Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

MEP EP#252: Kicking Troglodytes Off The StageParker PCB serial numbering or other unique marking I have batches of boards and need to put some unique numeric identifier and a MAC address on each board. Besides stickers, laser etching, scratching or DIY stencil and paint, what are folks doing? PinoTaur REV 3 boards arrived REV 4 changes already ;) Ben Jordan of Autodesk will be a guest on the podcast Product manager and is responsible for the EAGLE product Get your Eagle questions in early! Stephen Adventures in Rpi 4 Midi overkill Clock master Possibly be a usb midi device? Reset? Repairs Roland TR-606 drum matrix Looks like a possible ram IC issue. The unit functions and does things that only a processor could do like blink leds at a particular rate None of the buttons have memory - they do not “store” anything Upd444c obsolete - 6514 SRAM is a drop in replacement The FX Dev board returns 2 versions of the fx dev board now exist ProtoBoard Protis 1 Both look like they ditched my ac power supply for a charge pump design Both opted to not do the integrated soldered breadboard

26 Marras 202048min

MEP EP#251: Loopholes or EquivalentParker Wiring Harness update Wire Jacket Temperature rating Wire strandedness or number of strands Labeling Requirements? Treatment to pigtail end RoHs? The Untold Story Of The Bug That Almost Sank The Dreamcast's North American Launch Audio IC hardware layout problem Floating input pin causing the IC to flip into MIDI mode and crash the software BL6: The Coolest* Console Ever Video game console that is supposed to look like a 6 pack of beer Has two chilled spots that actively cool the beverages Six built in games like: Tekken7, SOUL CALIBUR VI and R.B.I Baseball 20 Ben Jordan of Autodesk will be a guest on the podcast Product manager and is responsible for the EAGLE product Get your Eagle questions in early! Stephen Adventures in Rpi 4 Did not get ERPnext running on the pi but I did dump about 10 to 15 hours into playing with the pi Need to do something with it ERPnext is pretty cool Check it out if you have the need to control a whole business Revisioning…. Repairs Roland TR-606 drum matrix Super impressive through hole stackup Compact Battery powered Everything triggers together Some kind of bus issue Schematic Korg Poly Six Just doing some cleanup and recal Last page - random writing and some phone numbers - love it

18 Marras 202047min

MEP EP#250: Artisan Sudo ToastersParker EXTRALIFE charity update How Biden may handle China and the electronics trade CHIPS Act Creating Helpful Incentives for Producing Semiconductors Incentives for the construction of semiconductor manufacturing facilities and equipment Calls for $300 billion in new funding over four years for R&D and breakthrough technologies like AI and quantum computing. “aggressive trade enforcement actions against China” Drawing wiring harness diagrams for contract manufacturing Stephen Adventures in Rpi 4 Microcenter trip 15 watts of power - no more no less Stephen isn't a linux guy… Trying to install ERPnext - open source enterprise resource planning ERPnext is an all in one business management software Accounting HR & Payroll Manufacturing Sales & Purchase CRM Projects

11 Marras 202044min

MEP EP#249: How Soft Are Your Diodes?Parker Signed up for the EXTRA LIFE charity this year to raise money for the Texas Children's Hospital This Saturday (Nov 7th) Parker will be broadcasting a 24 hour video game stream Will be playing the Half-Life 2 video game all the way through This includes the two episode expansions to the base campaign Difficulty level will be set to 'Hard' and I will be attempting to unlock all the achievements at the same time. Donations are tax-deductible and 100% of it goes to the hospital Learning some javascript to build plugins for the stream PinoTaur REV3 has gone gold Added more current sensing Low Current Allegro ACS70331EESATR-005B3 High Current Allegro ACS711KEXLT-15AB-T Changed Relay to a socketed relay type ISO micro relays type On PCB flyback diodes for coils MRA4004 Relay is driven by both the MCU and the Fault pin on the high current sensing IC Walmart fires store robots Saw improvements in inventory control with the robots, but not enough of an improvement in revenues and other measures. One premise is that stores will sell more goods if the shelves are stocked and wanted items are made available Stephen How soft are your diodes? Softness factor - a definition of the reverse current characteristic Ta = time when charge from depletion region is removed Tb = time when charge from semiconductor region is removed S-factor = tb/ta S-factor = unity = soft recovery S-factor unity = fast or snappy-recovery General purpose/fast recovery (FRED diodes) The SSPS? @zane is going back and listening to episode 1 What was the SSPS? What were the specifications???? Where did we leave off

