Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

The concerning news of a missing submarine near the Titanic wreck site this week sparks conversation about the implications of using a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering, the importance of regulatory bodies for deep sea exploration and why backups are essential for critical systems. We also explore the question; is an engineer a scientist? Lastly, we discuss a breakthrough in laser-based data transmission that could revolutionize internet connectivity.

Submarine Safety: Unconventional Controls and Engineering Design

• Suitability of game controllers for critical systems
• Regulatory compliance and safety standards in engineering projects
• What can we learn from this story and why backups are essential 

Engineer vs. Scientist: Perception and Practice

• Proficiency at something vs. being an expert 
• Education vs. professionally paid for your work 
• “If you wear a white lab coat in your day job, you are a scientist” 
• Inspired by u/amirouche_up’s question at r/askengineers 

Laser Internet: Overcoming Atmospheric Interference for Enhanced Connectivity

• If Stephen was in charge of this project, the first message he would send across would be “Gondor calls for aid”
• Advantages of lasers in data transmission compared to undersea fiber optic cables 
• What if you could curb a laser?

Summary/Takeaways:

• Lessons learned from the submarine incident and best practices for engineering safety
• Perspectives on the engineer-scientist debate 
• Future prospects and applications of laser-based data transmission technology

Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our slack channel at Macrofab dot com / slack or email us at [email protected].

MEP EP# 383: Screaming into the Social Media Void

AutoDesk is dropping support and development for the dedicated Eagle EDA tool and moving efforts to the AutoDesk Fusion 360 Electronics. This has set the electronic enthusiast online communities ablaze with KiCad users and supporters frothing at this opportunity to take market share away from Eagle in the EDA space. Parker and Stephen discuss this and more on this week’s episode of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!

Topics:

Parker was on The Coriolis Effect last Friday with Bill Herd and Ben Jordan! Check out the episode here. 

AutoDesk dropping dedicated Eagle Support.

• Effective June 7 2026. Autodesk will no longer sell Eagle
  • Fusion 360 Electronics is the “path forward” 
  • Supposedly Eagle files are fully compatible with Fusion 360 Electronics
• Hackaday’s take on this: “They used to be a big shot but now they are no more”
• Discussion points: 
  • What will happen to all of the historic Eagle materials out in the world?
  • What will happen to stand alone eagle? 
  • Is this a big deal because the hacker/maker community is loud?
  • The move of everything to subscription models, is it a good business move, or the death knell for these products?
    • Pros
      • Continuous improvement
      • Access to most or all tools even the expensive ones
      • Support
    • Cons
      • You don’t own your tool
      • Your designs feel like they are held hostage
  • Is KiCAD a good open source alternative to Eagle, and will it be competitive to Fusion? 
• Takeaways: 
  • What will the future look like for these types of products - will Fusion 360 be strong? 
  • Will subscription models continue to gain momentum? 
  • Hobby vs profit

Ex-Samsung executive alleged to have stolen tech to recreate chip plant in China

• What was this executive planning to transfer?
• Modern plants are highly integrated and specific with supporting equipment needed to drive those tools.
• Maybe it was Samsung’s secret sauce? Software packages and tooling guidelines? 

Unconventional fathers day gift ideas?

• What does an electrical engineer give his dad?
• Tools
• Steaks
• Just give him a call!

MEP EP#382: The Danger Pool

The CHIPS act is in full swing with Texas Instruments, TSMC, Intel and other chip manufacturers scaling up and building new facilities in the United States. There is just one problem however, the engineering manpower required to run these high tech facilities. TSMC is struggling to fill hiring quotas and articles are citing TSMC working conditions as the reason. Stephen and Parker decide to explore the possibility of more reasons for this on this week’s episode of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast.

Chipmaker TSMC needs to hire 4,500 Americans at its new Arizona plants.

• We touched on this in the past with the chip act. 668,000 domestic manufacturing jobs for the chips act on Episode #345 - The Hot List of Tasty Chip Fabs
• TSMC says it will hire 4,500 new workers to support its two Arizona fabs, a sizable chunk of the total new jobs created. So far TSMC has hired ~2000 but say it is tough to hire.
• Compensation and hiring
  • TSMC pays up to $160,000 annually for Ph.D.s with some good experience where that same Ph.D. can earn some $30,000 more at Intel
  • Intel is giving raises of $10K - $20K over TSMC offers to stay. 
• More students in STEM in Taiwan vs US : 31% compared to 17.5%

Apple launches Vision Pro AR headset to ship next year

• $3500 When the VR industry is getting less expensive and in a hardware purchasing decline?
• Pro price but no pro applications?

