Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Our guests this week are Sasha Maldonado and Paige Brown of the Stanford Student Space Initiative.
• Sasha Maldonado 
  • Stanford junior majoring in Electrical Engineering.
  • Now retired avionics lead on the ValBal project, and has been with the project since its inception.
  • Co-presidents of the Student Space Initiative, also known as SSI, , and is working on electronics for an SSI-built satellite payload.
• Paige Brown 
  • Stanford freshman majoring in Chemical Engineering
  • The mechanical engineering lead on the ValBal project, and also helps manage flight control logistics.
  • Outside of SSI, she works in an environmental engineering lab on phosphate pollution remediation in storm water through chemical absorption.
• ValBal 
  • A novel, low cost high-altitude balloon system that achieves multi-day flight using inexpensive latex balloons by automatically venting lifting gas and dispensing ballast to maintain altitude.
  • Latex balloons typically cost little more than a hundred dollars, but in normal use fly for only a couple hours, rising until reduced atmospheric pressure causes the balloon to stretch beyond its limits.
  • The system, known as ValBal, can fly multi-kilogram payloads for multiple days for approximately $1000, offering a 10-100x improvement in cost and superior altitude control when compared with other scientific balloon systems.
• Project has been featured on  Hack-a-day for the longest flight duration of a latex balloon.
• Worthwhile Links 
  • Live balloon tracking
  • ValBal launch summary video
  • ValBal technical paper
  • SSI Twitter
  • SSI Facebook
  • SSI website

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

Podcast Notes

• Our guest this week is Dave Rollinson from Hebi Robotics. 
  • Dave is a robotics engineer with a PhD in Robotics and a B.S. in M.E. from Carnegie Mellon University.
  • His thesis research advanced the control and design of articulated, modular, snake-like robots with a focus towards real-world applications like urban search and rescue and industrial inspection.
• Hebi designs and manufactures industrial motorized actuator building blocks . Hebi takes the hard part out of designing automated robotics.
• The actuators are torque/force controlled compared to absolute position control.
• X-Series Industrial Smart Actuator
• Assisted Actuator Assembly with X-Series

Podcast Notes

• If you enjoy listening to MEP, please let others know about us! Tell a coworker, loved one, friend, or share it on "social media".  We might reward your love for us by sending you a free koozie! Tell others how much you love us, then send us an email to [email protected] with the codeword that we’ll mention during the show. Each show has a different codeword, so keep an ear out.
• MacroFab and Mouser Electronics have teamed up to create a free  monthly meetup in Houston (April 26th) for anyone involved with hardware & electronics engineering or manufacturing. Hosted on the last Wednesday of every month, these meetups are designed to build a community of professionals who want to learn from one another, gain new insights on emerging electronics technologies, and expand their network. 
  •  Sign up here!
  • What to expect 
    •  Networking
    • Fireside chats with Q&A
    • Individual project sharing and discussion
    • Door prizes
    • Refreshments
• Parker has been working on the next step of the RPI3 LVDS project.
  • Pinout the SODIMM connector for the RPI3 Compute Module. See Figure 1.
    • Part number 1473149-4 by TE Connectivity
    • LVDS DS90C365A IC is net listed up
    • Trying to use the PWM function to control the backlight of the LCD. 
      • GPIO40 is PWM0 on the RPI3
    • Still to be done 
      • Power 1.8V, 3.3V, 12V
      • SD card
      • HDMI
      • USB and a USB Hub
      • Break out all the pins
      • Test points for clk signals and data streams
• Stephen has a challenge for the listeners. 
  • Goal: A design for a ring of LEDs that surround a control knob on a synthesizer and light up according to the position of the knob
  • Requirements 
    • The circuit must connect to a potentiometer (this can be a dual gang version) example: rv16a01f
    • The ring of LEDs must be centered on a 12mm radius around the potentiometer.
    • Whole circuit must not be larger 1.2” W x 1.2”H x 1.2”D
    • PCB can solder directly to pins on potentiometer
    • Multiple PCBs is acceptable if needed
    • Color of the leds does not matter although green or red is preferable
    • Number of leds is 16 minimum and 32 maximum
    • LEDs are arranged on a 300 degree arc (potentiometer has 300 degrees of rotation) starting at 240 degrees and ending at -60 degrees
    • The circuit will receive external 5V power so it must have through hole pads for power and gnd
    • CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP! Do this for as cheap as possible
• Rapid Fire Opinion 
  •  Revealing Capcom’s Custom Silicon Security - Hackaday 
    • Capcom developed their arcade boards to die with their secrets through a “suicide” system. System name CSP-2
    • Basically all the game code was encrypted and the key was stored in volatile ram kept alive by a battery.
    • Reminds Parker of the reflow oven that MacroFab currently use.
  •  NXP chip checks your booze - Electronics Weekly 
    • The Tag uses NXP’s NTAG 213 Tag Tamper technology which checks the origin of the bottle, detects if the bottle has been opened, and creates a

