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Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast
Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast episodes
- MEP EP#214: It is Probably Safe
MEP EP#214: It is Probably Safe
Parker
- Just got back from vacation
- Have not worked on any projects since last episode
- Watched lots of old er James Bond movies
- Should we do a Spy gadget episode if we can get the right guest?
Stephen
- Simulation of the Week: Behringer Model D Oscillator Core
- Lots of cool stuff going on
- Exponential converter
- Constant current capacitor
- Discrete opamp with discrete comparator
- CNC Update
- Base built and topped with a torsion box
- ¾” MDF construction
- Gantry is on but needs some love
- New Spindle has 80mm mount
- This does not fit on my current z axis
- Make a mounting bracket with leftover aluminum from previous project
- New transformer for rackmount guitar preamp
- Old configuration was to do a 115:12.6 transformer then feed that into a 12:230 to get back up to high voltage
- Simple math says 230/12 = 19.16 so, 12.6*19.16 = 241.41VRMS = 341.36VDC
- In reality I am getting 250V….
- Hopefully with the new transformer ratio I will get closer to 300V which would be a 20% increase
Rapid Fire Opinion
- Webinar Updates
- Wednesday at 2PM Central
- Link in the show notes to register
- Parker does runs a webinar on March 11th
- Sweat sensor finds stress quickly
- Future of smart watches?
- AutoDesk Eagle sales tactics
54 min - MEP EP#213: My CNC Will Melt In Your Mouth
MEP EP#213: My CNC Will Melt In Your Mouth
Parker
- Going to be doing Webinars for MacroFab.
- How MFs tools make you a better electrical engineer and supply chain manager
- Learning AutoDesk Fusion360
- Getting pretty good
- Learning from Youtube and Stephen
- Can be almost as fast and proficient as Parker was in Sketchup
- Braze it 420
- Learning to braze brass radiators and steel gas tanks
- Make sure there is no gas fumes!
Stephen
- CNC
- Trying to buck the standard
- Jointer/Planer -> table -> electrical work -> table saw -> torsion box -> gantry restoration -> new spindle
- New 220V for the following
- Welding
- Brewing
- CNC machine
- Fermentation controller
- Audibles on some design characteristics
- Switches/encoders
- Probably going to go with wiring instead of all PCB mount
- Footprints for Solid State Relays
Rapid Fire Opinion
- Raspberry pi 4 release fixes the USB problem
- This is being treated as a “design for manufacturability” change
- Lumped along with some silkscreen changes to avoid solder bridging and the SD card voltage switch moving
- Why not fully announce this?
- Chinese Tariff Exemption for 2- and 4-layer PCBs
- Valid until Aug. 7, 2020
- Fisher & Paykel PCB Silkscreen Design
- The sad faces are where the hand insert components go
- If any sad faces are showing, the operator hasn't finished their job.
59 min - MEP EP#212: The End of Electronics Manufacturing?!
MEP EP#212: The End of Electronics Manufacturing?!
Chris Church
- Founder and current Chief Product Officer of MacroFab Inc
- The former founder of Dynamic Perception
- The former Co-Founder and Chief Architect of Alert Logic
- Was on the previous MacroFab Engineering Podcast episodes
- #127: Tariff Impacts
- #142: Supply Chain Conspiracy Securities
COVID-19 Outbreak in China
- Topic today is the Coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak in China and its impact on the global Electronic Manufacturing Supply Chain
- If you want to know more about the virus itself I suggest going to the CDC website
- ~80% of factories in general are back to work in China, but only about 21% are fully staffed
- PCB Vendors
- Extended holiday, workers at a lot of Chinese plants who went home weren’t allowed to come back for two weeks
- We have lots of production in Taiwan
- Taiwan blocked all entrance to mainland Chinese on the 5th of February, many limits still in place
- This is causing significant delays in engineering time for new PCB orders, as most of our vendors’ engineers went back to mainland China for the holiday, and haven’t been allowed to return
- PCBs going to Taiwan/Vietnam/Malaysia, etc.
- As soon as delays started happening, a lot of companies sent orders over to other Asian companies, of course, this caused a fast building backlog at those companies
- Prices going up in Taiwan, Vietnam, etc
- FR4 is now the real problem
- Even if production wanted to speed up in Taiwan, Vietnam, ect.. they can’t get the raw materials fast enough
- Mechanical / Custom Mfg Materials
- This is the biggest challenge for a lot of our customers
- Plastics and metals made in China are getting delayed by a month or more against the original lead times
- Factories are under-staffed and backed up with big orders
- Components
- Right now, most component suppliers are back up and running, even if under-staffed
- Small to mid-size orders won’t be impacted much, but high-volume orders sent direct to the manufacturers are getting longer lead times and higher prices
- Yageo is one of the vendors we’re hearing about, as of late last week pushing lead times out past a year on some bulk orders with price increases as high as 50%
- Vishay also has several plants closed as of Monday
49 min - MEP EP#211: Credit Card Vigilantes - Skim Reaper
MEP EP#211: Credit Card Vigilantes - Skim Reaper
Patrick Traynor
- CEO of Skim Reaper
- The Dasburg Family Preeminent Chair in Engineering in the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the University of Florida
Christian Peeters
- CTO of Skim Reaper
- Ph.D Student in the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the University of Florida
Skim Reaper
- What is Skim Reaper
- How does it work?