The Danger Pool

• What would it take to make a “solder pot”
  • Assembling Transistor Radios 1955
• Simple calculations
  • 60/40 specific heat = 0.173 J/g-C
  • 60/40 melting temp = 190c
  • Energy to raise temp -> specific heat equation
  • Energy to raise 5kg temp by 165C = 142.7 kJ
  • Enthalpy of fusion = 37J/g
  • Energy needed to “melt” = 185kJ
  • Total Energy = 327 kJ
• Joule is W.s
• If we wanted to deliver this much power in 30 minutes
• 182 Watts
• Kitchen stove burner
  • Small ~1200W
  • Medium ~1500 to 1800W
  • Large ~2500W
• 500mm x 175mm size

MEP EP#381: Bil Herd - Back Into the Storm

Bil Herd, one of the early engineers of Home Computers, joins as a guest on this week’s episode of the podcast. Bil led the hardware design for the Commodore C128 and Plus4 Series of computers in the 1980’s and currently co-hosts a weekly webcast which can be seen at Coriolis-effect.com

Topics:

Back Into the Storm: A design engineers story of Commodore Computers in the 1980’s

Vintage Computer Festival

• Returning to Texas this June
• June 23rd - 25th VCF Southwest
• August 4-5th VCF West
• Vcfed.org

Coriolis-Effect

• Bil co-hosts this along with Ben Jordan! 
• Summary of the show / Topics
  • Deep dives into circuit analysis
  • Signal integrity

DFM and assembly process

• The Commodore C128 was designed during the era of through hole components.
• How did the advent of Surface Mount Tech change design? 
• Through hole is still used today and what mistakes do modern engineers and designers do when using through hole components?  
• How often did “green wire” fixes go into production?

MEP EP#380: The Simplest SMT Component… In The World

Stephen’s CNC steps closer to being completed on this CNC electronics centric podcast! We discuss design snafus and problems with poorly constructed CNC controllers and design misses in the mechanical assembly. Then Parker receives a newsletter that has the simplest SMT component in the world. What could that component even be used for?

Topics:

Stephen’s CNC - What remains?

• The 2000 mm ball screws in right before the episode
• Drives/drivers/power supply have arrived!
• Need to order
  • Controller - purchased NVEM
    • Now the STB4100
  • Limit switches
  • E-chain
  • MPG
  • Safety stuff like the change over switch and breaker
• Need to make a box for the FRO/SRO/SJO
  • Why this isn’t a normal thing is strange
• Making the surface of the table
  • MDF with sunken screws
• Software
  • Making control box wiring diagrams
  • Brewery controller
    • Thunder ohm style wiring
    • Max max
  • Printable heat shrink to match diagrams
• Electrical Enclosure 
  • Vevor 24x24x8
• Cabling woes

The Simplest SMT component… In The World

• Harwin Surface Mountable Contact Pads
• Marketing material states
  • Surface mountable contact pad, ideal as a mating area for Spring Contacts, Spring Loaded Contacts and Spring Loaded Contact Connectors.
• Any reason to use these? 
  • Datasheet shows that the gold thickness is no thicker than normal ENIG
    • Contact Pad 0.025um - 0.075um
    • IPC-4552 0.05um - 0.20um

MEP EP#379: Taking pictures with magnetic flux

Two major topics this week! Major Box Truck updates and going over the Texas DMC Occupations Code for what a Motor home is. Then we flash back to the year 2000. Parker was only 13 years old when he took a photography merit badge class for scouts and was introduced to digital photography through the Sony MVC-FD5. This Sony camera stores images on a floppy disk. Will this archaic storage media sink Parker’s nostalgia for this camera or will it just spawn extra projects?

Podcast News:

• Switching Podcast hosting seems to have gone seamlessly!
• Trying out a new piece of recording software this week.

Topics:

Box Truk Updates

• Brake Lights arrived and installed!
• Spare tire holder built and installed
• 360 degree camera system partially installed
• Starting work on the “RV” portion
  • Built the shower stall so far
  • Texas DMV Occupations Code, Section 2301.002 (21)
    • “Motor home” means a motor vehicle that is designed to provide temporary living quarters and that:
      • (A) is built on a motor vehicle chassis as an integral part of or a permanent attachment to the chassis; and
      • (B) contains at least four of the following independent life support systems that are permanently installed and designed to be removed only for repair or replacement and that meet the standards of the American National Standards Institute, Standards for Recreational Vehicles:
        • A cooking facility with an on-board fuel source; Motor Vehicles Adapted or Designed for Human Habitation Assembled and Reconstructed Vehicle Manual 11-2 TxDMV October 2020
        • A gas or electric refrigerator
        • A toilet with exterior evacuation
        • A heating or air conditioning system with an on-board power or fuel source separate from the vehicle engine;
        • a potable water supply system that includes at least a sink, a faucet, and a water tank with an exterior service supply connection; or
        • A 110-125 volt electric power supply.

