Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

• FPGA Mega Podcast with Al Williams:
  • What is an FPGA? 
    • Field-programmable gate array
    • Bunch of logic gates and sea of gates, we tell them what to do
    • Writing hardware description of what it will do - writing requirements language, You’re describing requirements
    • Using VHDL or veralog, syntax is close to the C programming language
  • Why not a microcontroller? 
    • Advantage with FPGA = parallel hardware, not a brain with steps and time running out
    • People use FPGAs to get fixed deadline on when processes get finished
    • 100 arduinos on an FPGA - next HackADay Article
  • Mike “Hamster” Field
  • Do you need hardware? 
    • No, you can do things via simulation.
    • EDA Playground
      • Can play around for free and don’t have to create login
  • IceStick/IceStorm 
    • IceStick is a Lattice FPGA dev board: good starter tool
    • IceStorm is an open source development tool chain
  • HackADay Learning FPGA Links 
    • Learning Verilog for FPGAs: The Tools and Building an Adder
    • Learning Verilog for FPGAs: Hardware at Last!
    • YouTube series

Tags: 100 Arduinos, Al Williams, EDA Playground, electronics podcast, Field Programmable Gate Arrays, FPGA, IceStick, IceStorm, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Podcast

• Episode 100 is coming up! It’ll be a Q&A session - so send in your questions to [email protected]
• 2nd Annual Star Wars Xmas Special Engineering Podcast. Check out the video from last year!
• Parker 
  • Update on the Jeep Electronics 
    • LM22678TJ-5.0/NOPB
      • 5V switcher regulator with 5A capacity
      • Used Ti Webench to design it
    • ADP3338AKCZ-3.3-RL
      • 3.3V LDO Linear Regulator with 1A capacity
    • CU40045-UW1J
      • 40 x 4 VFD
      • Propeller code for driving this display
    • Keep Tabs on this project on github!
  • Decent cheap toggle switches on Amazon
• Stephen 
  • Science Museum Update
    • Video screen that plays animation - in house engineer setting it up and built an Arduino circuit around Stephen’s project
  • DipTrace update 3.2 
    • You can now rotate and flip by groups, when making patterns WOOT!
• Rapid Fire Opinion (RFO) 
  • Solder? What is the best kind? What about Flux?
  • The Amazing $1 Microcontroller - Jay Carlson
    • Best comparison of MCUs I have seen
    • Goes through IDEs, Performance, Peripherals of each IC
  • Alibaba buys into CPU company to support AliOS - Electronics Weekly
    • Alibaba has bought a stake in a Chinese microprocessor manufacturer to promote development of of processors which support Alibaba’s operating system – AliO
    • AliOS has two flavours – called AliOS Cloud Link for cloud computing, and AliOS Things for IoT

Tags: AliOS, Amazing $1 Microcontroller, electronics podcast, flux, Houston Museum of Natural Science, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Podcast, solder

• Parker 
  • Jeep Cruise Control update 
    • Ordered a late model TJ wiring harness
    • Speed Control Servo: 4669979
    • Cable: 4854156
    • Vacuum Line: 52109525AD
  • Jeep Electrical Control 
    • Have wiring diagram done
    • Bussmann 15303-5-2-4
• Stephen 
  • Science Museum 
    • Almost commission day
    • Last minute preparations and it is working great
    • Adding counterweight
    • Gif!
• Rapid Fire Opinion (RFO) 
  • Beverage Coaster Reference Design - Intersil 
    • The beverage coaster reference design lights up, plays music, and indicates beverage drinkability!
    • Plays the Chicken Dance when a drink rests on it 
  • Thoughts on high-volume through-hole wire soldering - Reddit ECE 
    • Stephen has some thoughts about this

Tags: Beverage Coaster Reference Design, electronics podcast, High volume PTH, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Intersil, Jeep Cruise, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Podcast

