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:

May 29, 2019MEP EP#174: Apply Inspiration Here
MEP EP#174: Apply Inspiration Here
Josh Rozier
Research and Development of Transformers
More than meets the eye

Josh was a guest on EP #152: Third Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special – Vader’s Fake Fingers
Parker
DOOM SAO
Screens arrive this week. Going to Test them with the breakout board.

Atmel ICE to Tag connect adapter board ordered.

Wagon Grill complete
Sodium Hydroxide to remove Anodizing
Stephen
Removing Cosmoline from M1 Garand Rifle
Genericized trademark for a common class of brown wax-like petroleum-based corrosion inhibitors, typically conforming to United States Military Standard MIL-C-11796C Class 3

Material Safety Datasheet
R.F.O.
Engineer tripped on LSD after touching 1960s synthesizer coated in it
Does LSD even have a shelf life that long?

ARM memo tells staff to stop working with China’s tech giant
The SD Association dropped Huawei from the trade group
SD card branding
Visit our Public Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!
...more
1h 23min
May 23, 2019MEP EP#173: Sidecreeping Gyrations
MEP EP#173: Sidecreeping Gyrations
Parker
DOOM SAO
ATSAMD21G18
Will be Arduino compatible

Break out the majority of the I/O

ST7789 LCD
1.3” 240x240 resolution

SPI

USB Type-C

EEPROM AND!XOR for SAO reference designs

Designed some arduino shields boards for the “smart LEDs” for testing

PinoTaur update
Software for the ATSAMD21G18 going well

Lots of SPI and DMA going on to control the shift registers
Stephen
Macro Amp Differences
Surface mount tech with high voltage

Wilkinson Audio Fredman Clip
Test recording

Gyrator - Simulated Inductor
R.F.O.
Glass Enterprise Edition 2: faster and more helpful
Industrial Augmented Reality

Safety Glasses Styled

Kit converts Raspberry Pi into Alexa-type home automation system
They can be understood by anyone, says the Geek Shop, regardless of education or training.

Direct link

A One-Page Guide to Fixing Radiated Emissions
FCC/CE testing for PCBs.

Find the Aggressor!

Nash Reilly
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...more
1h 7min
May 15, 2019MEP EP #172: Triode Mode Tariffs
Triode Mode Tariffs
Parker
ATSAMD21G18A Breakout works!
Next steps is power design and testing for PinoTaur

Wagoneer Tach Installed.
Will get this documented on the Longhorn Engineer blog
Stephen
Wilkinson Audio Fredman Clip
Cool technique for removing hiss and fizz from your recordings

Manufacturing?

STL that Parker will print

Fired up one channel of the Macroamp in Triode Mode
Working great

Considering a new PCB to clean up the design

DML speakers
Don't sound that great

Working on a "prize" for a future event
R.F.O.
Tariff Increase on May 10th, 2019
Section 301 Tariff: List 3

8417 Heading: Automatic data processing machines and units

Google Discontinues ‘Works With Nest’ Program, Tightens Smart Home Privacy Rules
To increase privacy for users it has removed the Works With Nest program

Breaks IFTTT: a service that allows people to “glue” different IoT echo systems and function

Sony MSX-2+ crazy PCB construction
More pictures

Why USB3 Type-C Isn’t on More Cases | How Cables Are Made Factory Tour
Lots of hand made steps
Visit our Public Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!
...more
1h 12min
May 08, 2019MEP EP #171: Mayonnaise Drone (And Other War Crimes)
Mayonnaise Drone (And Other War Crimes)
Danny Rankin
An instructor in the Technology, Arts and Media (TAM) program at the University of Colorado Boulder

The courses Danny teaches and his individual research reflect a diverse array of expertise, including graphic design, material fabrication, game design, hardware hacking, sustainable agriculture and large-scale installation art

Co-directs the ATLAS Whaaat!? Lab, a space for experimental game and interaction design

Cooperative card game Ravine, which began in a TAM game design class, later became one of the most popular card game Kickstarters of 2017

Mentors in the ATLAS BTU Lab (blow things up)

Holds a Master of Science from the ATLAS CTD program, and a Bachelor of Arts in environmental studies from CU Boulder
Atlas Institute
What is it? ATLAS is an interdisciplinary institute for radical creativity, design and invention.

What is Danny's role?