- Behind the name
- Did you know that when your PCB's first hit our production line we thought you were manufacturing a skimming device!
- Swipe vs Chip
- How did you start? What was the beginning of the project?
- The hardware itself
- Form Factor challenges
- Engineering Roadblocks you had to overcome?
- Growing your business
- What is your method for getting media coverage to spread the news about the Skim Reaper device
- Plans for future growth and market expansion
- So if someone detects a skimmer..what do they do?
53 min - MEP EP#210: Valentina Toll Villagra and Kyle Dumont with Allspice.io
MEP EP#210: Valentina Toll Villagra and Kyle Dumont with Allspice.io
Kyle Dumont
- Experienced electronics designer having launched consumer products at large companies and startups for over 7 years
- Has developed low volume products for government and military applications and high volume commercial products
Valentina Toll Villagra
- Project Manager exploring the intersection of physical and digital systems at Allspice
- Worked at Amazon expanding its national customer fulfillment network and rolling out internal productivity, collaboration and project management software applications to support the company's growth
Allspice.io
- Rundown of the platform
- Where did the name come from
- How did it begin?
- The word “Agile” gets thrown around a lot.
- Mechanical engineers have 3D printing and Software developers have great design and test tools.
- What are your roles?
- Kyle – Development, strategy
- Valentina – Operations, customer success, marketing, product
- How big is the team?
- How does Allspice affect the engineer? The manager?
- Diff control? How is this implemented?
- Launch and the future?
- When does it launch?
- Are there plans to expand the offerings to other EDA tools?
- What is next?
45 min - MEP EP#209: A Bad User ExperienceMEP EP#209: A Bad User Experience
Parker- Pinotaur REV2 is flipping a machine now
- Light strips using APA-102C-260-NEW
- Brew Cart welded up!
- Gotta design a hoist to lift the grain in and out of the mash tun
Stephen
- Simulation of the week
- Bandpass with monte Carlo and gaussian tolerance
- Fermentation controller
- More Parts!
- 40A Solid State Relay
- BEM-14840DA
- Tactile switch
- 700SP7M1QEAP2BLKBLK
- 4x4 tactile keypad
- ADC reading?
- RobotDyn Button Keypad 4x4 Module
- 4x4 membrane style - kind of industrial
- Yootop 2 pcs 16 Keys Matrix Membrane Switch Keypad Keyboard for Arduino
Rapid Fire Opinion
- MagicWolfi from the slack channel asks
- "How is it done in the factory and maybe some ideas what to do at home? This is painful if it is more than a few boards."
- The 5 best arduino projects
1 hr 4 min - MEP EP#208: Brian Kaczynski with Second Sound
MEP EP#208: Brian Kaczynski with Second Sound
Brian Kaczhnski
- Brian earned his Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2001
- Has worked since 1999 as a mixed-signal/RF ASIC designer focusing mainly on LAN applications such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, etc
- His passion for music and desire to bridge the gap between acoustic/electric instruments and music synthesizers (both analog and digital) inspire his current work
Second Sound
- Why the name Second Sound?
- It sounds cool and refers to a quantum mechanical phenomenon
- How many employees?
- ACO100 and ACO160 ICs
- What is an audio controlled oscillator?
- Frequency detection
- ACO160 vs ACO100
- Moving from custom Ic to Firmware solution?
- What drove this decision?
- How does this differ from the hardware solution?
- Will you be offering the ACO100 IC?
- Development Boards
- Integrated Circuit creation
- How did you go about designing these chips?
- Software?
- Required Files?
- What was your process of getting them manufactured?
- Tips and tricks for people wanting to manufacture Ics?
- Challenges and what to avoid?
- What changed to enable going from a chip design to a MCU firmware based design?
1 hr 5 min - MEP EP#207: Beating Dragons with Quarters
MEP EP#207: Beating Dragons with Quarters
Parker
- PinoTaur Revision 2
- Passes smoke and programming test
- Onward to shipping it off to testers and programmers
- Have a friend that has a couple empty pinball cabinets
- List for Revision 3
- Change fuse holders to Keystone 3588
- Fix a couple none chamfered traces
- Update Logos
- Full backside artwork
- What is next for the PinoTaur project?
