adjustments to injection molded parts

Calibration
What is needed

How often?

Software
Own vs subscription

Slicers?

Consumables
What is needed?

How often?

What kind of cash we looking at?

Maintenance
Periodic?

How often?
...more
1h 11min
January 22, 2022MEP EP#312: Armchair Military Strategists
MEP EP#312: Armchair Military Strategists
Destroy TSMC if China Invades, To Make Taiwan 'unwantable', Says US Military Paper
Link to article

Why? Destroy the economic and technological reason for China to want Taiwan

Military Paper written by Jared McKinney and Peter Harris

How do you keep a free Taiwan and not enter WWIII?

How would any invasion of Taiwan affect the already unstable global electronics supply chain
Fabless chip makers
Apple

AMD

Nvidia

Broadcomm

TSMC basically manufactures integrated circuits for almost every manufacturer
Mega Load Resistor
Stephen needs a dummy load for testing the output of amplifiers

300W dissipation minimum

Multiple impedance taps - 2,4,8,16 ohm

Is it best to buy more lower watt resistors and spread them out or is it best to buy fewer larger ones?
Don't Goop Your Electronics
Don't try to obscure your design by putting smoo all over your PCB assembly

Your schematic and board layout are not your trade secrets
Golf Cart Project
Completed!

Added a "user" mode switch to switch between speed and throttle response settings

Had to lengthen the intermediate steering shaft length to prevent "loss of steering"
...more
59min
January 13, 2022MEP EP#311: The Gamification of PCB Assembly
MEP EP#311: The Gamification of PCB Assembly
Tig Stream Announcement
Saturday Jan 15th at 6:00 PM Central

Twitch.tv/macrofab
How would a PCB assembly service be gamified?
A tutorial level
Mandatory

Clippy Mac the PCB Guy

Avatar
Clothing

Experience Points
Titles

Badges and Achievements

Rankings

Leaderboards

In Game Currency
Microtransactions

Weekly and Daily rewards

Quests
Design Raid
...more
52min
January 07, 2022MEP EP#310: 2022 New Year Engineering Resolutions
MEP EP#310: 2022 New Year Engineering Resolutions
Tig Stream Announcement
Saturday Jan 15th at 6:00 PM Central

Stay tuned for more information
New Years Engineering Resolutions
Parker
Finish the Cat Feeder Unreminder

Get the 65’ Checker “Running”

Get to 200 lbs

Stephen
Smaller but more directed action

Stretch resolution
Be more present

Practice more

From the MacroFab Engineering Team
Run DRC on your designs!
We have DRC files for Eagle and Altium

Questions about our DRC can be directed to [email protected]

Cheating the DRC just results in more end cost due to infield failures and extra loss in E-testing

From the WMD team
Let us cheat the numbers not you
The numbers are there for a reason. We know when we can fudge them.

Podcast Resolutions
Release podcast at Friday noon

Going to video and the edits will be on Youtube

Transcribing the audio

More polls and user engagement

Swag to give out during live streams
...more
1h 4min
December 30, 2021MEP EP#309: Perpetual Prototypes
MEP EP#309: Perpetual Prototypes
How Far Did our Christmas Projects Go?
Tube Compressor
Stephen "Completed"

Wants to add more features....

Synchrotron phaser
Works but needs value tweaking on some gains

Have a sample of the audio in the podcast

Parker's Mother’s Golf Cart
Finished paint and started reassembly!
SendcutSend sheet metal bending experience
Sent off a design for a custom rack mount shelf

Used Autodesk Fusions Sheet Metal tool to design it

Parts came out great!

Looking forward to trying Xometry's new sheet metal service

SendcutSend offers powdercoating now?
Pinouts.org
Art that is also functional?

Some really cool t-shirts as well!
...more
58min
December 22, 2021MEP EP#308: Ghost of Projects Past Due
MEP EP#308: Ghost of Projects Past Due
Christmas Projects
Tube Compressor - A Decade in the making

Synchrotron phaser

Tig Welding

Parker's Mother’s Golf Cart

Red Jeep Update
Local Electronic Store Talk
What local stores can you still buy electronic supplies and parts at?

Are there any Radioshacks left?

Electronic Parts Outlet

Ace Electronics
The MacroFab Engineering Podcast Christmas Project Ghost Names
The Ghost of Christmas Past represents memory
Ghost of Projects Past Due

The Ghost of Christmas Present represents generosity and good will
Ghost of project ideas

The Ghost of Christmas Future represents fear of death
Ghost of unused parts
...more
1h 25min
December 16, 2021MEP EP#307: Sixth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special - The Bad Hunch
MEP EP#307: Sixth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special - The Bad Hunch
Latest in Star Wars Media
What has released since last year's Star Wars podcast episode 255?
Star Wars Visions

Ending of Mandalorian Season 2

LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special

Bad Batch

Does Audible count?
Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy book 2 and 3 were this year

Star Wars: The High Republic

Upcoming releases you're excited for?
The Book of Boba Fett

Ahsoka when it finally comes out
Mostly because it should have a live action version of Thrawn
Parker
StarWars Visions Ep 5: The Ninth Jedi asteroid grabbing trebuchet engineering exercise
PDF of the document
Stephen
The battle of exegol is dumb….
PDF of the document
Hyr0n
Star Wars Visions episode 9: Akakiri
Praise/Rant

Lego Star Wars - Could you actually build…
The stupidest spreadsheet ever

TLDR: The only thing in LEGO SW Universe that could produce enough LEGO to build Death Star 1, is Death Star 1
Chris
Technology in Star Wars

What fictional technology do you think would make the most immediate impact on your life? How would you integrate it into your own work?
Anti-gravity, repulsors (floating stuff)
Vehicles are the obvious cool application

Manufacturing?
I worked in a foundry

The heat from the hot iron and the refractory sand constantly wore down the bearings in the conveyor system

If things could just float it would be amazing

Droids
How does anyone actually program these?

In The Mandalorian it seemed like it wasn’t a simple task to reprogram IG-11

Anakin “built” C3PO but did he really build it or assemble it?

In the series they say to “wipe the protocol droid’s memory” it seems like whatever the tech is it is easy to wipe memory but not easy to change programming

Hyperspace
Outside of exploration and colonization would this really make an immediate difference in day to day life

Power Density
...more
2h 28min
December 09, 2021MEP EP#306: Removing The Barriers
MEP EP#306: Removing The Barriers
Bench Equipment for Hardware Development
Lab Power Supply

Oscilloscope
James Lewis just made a really good video about Oscilloscope Bandwidth

Check out podcast episodes #222 and #144 for more James Lewis!

Frequency Generator

Frequency Counter

Multimeters
Benchtop

Handheld

Digital Logic Analyzer

Active Load

RLC Meters

Accessories
Multimeter probes

Non Slip Tips?
...more
1h 9min
December 02, 2021MEP EP#305: Electron Congo Line
MEP EP#305: Electron Congo Line
The Big Misconception About Electricity
Veritasium

YouTube video

Is this really a big hidden secret?

There is nothing incorrect but...
Problems with the explanation

Lack of context

Doesn't go far enough on the explanation and would leave new hobbyist asking more questions then it answered

Light bulb question at the beginning of the video
How long does it take for a light bulb to turn on if the wires connecting it are a light-second long.

Parker's quick "practical" answe
“Instant” You are pushing the already existing electrons in the wire. An electron doesn't have to flow all the way around?

Dave Jones' response?

Does this damage Veritasium's image for Electrical engineers?
...more
53min

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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