Podcast Notes

• We would love to hear from our listeners. Tell us what you think, your current projects, any topics you would like us to cover, or just say “hello”. To reach us follow us on Twitter @MacroFab or send us an email at [email protected].
• MacroFab and Mouser Electronics have teamed up to create a free monthly meetup in Houston for anyone involved with hardware & electronics engineering or manufacturing. Hosted on the last Wednesday of every month, these meetups are designed to build a community of professionals who want to learn from one another, gain new insights on emerging electronics technologies, and expand their network. 
  • Sign up here!
  • What to expect 
    •  Networking
    • Fireside chats with Q&A
    • Individual project sharing and discussion
    • Door prizes
    • Refreshments
    • Free parking
• Parker
  • Spooky Pinball  LVDS controller for the Raspberry Pi 3
    • As mentioned it uses DS90C365A LVDS converter
    • Current 5V regulator was a bit weak on power so Parker is upgrading to a LM1085ISX-5.0/NOPB which can handle 3A.
    • LCD is a  LP156WH4-TLN2-LG. Single Channel LVDS 1366x786 resolution. 
    • See Figure 1.
  • Started work on a RPI Compute Module board with the LVDS on board.
  • If anyone is interested Parker is thinking of doing a kickstarter for it.
• Stephen 
  • Science museum project is underway. Full test to be running after the podcast.
  • Synth is coming along. 50% complete! See Figure 2.
• RFO 
  • Cuddle Cub
    • IoT Teddy Bear? Internet of Teddies.
    • Tracks kids movement and helps get your kids to bed? 
    • “Not only is Cuddle Cub great for kids, but great for parents as well! Be in control and in the loop for every night's bedtime adventure, giving you the extra time you deserve!”
  • Google Patent for  Creepy Teddy Bear
  • SpaceX is breaking space flight history as we record 
    • First orbital class rocket to be relaunched a second time
  • Tooth Tunes by Joe Grand 
    • Replaces the original Tooth Tunes electronics with a custom audio player circuit, empowering the user to play any song of their choosing.
    • Video of it in action.

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

Podcast Notes

• JOSH is our guest this week 
  • Owner of Abbadad Productions
  • Owner of Castle Bravo Studios
  • Founder of V33R Technologies
  • Owner of the Space Echo RE-201
• Audio Engineer behind the recording of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast
• V33R technologies creates virtual reality environments for viewing real estate 
  • Created intuitive methods for navigating a 3d virtual space
• Podcast is recorded in Castle Bravo Studios 
  • Located in the old post office bomb shelter
• Rig Astley - A fully functional recording studio in a portable format
• RE-201 Space Echo Unit will be done soon (We promise JOSH!)
• JOSH's favorite mic pre is the Groove Tubes Vipre

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

Podcast Notes

• MacroFab and Mouser Electronics have teamed up to create a free monthly meetup in Houston for anyone involved with hardware & electronics engineering or manufacturing. Hosted on the last Wednesday of every month, these meetups are designed to build a community of professionals who want to learn from one another, gain new insights on emerging electronics technologies, and expand their network. 
  • Sign up  here!
  • What to expect 
    •  Networking
    • Fireside chats with Q&A
    • Individual project sharing and discussion
    • Door prizes
    • Refreshments
    • Free parking
• Christian Aurich writes: "Could you talk about differences in surface finishes on PCBs? I am especially wondering what difference ENIG makes to other 'flat' finishes... so everything else than HAL." 
  • HASL (Leadfree and Leaded)
  • ENIG
  • Immersion Tin
  • Immersion Silver
  • OSP (Organic Solderability Preservative)
  • Gold - Hard Gold
  •  PDF on pros and cons
• Parker 
  • Working on a LVDS output board for the RPI 3
  •  Parallel Display Interface on the RPI3
  • Config.txt parameters and by enabling the correct Linux Device Tree
  • Using the Ti DS90C365A. It converts a RGB666 signal to a LVDS signal for LCD panels. You give it 6 bits for ever color, pixel clock, H clock and V clock and poof LVDS.
• Stephen 
  • Bench Stats: 
    • 80/20 construction
    • 1 5/8" plastic laminate table top
    • 60"x30" with adjustable height between 30.625" to 32.625"
    • Total Length of 80/20 per bench: 40.33 feet
    • 42 angle brackets
    • 84 nuts/bolts
    • ~68.5 lbs
•  Particles from outer space are wreaking low-grade havoc on personal electronics
  • Click bait? In many instances, however, these operational failures may be caused by the impact of electrically charged particles generated by cosmic rays that originate outside the solar system.
  • This is called a single-event upset or SEU
  • SEU failure rates for consumer electronic devices performed by Ritesh Mastipuram and Edwin Wee at Cypress Semiconductor on a previous generation of technology shows how prevalent the problem may be. Their results were published in 2004 in Electronic Design News and provided the following estimates: 
    • A simple cell phone with 500 kilobytes of memory should only have one potential error every 28 years.
    • A router farm like those used by Internet providers with only 25 gigabytes of memory may experience one potential networking error that interrupts their operation every 17 hours.
    • A person flying in an airplane at 35,000 feet (where radiation levels are considerably higher than they are at sea level) who is working on a laptop with 500 kilobytes of memory may experience one potential error every five hours.
  • The engineer's bottom line: "This is a major problem for industry and engineers, but it isn't something that members of the general public need to worry much about." 