- LED Boards using the APA-102C-NEW-260 that I have been testing
- Wiring Harness Designs
- Audio Amp for the RPI
- PCM5122 + Class D Amp
Stephen
- Simulation of the Week
- AC analysis
- 2nd order low pass filter
- Sallen-Key topology
- Two examples with different cutoffs and Q
- Next week - Monty Carlo and Gaussian distributions of tolerances
- Fermentation Controller
- Resurrecting the walking dead
- Schematic is getting updated
- Modifying system design for buttons instead of membrane switches
- This is for robustness
- Will be milling enclosures
- Most of the layout is complete
- Need to position screen
40 min - MEP EP#206: The Analog State of Amazon Brand Names
MEP EP#206: The Analog State of Amazon Brand Names
Parker
- PinoTaur
- PCBA should be done tomorrow when this podcast comes out
- PTH parts ordered from Mouser
- Brewery Setup
- Brewery Pots complete
- Tube straightening
- Need to weld the cart
- Go to a tiered setup just to reduce footprint? Dunno yet.
Stephen
- Dave Jones to the rescue
- With spit...
- New resistor kit
- 3350 1% 1/4W resistors
- 134 Different Values
- Breadboard techniques
- LT spice Simulation
- Full Wave Rectifier
- Three different opamp choices
- LM741
- TL072
- OPA1678
- Looking at the differences between the opamps and the diode choice
- Comparators
- Analog and Logic
- Input offset and bias currents
- Propagation Delay
- Overdrive
Rapid Fire Opinion
- AllSpice
- SecondSound
- Frequency to Voltage converter
- ACO160
1 hr 7 min - MEP EP#205: Disgusting Surge
MEP EP#205: Disgusting Surge
Parker
- MacroFab PCB Specification Update
- PCBs now have advanced PCB specifications
- Stack Ups
- Advanced Via management
- UL Logo control
- Surface Finish
- PinoTaur REV 2 PCBs arrive
- Assembled Soon to a pick and place near you
Stephen
- Hellhound preamp Episode 199
- Doing a partial product design prototype. Split into two.
- Back to back transformer design works well but has some unpredictable operation
- The primaries are not regulated as well as the secondaries
- Gyrator episode 173
- Looked at the 4 band equalizer on my scope and compared to the SPICE simulations
- Almost 1:1 with simulation
- $10 dollar switch
- Alternative?
- 1004P6T1B4M7RE
Rapid Fire Opinion
- Our favorite podcast episodes of 2019?
- Discrete Atomic Luffa Control
- Ben and Chris talking about 3D printers and Luffas
- Ken and Chip Gracey of Parallax Inc
- Chip and Ken are super passionate about semiconductors!
- Honorable Mention: The Fourth Rule of Robotics
- Thank you so much to our guests that have joined us on the podcast!
- Ben Heckendorn
- Chris Kraft
- Cliff Schecht
- Jason Cerundolo
- Al Williams
- Christopher Howell
- Phil Bresnahan
- Dillon Nichols
- Ken and Chip Gracey
- Kevin Beller
- Danny Rankin
- Roz
- Nickolas Peter Chelyapov
- Chrissy Meyer
- Greg Paulsen
- Shruthi Soora
- Gerard Hayes
- Zapp, Hyron, and the AND!XOR Team
- Joe Grand
- Mike Geyer
- Jeff Garoon
- Daniel Hienzsch
- David Guiness
1 hr 12 min
About Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast
From the publisher's feed
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 palpable passion for tech, explores the latest innovations, industry news, and practical challenges in the field. From DIY project hurdles to deep dives with industry experts, Parker and Stephen's real-world insights provide an engaging learning experience that bridges theory and practice for engineers at any stage of their career.
Whether you're a student eager to grasp what the job market seeks, or an engineer keen to stay ahead in the fast-paced tech world, Circuit Break is your go-to. The hosts, alongside a vibrant community of engineers, makers, and leaders, dissect product evolutions, demystify the journey of tech from lab to market, and reverse engineer the processes behind groundbreaking advancements. Their candid discussions not only enlighten but also inspire listeners to explore the limitless possibilities within electrical engineering.
Presented by MacroFab, a leader in electronics manufacturing services, Circuit Break connects listeners directly to the forefront of PCB design, assembly, and innovation. MacroFab's platform exemplifies the seamless integration of design and manufacturing, catering to a broad audience from hobbyists to professionals.
About the hosts: Parker, an expert in Embedded System Design and DSP, and Stephen, an aficionado of audio electronics and brewing tech, bring a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to the show. Their backgrounds in engineering and hands-on projects make each episode a blend of expertise, enthusiasm, and practical advice.
Join the conversation and community at our online engineering forum, where we delve deeper into each episode's content, gather your feedback, and explore the topics you're curious about. Subscribe to Circuit Break on your favorite podcast platform and become part of our journey through the fascinating world of electrical engineering.
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