How is the engineering department involved?
Whaaat!? And BTU lab
What are they?

Projects?
Vacuum drink delivery fridge?

Who can get involved?
Visit our Public Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!
...more
52min
May 01, 2019MEP EP #170: Start Getting Crusty
MEP EP #170: Start Getting Crusty
Parker
PinoTaur
MCP23S08

I/O Expanders Verse Shift Registers?

Wagon Tach Project
3D printed the housing

Need to run the wire from the distributor to inside the cab

To knock down the distributor signal
In series diode to prevent negative flyback? voltage from affecting circuit

Resistor divider

Zener diode to clamp to 4.7V

H11L1M - Schmitt Trigger Opto
Stephen
MacroAmp Testing
Used a variac to bring the amp up to voltage

Found some of the resistances were too high
It can be difficult to determine what a transformer tap will produce - I chose to guesstimate and fix it later...it works

Higher gain when powered from the transformer. About 100x gain

Tested into a Power amp - Works

HUGE ISSUE: MICROPHONIC TUBES

Next steps - Get everything in the enclosure. Wire the output transformers
R.F.O.
Chip component gets heat out of tight spots without leaking electrons
TT Electronics has introduced a surface-mount component designed exclusively to get heat out of tight spots.

SMD thermal junctions that can be placed with a pick and place

Can use creative thermal paths instead of more traditional “heat planes”

Server maker Super Micro to ditch 'made-in-China' parts on spy fears
Check out Episode 142 of the MEP with Misha and Church

This a security move or just money due to tariffs?

Was there something TO the Bloomberg article that caused this to happen behind the scenes?

On better datasheets
Suggested alternate reading: https://www.embeddedrelated.com/showarticle/809.php

Manufacturers could provide a “legend” or “guide” for their family of datasheets

Don't just photocopy your old datasheet and slap your name on top. Do just a little bit of effort and make a new datasheet. Also if you do photocopy anything AT LEAST DO IT STRAIGHT.
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...more
56min
April 24, 2019MEP EP #169: Is "I'm an Engineer" a valid defense?
Is "I'm an Engineer" a valid defense?
Parker
PinoTaur Update
12V master voltage input

Switching psus for the voltage rails

ATSAMD21G18A Breakout Board
32.768KHZ is the external crystal?

Lead free Smart LEDS?!
Direct from APA Electronic

APA-102C-5050 256

APA-104-260-5050
Stephen
Macroamp Update
Tested preamp board
~42x gain which is much too high

Power supply resistance is way too high at 2k
Did not account for extra current draw from buffer Jfets

J111 Jfet was bad out of the box - Have replaced with a BJT

So far very low noise

Riaa input filter still to be tested however it all works

Tested Shielded cable footprint from MEP EP 155: Void Copper Donuts
Was a Success!
R.F.O.
Hack my House: UL Certification and Turning the lights on with an ESP8266
What is the legality of IOT and connecting them to Mains?

Component Shelf Life: How To Use All That Old Junk
How to know when your parts are bad?

How old is too old?

Surplus Stores

EU bans lead solder for real this time
Lead has been newly classified by the EU as toxic to reproduction as of March 201

This means it can no longer be sold to the general public, only to commercial users

The transitional period ended Feb 28, 2019
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...more
1h 29min
April 17, 2019MEP EP #168: Kevin Beller of Seymour Duncan
Kevin Beller of Seymour Duncan
Kevin Beller
Heads up the Engineering and New Product Development Departments at Seymour Duncan
Does the electronic and mechanical design, pickup design, tooling and fixture design
He
has worn a lot of hats in his 40 years at Seymour Duncan by starting out
as production supervisor and manufacturing engineer in 1979
How does an engineer sell a creative idea?
Idea generation
Turning sound into a design. What drives the product?
Specifications
Validation
Audience? Use Case?
Rigid design vs Playful experimentation
Design iteration
Who says go/no go to new designs?
When or how do you say that you are complete?
What happens if you just don’t like it?
How much input is too much on a creative design?
Trust – engineers/marketing/sales?
Announcements!
KiCon 2019
is a user conference for the popular open source CAD program KiCad.
Happening April 26th and 27th 2019 in Chicago IL, this is the first and
largest gathering of hardware developers using KiCad. Talks at the
conference will span hardware design, revision control, scripting,
manufacturing considerations, proper library management and getting
started developing the underlying tools. All announced talks have been
listed on the conference site.
Visit our Public Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!
...more
1h 4min
April 10, 2019MEP EP #167: BenHeck and the PinoTaur
BenHeck and the PinoTaur
Benjamin Heckendorn
A console modder and famous computer engineer
Better known as Ben Heck on the Internet
Independent
filmmaker and he was the star of element14’s The Ben Heck Show, a
popular online series, until leaving the show in late 2018
Previous guest on episodes
EP#23: Interview with Ben Heck of The Ben Heck Show
EP#75: Does the Simulation Match the Reality?
EP#153: Discrete Atomic Luffa Control
PinoTaur Pinball Platform