Sony MVC-FD5

• Digital Camera from Parker’s past
• Floppy Drive problems
• Building a “fake” vintage luggable computer

MEP EP#378: Crawfish Conundrum

Cooking crawfish a mile above sea level? How will the crawfish cook differently? On this episode of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast, Parker and Stephen discuss the different seasoning, boil and soak times, and building an inexpensive boil pot from materials and supplies Stephen already has. Parker also makes the Box Truk an official project on the podcast even though it has nothing to do with electrical engineering. The last topic is on 3D printing and what is the state of Parker’s and Stephen’s machines and what they use the 3D printers for.

Podcast News:

Switching Podcast Hosting Companies

Topics:

Box Truk Updates

• Transmission cooler and fan installed and wired up
  • Thermal switch and relay setup
• Finished up the rear light wiring but waiting on the brake lights
• Installed a used on board air system for filling up tires and running pneumatic tools
• Next on the list
  • Install a spare tire holder
  • Check for leaks in the transmission lines
  • Install the 360 degree camera system

Crawfish Boil

• Keg conversion
• What do we need?
  • Boil ingredients
    • Butter
    • Salt
    • Crab boil
    • Crawfish oil
      • Louisiana oil
    • Minced garlic
    • Corn
    • Potato
    • Sausage
    • Mushroom
    • Tortellini
  • Post boil ingredients

Three Dee Printing

• Tony_W from the slack channel 
  • “I find 3D printers to be close to magic. You make a wish in fusion 360. Export the wish to the Voron. And voila, when you wake up the next morning, there is your wish on the build plate.”
• Parker’s current state of Printing
  • Currently just print polycarbonate from polymaker on a modified Wanhao D6
    • Other materials to look into? 
    • TPU based materials for making rubber isolators
  • Resin printer is an Elegoo mars 3
    • Want to experiment with more resins but haven’t found the time.
    • What materials should I look into? 
    • Upgrade the printer to the larger versions? 
    • Chrome plating 3d prints

MEP EP#377: Countdown to Hype

Component selection for your next product design is difficult as is with having to juggle temperature requirements, supply chain availability problems, and functionality parameters. Now consider your product in an environment that will actively destroy the semiconductors. This episode we dip our toes into Radiation exposure for electronics!

Topics:

Electronics and radiation

• Radiation Handbook for Electronics
• Silicon does strange things in the presence of radiation
  • Failures - 
    • Two Flavors - non permanent or permanent
    • SEE (single event error)
    • SEU (single event upset)
    • SEL (single-event latch-up)
    • SEGR (single-event gate rupture)
    • SEB (Single event burnout) 
  • PN junctions
  • Fets
  • CMOS - Memory
• Types of radiation exposure
  • TID (total ionizing dose)
    • Rate specific
    • ELDRS (Enhanced low dose rate sensitivity)
  • Proton
  • Neutron

SpaceX starship

• Starship is the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever flown and the first intended to be fully reusable
• Launch was great to watch
• Damage to launch pad
• Twice the thrust of the Saturn V

What kind of topics and discussions do Senior or Principal Engineers Care about?

• How many times can you sit through an introduction on a topic?
• Ion Open Accelerator: Designing & Manufacturing A PCBA

MEP EP#376: Starting From The Beginning

When did you start listening to the podcast? Have a favorite episode? Let Stephen and Parker know which is your favorite. Also, we are going to do another design contest! The Box Truck also gets an update from Parker.

May the Fab be with you! MacroFab event page.

Topics:

Favorite Episodes from listeners? 

• When did you start listening to the podcast?
• Stephen’s Favorite episode?
  • Brandon Sander of Inheritance Machining
  • Idea Tank episodes
    • Episode #77
    • Episode #223
  • Episode #296
• Parker’s Favorite episode?
  • Centex Paranormal Episode
  • JOSH - the podcast editor
  • James Lewis on MLCC / Ceramic Capacitors
• Top downloaded is #153 Discrete Atomic Luffa Control

Next Electrical Engineering Contest

• Projects that use FR4 in structural ways
• Listeners have any ideas?

Box Truck Build Update

• Auxiliary Power Infrastructure
• Figuring out automotive wiring schematics
• What has been completed so far
  • Under hood
  • Factory Auxiliary Fuse Box
  • Trailer Controller
  • Banks iDash

MEP EP#375: From Zero to Hero in Python

Topics:

Why is python requested in embedded software/firmware engineer jobs?

• The Complete Python Bootcamp From Zero to Hero in Python - Udemy

Rapid Harness Software

• Designing some pinball harnesses
• Powerful for a single task
• Has a free version but limited

CNC stuff

• Critical speeds on ball screws
  • Length
  • Diameter
  • End supports
• SFU2010 got 700in/min which is almost a foot a second.
• Rotational speed of 1778 RPM
• Power supplies for stepper motors
  • Shared axis power supply considerations.