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

Podcast Notes

• Patrick Renner and Kelly O'Brien are our guests this week.
  • Flying Carpet Creative
    • Instagram
    • Facebook
    • Vimeo
  • Public sculpture group dedicated to dynamic place making
  • Excited about the opportunity to make
  • Have installations in downtown Houston, East side of Austin, Montrose, Houston
• Houston Museum of Natural Science
  • Project for the new Energy Section of the museum
  • Different set of challenges then previous projects
  • Has to last over a decade with no maintenance

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

Podcast Notes

• Al Williams is our guest this week. 
  • Embedded System Designer
  • Blogger for Hackaday
  • Author of  many books
  • Ham Radio Operator
• Hackaday is a very diverse set of writers. Each writer each has their own specialty that they write about. 
  • Al never lets the negative comments get to him. "If no one tells you you suck then you are probably not being read."
  • The writers for Hackaday are able to pick out what is relevant and what projects are good. Hackaday Seal of Approval.
• Al Williams received his Ham Radio License when he was 14 
  • Call sign - WD5GNR
  • Al has always gone through more solder then log books
• The FPGA evangelist. Al Williams leverages the ability to parallel process on FPGAs.
• FPGA Computer Covers A to Z.

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

Podcast Notes

• We would love to hear from our listeners. Tell us what you think, your current projects, any topics you would like us to cover, or just say “hello”. To reach us follow us on Twitter @MacroFab or send us an email at [email protected].
• Scott Vail wrote in earlier in the week. Gives the podcast two thumbs up.
• Stephen talks about how he got started in Audio Amplifiers and how it led to him becoming an electrical engineer. 
  • Built his first Tube Amplifier 12 years ago and it still works. See Figure 1.
  • Dilbert - The Knack
• Parker
  • The greatest resistor in the world doesn't fit inside the My200 Pick and Place. Will be remade with 0201 10K resistors.
  • The Jeep Radio Hack made it to Hack A Day.  Check it out!
•  RFO 
  • Down and Dirty with Contact Cleaners - on Hack a Day
    • Emmett wrote in and mentioned his volume knob on his NAD Series 20 stereo system is scratchy.
    • Stephen likes  MG Chemicals Nu-Trol Control Cleaner.
    • For penetrating fluid Parker likes Kano Kroil.
  • TI HDC1080 temperature/humidity sensor 
    • Steve Kuehn wrote in to let us know about this neat chip.
    • Relative Humidity Accuracy ±2%
    • Temperature Accuracy ±0.2°C
    • What sets this device apart from other humidity/temperature sensors is there is no analog readings involved.  The output of the device is an I2C interface.  
  • Is owning a  3D printer worth it? 
    • Parker: If you know CAD, Yes. You treat it like another tool in your toolbox.
    • Stephen: Making just silly plastic toys is not worth the expensive of a 3D printer.

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

Podcast Notes

• We would love to hear from our listeners. Tell us what you think, your current projects, any topics you would like us to cover, or just say “hello”. To reach us follow us on Twitter @MacroFab or send us an email at [email protected].
• Derek long time listenersent us an email!
  • Twitter handle @TCurrentSource
  • Emailed us last week that he picked up a 1200V SCR Thyristor.
• Parker 
  • Wrote a capacitor article about polarity and silkscreen markings.
  • Started working on a new Pinball Controller with Spooky Pinball.
•  Stephen 
  • Resistor Resistor arrived. Made a goof on it... but it is fixable. 
  • Motor controller for one of our benches. The Open PLC will be controlling it. It is basically a fancy a fancy pwm filter. - its an optoisolator into a dual transistor config with a r/c filter. See Figure 1, 2, 3
• RFO 
  •  Solar Roadways...yes again with this topic. 
    • 2 year experiment in France, called Wattway.
    • Single lane road stretching 1mile long Cost €5 million, or roughly $5.4 million in U.S. currency. 
    • Covered in 2,880 photovoltaic panels, Produce 280 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy each year and an electrical output of 767 kilowatt hours (kWh) per day. 
    • It's enough to power...wait for it...the streetlights.
    • That’s $19.29 per kWh. We pay 4 cents per kWh.
    • Costs about $3million per mile for a 2 lane road.
  • SparkFun Launches SparkX
    • Plan is to rapidly iterate on ideas and new products.
    • The 3 commandments of SparkX 
      • Speed over Polish
      • Unabashed Failure
      • Go
    • Maybe get Nate on the podcast?
  • McDonalds  reinvents the Straw
    • Suction Tube for Reverse Axial Withdrawal
    • 3D printed straw that fixes problems with drawing thicker liquid out of a cylindrical shaped vessel.
    • The Fluid dynamics image is great.

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!