Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

• John Teel
  • Founder of Predictable Designs, a company which helps startups, makers, and small companies develop new electronic products
  • Previously, John was on Episode 106 of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast where John spoke about making the product development process as predictable as possible
• Injection Molding Enclosure Design
  • What is the general process of injection molding?
  • Challenges of Injection Molding: Why does it have this “mystic” aura around it?
  • Designing enclosures for injection molding? 
    • Difference between designing for 3D printing and Injection molding
    • What should you look for if you need to get a design done correctly
    • What files will I need to have created?
    • Do I design the mold or does someone else?
  • Design is done. Who do I look for to get my design built? 
    • What questions should I have answered before contacting someone?
    • Who do I talk to to get it done?
    • How do I find a manufacturer locally or overseas?
    • Who owns the mold?
    • Should I go with a more expensive/larger mold or cheaper/smaller?
    • How much should I be prepared to spend?
  • Prototyping 
    • TL;DR for prototyping an injection molded enclosure 
      • Protolabs online DFM
    • What if I want a sample?
    • How do I pick the right material?

Tags: electronics podcast, injection molding, John Teel, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Predictable Designs

Parker

• Building the electronics for the Thermal Detonator
  • Arduino Nano
  • LM386 amplifier
• PinHeck REV8 update! 
  • PCM5122 moving on PCB
• Fabricating a rear window wiper for the Wagon 
  • Forum post on modifying a Dodge Durango rear wiper motor

Stephen

• uTracer PCB arrived
• STM32 Microcontroller
  • STM32CubeMX
  • System Workbench for STM32
  • NUCLEO-L476RG

RFO

• MacroFab Design Contest: Blink an LED Sponsored by Mouser Electronics 
  • Have entries already! 
    • The Bouncy Thief LED Blinking Machine by Paul Gallagher
    • A simple countdown timer by CDM
    • Disintegrated LM3909 by Dillon
  • Check out all the projects submitted to the contest by checking this link
• Electrical Engineering phone applications 
  • Bubble level
  • Calc-P
  • Cutter
  • Color Detector
  • Sound Meter
  • Function generator
  • FFT
• Ask Hackaday: Is There a Common Mechanical Parts Library?

Tags: electronics podcast, LM386, MacroFab, MacroFab Design Contest, macrofab engineering podcast, Mechanical Parts Library, MEP, NUCLEO-L476RG, PCM5122, Phone Apps, PinHeck, STM32, STM32CubeMX, thermal detonator, uTracer, Wagon

MacroFab Design Contest: Blink an LED Sponsored by Mouser Electronics

• More information can be found on the MacroFab Blog
• Get your blink on!

Parker

• MEP SAO was completed and an article was written about it
• MAX6682 breakout board working 
  • Time to finish the Jeep MCU board?
• Wagon skid plate complete

Stephen

• uTracer PCB finished
• Update on uTracer enclosure printing?

RFO

• Learn FPGA Fast with Hackaday’s FPGA Boot Camp
  • FPGA Bootcamp
  • Al Williams is our Speaker at this months Hardware meetup in Houston
  • Williams was on the MacroFab Engineering Podcast episodes #94 and #57
• Pebble watches get reborn? Rebble.io
  • Project to revitalize pebble watches IoT functioality
• Operation manual improper English translations   
  • Parker's new inexpensive radio for the Wagon has an interesting instruction manual

Tags: electronics podcast, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP

• Scott Swaaley
  • Electrical Engineer from California Polytechnic State University
  • Started his career rewiring 18th century tall ships
  • Designed electrical systems for hospitals and data centers before becoming a specialist in renewable energy economics
  • Had a career in teaching and working with students in makerspaces
  • Founder of MAKESafe Tools
•   YouTube Channels Scott likes
  • Clickspring
  • This Old Tony
• What is MAKESafe Tools?
  • Bringing industrial-level safety to everyday shop tools with an easy to install plug and play device
• Design Challenges?
  • High power A/C switching
  • DC Isolation from the A/C side
  • Triacs and Hybrid relays
  • Physical board layout considerations
• Documentaries and other links
  • Most Likely To Succeed
  • Beyond Measure
  • Makerspace work

Tags: A/C, Clickspring, D/C, electronics podcast, Hybrid Relays, Maake Tools Saafe Aagaain, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MAKESafe Tools, MEP, relays, This Old Tony, Triacs