4 Marras 202048min

MEP EP#248: Keeping The Spirit Costs ExtraParker AMD to buy Xilinx for $35 billion in stock Wasn’t that long ago that Intel bought Altera Why such a merger? Sharing topography, technology, and manufacturing techniques Tariffs and the Election Engineers and Manufacturers have been decoupling from China for the last 4 years The big question is what happens next. If Biden wins, are the Trump tariffs gone? Or will we keep them? What happens if Trump wins? Tesla self driving Imagine learning there is no autonomous driving and it's just a bunch of dudes mechanically turking your car This could be the end game with Starlink. Work from Home Uber to drive cars! Johnny Cab Stephen Revitalizing old products What and how to “modernize” electronics Design decisions Through Hole vs SMD Component Placement Design for machines Packages Keeping the spirit of the original Beware of single sourcing Semiconductor facility fire

28 Loka 202047min

MEP EP#247: To Bake an Apple PieParker PCB Stackup Why is it important to manufacturing? Who should define it? CM? PCB Fabricator? Designer? PCB Bodges Your worst bodge Most proud bodge? DIY Glycol chilling? Chiller Daddy Pump Diverter Stephen Brexit and the UKCA Mark New regulatory mark to make things easier… Goes into affect 1 January 2021 The UKCA marking can be used from 1 January 2021. However, to allow businesses time to adjust to the new requirements, you will still be able to use the CE marking until 1 January 2022 in most cases. The UKCA marking alone cannot be used for goods placed on the Northern Ireland market, which require the CE marking or UK(NI) marking.

21 Loka 202053min

MEP EP#246: Doing Something MagicalParker Physicists build circuit that generates clean, limitless power from graphene University of Arkansas physicists Energy harvesting the thermal motion of graphene Without getting all quantum about it, it seems to work by configuring the graphene as one electrode (or both) of a capacitor. As the graphene flaps in the breeze (actually Brownian motion, I assume), the changing geometry will change the capacitance. The team's next objective is to determine if the DC current can be stored in a capacitor for later use Youtube video Stephen New test equipment design - picking the right opamp Current sensing with a bit of a twist Powered by +/-12V Need to read current on the +12 and the -12 along with a +9V rail Opamp needs to be capable of reading a voltage drop in an environment where the common mode voltage is at or near the opamp supply voltage Current sense amplifiers INA1x9 series amplifiers from TI Supply and common mode range are independent of each other 2.7v to 60v Convert a voltage to a current then change the gain by selecting an appropriate load Iphone 12 doesn’t come with a charger? Are chargers necessary? Don't we have like 300 of them lying around? Apple states environmental reasons for dropping the charger Also no earbuds Examples of other products that lack the equipment necessary to function Video game consoles? Appliances? Internet router?

14 Loka 202041min

MEP EP#245: K-Factoring a GumboParker Security flaw left ‘smart’ chastity sex toy users at risk of permanent lock-in List to podcast for additional information... Stephen Fusion 360 has changed their personal license subscription model All of these went into effect on Oct 1 Project storage is limited to 10 active and editable documents Exports are now limited to a small number of file types. Thankfully this still includes STL files but alas, DXF, DWG, PDF exports are all gone Perhaps most importantly to the makerverse, STEP, SAT, and IGES file types can no longer be exported, the most common files for those who want to edit a design using different software. 2D drawings can now only be single sheet, and can only be printed or plotted Rendering can now only be done locally, so leveraging cloud-based rendering is no longer possible CAM support has been drastically cut back: no more multi-axis milling, probing, automatic tool changes, or rapid feeds, but support for 2, 2.5, and 3 axis remains All support for simulation, generative design, and custom extensions has been removed Purchased a license and I am not looking back Autodesk had loads of pushback from the community because of the decision to remove STEP export “Fixed” this issue claiming the reversal was due to “unintended consequences for the hobbyist community.” Sheet metal design and fabrication Be careful with using automated tools Understand the rules Dont rely entirely on templates As always - talk with your manufacturer

7 Loka 202044min