• Kaylan Smith
  • Houston native, rice owl , UX designer, artist, die hard Astros fan, and MacroFaber since July 2016
  • One of the strange breeds that went from being an artist to software development
  • Attended a talk that Stephen Kraig gave about MacroFab at her school where she was learning to become a developer
• Mike Williams 
  • Fascinated with computers since 7th grade, when he first got to use a TRS-80 model 1
  • Seen the software development industry advance from MSDOS to smart phones and cloud computing
  • Written and designed software for flying cameras, high speed trains, and lots of business apps
  • Joined MacroFab about 2 years ago and moved to Houston last year with his wife Loretta and his dog Kosmo
  • Heard about MacroFab from the episode of The Amp Hour where Chris Church and Parker Dillmann where guests
• Kaylan and Mike talk about the new PCB experience on the MacroFab platform they helped develop 
  • Overall cleaner interface that provides more information to customers 
    • Quick turnaround
    • Eagle 8 and zip file uploading 
      • Supporting Eagle 8 - challenging because of their new subscription model and purchasing by autodesk
      • Only need to upload a board file and BOM will populate with it automatically
    • Actual color preview of board, part notes & moves
  • Updates to BOM Screen 
    • Price break graph
• For inspiring devs what are some tips to getting a solid background for getting that first dev job? 
  • Williams: Tech is always going to be changing. Need to have great problem solving skills, and research and find information. Don’t be a specialist. Good language to start with is Python or Javascript.
  • Kaylan: Be a good collaborator and communicator.
  • Stackoverflow article about different programming languages used today
• Who at Macrofab writes the worst Jira tickets?
• What do hardware/electronic people do that drive you nuts? 
  • Eagle writing out gerbers, it fills in with rasterized lines and default is .01 mil per line that generate monster files. You have to know to go in and change it.
• Longest you have looked for a semi colon or any other kind of syntax error? 
  • Williams spent three days to find a missing ampersand.

 Tags: Developers Developers Developers!, electronics podcast, Kaylan Smith, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Mike Williams, Podcast

• Chris Gammell 
  • Electrical engineer and electronics instructor
  • Runs an online course is called Contextual Electronics and is host for the podcast The Amp Hour
  • Guest on the MacroFab Engineering podcast episode 33
  • Currently works for Hologram
• Consumer Vs Industrial Electronics  
  • Longest running devices?
• HackADay Superconference
  • Chris is doing a workshop on cellular, low level serial commands to modems via AT commands.
• Rapid Fire Opinion (RFO) 
  • MacroFab Announces Production Manufacturing Services, Expansion in Mexico. - Found on The Amp Hour Subreddit
    • MacroFab has a new website!
    • Launching 10-day prototyping 
      • Have no more than 50 units
      • Have fewer than 2,000 surface-mount placements (SMT)
      • Have fewer than 20 unique SMT line items
      • No through-hole placements
  • Giant Robot Battle
    • Iron Glory Vs Kuratas
    • Was pretty lame
    • Next time remove pilots for more destruction?

Tags: Chris Gammell, Contextual Electronics, electronics podcast, Gammell-Tron, Giant Lame Robots, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Podcast, The Amp Hour

• Parker 
  • Tom Anderson 
    • Long time listener just launched his own podcast called Function.
    • It is a podcast that is about Art and Engineering and where those two meet.
  • Jeep Factory Cruse Control 
    • Most of the parts have not arrived.
    • Mopar part 05013979AB 
      • Connector for the speed controller that pulls the throttle cable
• Stephen 
  • iSpindel 
    • Does it work?!
    • Made a bucket full of prison wine, and measuring with a fancy hydrometer
  • Diatomaceous Transformation 
    • aka shifting dirt
    • Stephen and Patrick Renner have an installation coming up, Nov 10 in Plainview, TX
    • 8x8 grid, Can access any point on grid and drop any rod
• Pick Of the Week (POW) 
  • Intersil Unveils First USB-C Buck-Boost Voltage Regulator - EEWeb 
    • Converts voltages 3.8V-24V to 5V-20V range with no dead zone.
    • “It leverages Intersil's patented R3™ modulation technology to deliver acoustic noise-free operation (not buzzy), superior light-load efficiency and ultra-fast transient response.”
    • Reminds us of the Turbo Encabulator
    • Scishow youtube channel
• Rapid Fire Opinion (RFO) 
  • How to Stop People from Stealing Your Oscilloscope Probes - Keysight 
    • #1 cause of workplace violence
    • How would you prevent people from taking your cables.
• Visit our Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!

Tags: 05013979AB, Diatomaceous Transformation, electronics podcast, Jeep Cruise, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Podcast, Turbo Encabulator

• Stephen 
  • iSpindel - First time on the MEP: Introduce a tropic and finish it in 2 episodes!
• Parker 
  • Next Jeep Project: Factory Cruise Control RetroFit 
    • Currently missing the wiring to go to the PCM (Power Control Module) of the Jeep
    • Buy a used harness for connector pins and modify the current harness
  • PinHeck REV8 EOTL Update 
    • Inner layers are 0.5oz copper. Watch out for that.
    • RPI3 CM will have its own power rails to keep the power clean
• Rapid Fire Opinion (RFO) 
  • Google Clips is a new $249 smart camera that you can wear - TechCrunch
    • Passive use camera
    • 3hr battery life
    • Grabs “Motion Photos”. Its 1910's all over again.
    • It looks for people it recognizes and captures information
    • “Automatically suggests the best moments”
  • The Art of Blinky Business Cards - Brian McEvoy on HackADay 
    • NFC powered buisness cards 
      • NXP: NT3H1101 which has energy harvesting built in
    • Parker's SuperBoost business card that is all forgotten about on HackADay.
    • Stephen’s business cards that demonstrate all of your capabilities