• Chris Gammel over at The Amp Hour gave the MacroFab Engineering Podcast a shout out for our podcast with Chris Church for our Tariff discussion
  • The Amp Hour also hit episode 400! Congrats!
• Parker
  • MEP SAO Update 
    • Software almost complete
    • What kind of LED patterns should I implement?
  • Wagon skid plate welding
• Stephen
  • uTracer update 
    • CNC work on the enclosure
    • Feed rate and speed calculations
• R.F.O.
  • Return of RadioShack?
    • HobbyTown will start having a RadioShack Express inside
    • Will be electrical components only but may have cell phone repair as well
    • Better for Hobbytown to team up with Adafruit or Sparkfun?
  • Decimis from the Slack Channel asks
    • A lot of times on the MEP, you guys mention what college did not teach you. So not counting the actual degree, do you feel that going to a college is absolutely necessary to learn what you guys know now or is collage nothing more than just a structured way of learning what can be learned elsewhere through personal study, research, and experience?
  • Jarrett from the Slack Channel asks 
    • What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Tags: CNC, College, electronics podcast, feed rate, HobbyTown, Ice Cream, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, MEP Shitty Add-On, Podcast, RadioShack, uTracer, Wagon skid plate welding

• Parker
  • Connectors for the Jeep PCM where a perfect match! 
    • P/Ns 
      • Black Connector: 4-1437290-5
      • White Connector: 4-1437290-6
      • Grey Connector: 4-1437290-7
  • Still waiting on the MAX6682 breakout board
    • GitHub Repo
  • Ordered some MEP Shitty Add-Ons
    • Zapp and Hyron ordered a set 
      • MEP EP#69: Incognito Mode
      • MEP EP#109: Arduino, The Gateway Drug To #BadgeLife
    • Brandon Satrom ordered one 
      • MEP EP#122: Brandon Satrom and the LANoT
  • A/C control module repair for the Wagon 
    • A/C compressor was bypassed
    • 2N4403 was all exploded
    • Reverse engineered the layout of the module 
      • Thanks to Tom Anderson who rewrote the schematic!
• Stephen
  • Mesa-Boogie Mark IV schematic
• R.F.O.
  • KiCad 5 has been released
  • Molex Connector 1719821142
    • Nano-Pitch I/O
    • 42 pins
    • 0.5A per pin
    • Only 50 mating cycles
  • Decimis from Slack Channel 
    • How would you make a device that could shoot flies out of the air? When I hear a fly buzzing around, I find it highly annoying and they keep getting stuck in one room at work. Then they spend all day flying up and down the room.
  • D&D Starwars 5e

Tags: 1719821142, 4-1437290-5, 4-1437290-6, 4-1437290-7, A/C control module repair, D&D SWD20, electronics podcast, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MAX6682, MEP, MEP Shitty Add-On, Mesa-Boogie, Molex, Podcast, sN4403, Trebuchet

• Parker
  • MEP Shitty Add-On 
    • EFM8SB10F2G based like the MacroWatch V2
    • 15 addressable channels of LED blinking
    • 23 Red 0603 LEDs in total
  • Connectors for the Jeep PCM 
    • PCM connector locks are starting to break due to age
    • Found an eBay auction with replacement connectors for sale that had part numbers printed on the connectors
    • P/N 
      • Black Connector: 4-1437290-5
      • White Connector: 4-1437290-6
      • Grey Connector: 4-1437290-7
  • Update on the Wagon 
    • Carburetor rebuild
    • Currently in a power steering pump saga 
      • Removing the pulley off the pump is a pain
• Stephen
  • uTracer update 
    • Enclosure arrived: P/N 1441-16BK3CWW
    • Layout of the PCB is in progress
    • Tormach 770 Mill
    • Mimaki ujf-3042 printer
    • Switcher 12V P/N: VXO78012-1000
• R.F.O.
  • Maxim IC is in the MCU game now
    • MAX32652
    • DARWIN: A New Breed of MCU, Built for the Evolving IoT
    • Arm Cortex-M4 with FPU-Based Microcontroller
  • Revision control for Hardware 
    • Github
    • Keeping track of changes
    • Upverter has a histogram feature
    • Cadlab.io

Tags: 1441-16BK3CWW, 4-1437290-5, 4-1437290-6, 4-1437290-7, CADLAB.io, Carburetor rebuild, DARWIN MCU, EGM8SB10F2G, electronics podcast, GitHub, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MAX32652, Maxim IC, MEP, MEP Shitty Add-On, Mimaki ujf-3042, PCM, Podcast, SAO, Tormach 770 Mill, Upverter, uTracer, VXO78012-1000