Plans for PinoTaur
EP#85: Space Engineers VS Caffeinated Chipmunks
Reducing the cost of the PinHeck
Enabling easier programming
High Def Graphics
ATSAMD21G18A
Reducing wiring complexity
Serial Switches
Serial Lights
Connectors
USB Text Adventure Game
Scope of the project
Story Ideas?
Zork messes with you
Epic Game Store
Is this bad for gamers and the industry?
Announcements!
KiCon 2019
is a user conference for the popular open source CAD program KiCad.
Happening April 26th and 27th 2019 in Chicago IL, this is the first and
largest gathering of hardware developers using KiCad. Talks at the
conference will span hardware design, revision control, scripting,
manufacturing considerations, proper library management and getting
started developing the underlying tools. All announced talks have been
listed on the conference site.
Visit our Public Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!
...more
1h
April 03, 2019MEP EP #166: Ken and Chip Gracey of Parallax Inc
Ken and Chip Gracey of Parallax Inc
Ken Gracey
Leader and CEO of Parallax
UC Davis alumni who lives and breathes Parallax products and has done so around the world
All about family, working smart, having fun, mountaineering, and riding his unicycle
Chip Gracey
Parallax founder. He had his first major introduction to programming and electronics when he was 13 years old with the Timex Sinclair computer
After graduating high school, he and his techy friend from the 7th grade started Parallax at their homes in 1987
Chip designed the first low-cost tools for the PIC microcontrollers
Led to the development of the first BASIC Stamp module released in 1993
The Parallax Story
Starting Products
Apple IIgs memory cards
EEPROM emulators for microcontroller development
PIC Tools
Basic Stamp
SX chip
Propeller
Parallax Prop 2
What makes it special compared to other microcontrollers?
P2 VS P1?
Feature Set
Programming Languages?
What does it take to design semiconductors?
Software packages
Simulation
What document package do you send to the fabricator?
Process Size?
What is automated and what is done by hand?
Testing and validation
ESD?
FCC/CE
When can people get there hands on one?
Community around the company
Parallax Forum
Beta Testing?
Best story of the Parallax Adventure so far?
Announcements!
KiCon 2019 is a user conference for the popular open source CAD program KiCad. Happening April 26th and 27th 2019 in Chicago IL, this is the first and largest gathering of hardware developers using KiCad. Talks at the conference will span hardware design, revision control, scripting, manufacturing considerations, proper library management and getting started developing the underlying tools. All announced talks have been listed on the conference site.
Visit our Public Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!
...more
1h 19min
March 28, 2019MEP EP #165: Dillon Nichols - Simplified Home Automation
Simplified Home Automation
Dillon Nichols
Electrical engineer specializing in embedded systems
Spends his free time designing circuits, writing code, and building physical objects by 3D printing, woodworking, and metal working
Enjoys trying out new processors and services to build up his engineering knowledge base
Dillon was one of the Winners of the MacroFab Design Contest: Blink an LED
Pragmatic Blinky Category
Disintegrated LM3909 - 1.5V LED Flasher
Home Automation
What do you enjoy about home automation?
How did you get started automating your life?
First project?
Security?
Favorite platform to design around
Consolidating everything.
One system to rule it all?
Future ideas/projects?
Hardware that didn’t work out?
Announcements!
KiCon 2019 is a user conference for the popular open source CAD program KiCad. Happening April 26th and 27th 2019 in Chicago IL, this is the first and largest gathering of hardware developers using KiCad. Talks at the conference will span hardware design, revision control, scripting, manufacturing considerations, proper library management and getting started developing the underlying tools. All announced talks have been listed on the conference site.
Visit our Public Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!
...more
40min

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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