Tips: electronics podcast, iSpindel, Jeep Cruise, Koozie is a TM, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, NT3H1101, PCB business cards, PinHeck, Podcast, SUPER BOOST

• Parker 
  • PinHeck update! Rev8 EOTL
    • Adding RPI3 CM module to the board.
    • Reorganized the Schematic after 5 years of hacks and additions
  • Printed a new HAKKO key
    • New key costs $15!
    • 3D printed one in 17 minutes
• Stephen 
  • Making an iSpindel - A budget version of the Tilt hydrometer 
    • Floats in liquid and by how the device tilts it measures the density and temperature of the fermenting beer
    • GY-521 Gyro & Acceleration Sensor on a breakout
    • DS18B20 Temperature Sensor
    • Lipo charger TP4056
• POW 
  • 100W Watercooled LED Light
    • Using a Corsair Hydro Water CPU cooler
    • Parker wants to make a ruggedized version
  • Overkill Solar Battery USB Charger
    • Simulation Vs Reality
    • Parker's Pro tip: if you do this for your senior project, you’ll get a AAA+
• RFO 
  • Zapp from the Slack Channel 
    • Would you rather have your evil engineering lair 1000 ft under water or in an active volcano? This is assuming that you have overcome all challenges related to living in such  harsh environments. 
      • Stephen picks water - cold, dark, and dank - Sealab Stephen edition
      • Parker picks Volcano - infinite energy source! Get to drive the Jeep into a volcano!

Tips: 3D printing is awesome, Evil Engineering Lair, HAKKO, iSpindel, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, PinHeck, Podcast, The power of the sun in your hands

• Annika O'Brien
  • Founder and driving force behind both the LA Robotics Club and Houston Robotics Club
  • Focus into creating communities for people of all ages who have an interest in learning more about Robotics and Electronics
• Houston Robotics Club
  • Working on getting 501c3 status (nonprofit)
  • Outreach and free mentor-ship programs
  • About 100 active users
  • Shout Out to TX/RX
• Landmine Tracking Robotics 
  • Symbiobots
  • Communicates with rat and rat smells TNT
  • Piper the robot sees the rat’s dance
  • Will eventually drill into landmines to inject environmentally safe Gel that will biodegrade TNT

Tags: Annika O'Brien, Houston Robotics Club, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, Nerd Cred, Podcast, Symbiobots, TX/RX

Space Engineers VS Caffeinated Chipmunks

• September 13th, 2017 was the 4th anniversary of MacroFab!
• Hardware and Electronics Engineering Meetup for September event is live!
  • How to Design Products with Lean Manufacturing in Mind which Stephen is doing.
  • How to Use Mouser's Parametric Search Function
  • Free food and beer and Networking!
• "Fan" Art for the Pinotaur! 
  • Thanks Emmett Naughton, Tom Anderson, and Ekon_Designs!
•  Parker 
  • Fixing Stephens Motorcycle
    • 2001 Honda Arrow VT 1100 c3
    • Back cylinder does not fire 
      • Fuel, spark, compression - at least one of those things doesn’t work
    • Update week after next weeks episode. MEP EP#87
• Stephen 
  • New gear for the podcast
    • All in rack-mount format, everything accessible from back side
    • Front will be mint
    • List of equipment 
      • MOTU 8pre USB interface
      • ART P16 XLR Balanced Patchbay
      • 2 of Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone, Cardioid
      • 2 of Shure SM58-LC Cardioid Dynamic Vocal Microphone
      • 2 Mindprint DTC tube preamps and compressor/limiters 
        • Dual tube channel
        • Stephen picked up for $200 valued at $3,000 each
      • Parker’s Geophysical services - vintage rack mount
• POW 
  • Aylons showed off a really neat way to reflow FPGA BGAs at home in our Slack Channel
    • Clothes iron with a thermocouple attached
    • Regulate temperature via PID (Person In Dominion)
    • Multimeter set in Diode mode
    • Connected to an I/O pin on the PCB and GND on PCB
    • When the meter beeps you reflowed!
• RFO 
  • Sewer in London’s East End Menaced by Giant Fatberg - New York Times
    • Whitechapel fatberg
    • Occupying a sixth of a mile of sewer under Whitechapel Road
    • 140 Tonsof fat and wet wipes
    • Lee Irving described the experience of encountering a fatberg as overwhelming, with a smell that mixes rotting meat and smelly toilet
  • A Question from our CEO Chris Church 
    • "Do engineers in space helmets work faster, or slower, than caffeinated chipmunks?"
    • And a bonus question. “... and which does less damage?”