• Chris Church
  • The Chief Product Officer of MacroFab
  • Founded MacroFab along with Parker
  • Recent article Decoding Tariff Impacts on US Electronics Manufacturing
• What kind of items in the Tariff list will impact US Electronics Manufacturing?
  • Passives, actives excluding ICs and diodes, mechanical components like switches, connectors, etc
  • Assembled PCBs from China
  • Shouldn’t see a huge impact from LEDs
• Short Term Impacts on the Market
  • Pricing on most things won’t increase until existing stock gets depleted from inventory at US warehouses
  • Initial impacts will be slightly increasing prices, potentially rapidly moving stock as buyers look to lock in current pricing
  • Overall, we’re predicting from about 2%-10% increase in COGS for most electronics produced in the US until all ICs are included, at which point the impact to COGS will increase dramatically
• Long Term Impacts on the Market
  • We’ll see more assembly shifting away from US to places like Mexico which have lower tariffs on components between China and them, and little to no tariffs on final goods coming into the US
  • Flex has been downsizing their high margin/mid volume segment, laying off 10% of their workforce as demand for telecom and datacom equipment has dropped, and focusing on higher volume and lower margin builds in the US
  • Tariffs this is a boon for NAFTA, but not necessarily for US manufacturing
• Impacts of Tariffs on the current Component Shortages
  • Expect the bidding to get hotter on high-volumes of short-supply passives, esp. w/ automotive ratings, and you’ll need to get closer to the manufacturers and other consumers in the supply chain to keep costs from ballooning on these line items
  • We are already seeing parts having gone up from half a cent to 10 cents on some high-demand capacitors at volume, this is before tariffs kick in
  • Overall, it’s not going to affect the availability of passives right now, as passives aren’t discretionary purchases, the increasing price won’t necessarily increase the supply in the short-term
• Consumer goods?
  • No Tariffs on complete consumer goods yet
• Will this hurt hobbyist/makers?
  • Those that are sourcing their goods from China, not really - de minimus for customs is $800, so if you’re importing less than $800 a time from an overseas vendor, these tax rates won’t impact you
  • Big issue is going to be around vendors who sell made-in-china boards (not final products), these companies are going to have a harder time covering the spread
  • Companies that make a lot of their goods in the US, like sparkfun, adafruit, etc. will have lower overall price increases, which will vary from product to product  
• Tariff list
• Madell Pick and Place
  • DP2600-2 PNP placing a TQ-100 package
  • Using the 3D printer

Tags: Chris Church, electronics podcast, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Podcast, Tariffs 

• Parker
  • MAX6682 breakout board finished and ordered 
    • This is for the thermistors
    • GitHub repo for the board files
  • New Jeep, The Grande Wagoneer 
    • A/C doesn’t work as expected
    • Found the FSM and Schematic 
      • Schematic for the A/C controls 
        • Page 31
        • Page 32
    • Schematic has four parts that control the A/C Compressor 
      • Evaporator thermistor 
        • Turns out this is a standard 5K NTC thermistor
      • A/C temperature sensor
      • Compressor Low Pressure Switch 
        • Standard part #4773763
      • Climate Control Box
• Stephen
  • uTracer update 
    • Enclosure will be a Hammond Manufacturing 1441-16CWW
    • uTracer PCB will be a daughter board attached to the relay control board
    • Built in USB -> RS-232
• RFO
  • Spider silk microphone also senses slightest waft of air
    • “most waft-able air movement sensor ever”
    • 400V field, ~0.5V/Pa
    • Research paper is behind a pay wall :/
  • Voltage Regulator heatsinks - when are they required?
    • Maximum power dissipation is determined by the maximum junction temperature rating, the ambient temperature, and the junction-to-ambient thermal resistance.
    • PDmax=( TJmax-  TA) / RθJA
    • Junction-to-ambient thermal resistance measured in C/W
    • Maximum Power Enhancement Techniques for SOT-223 Power MOSFETs - AN-1028
    • Constructing Your Power Supply —Layout Considerations - SLUP230
  • Jarrett from slack asks "WTF do you do with 2 million free LEDs?"

Tags: 1441-16CWW, electronics podcast, Grand Wagoneer, ITS OVER 9000 LEDS?!, Jeep, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MAX6682, MEP, Podcast, Spider Silk microphone, uTracer, Voltage Regualtor Heatsinks, waft-able

• Robert Keim
  • A graduate from the University of California of San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering
  • Technical Director for All About Circuits
  • Extensive experience in a wide variety of fields, including 
    • Analog design
    • Firmware development
    • Digital signal processing
    • Power management
    • Motor control
    • Digital camera design
    • Low-noise PCB layout
    • System integration
    • Designing for harsh environments
    • Neural networks
    • Software-defined radios
  • Role of open source information in the EE community 
    • What does Open Source mean to you? 
      • Robert: Knowledge, that originates from labor and is freely available. True acquisition of knowledge.
      • Parker: A tool for learning - seeing how things were made and creating your own version
      • Stephen:  More emphasis on knowledge and understanding vs the execution
  • Do you think that open source projects can be a long term financial success, or are they a social movement and more about bringing knowledge and functionality to the community?
  • Version control for PCBs and how that workflow may differ from software version control
  • How you would collaborate with multiple Electrical Engineers on a single PCB (schematic and layout)?
  • What's one of your favorite articles that you wrote for All About Circuits and why? The Clean Power Series - decoupling capacitors
  • Favorite Microcontroller/Development Board/Toolchain
  • Where do you see EDA tools in 5 years? Least favorite EDA tool?

Tags: All About Circuits, electronics podcast, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Open Source, Podcast, Rober Keim