EP#78: No Guru Here

Podcast NotesStephen brewed a batch of beer over the last weekend with his new electric brewing setup. It is not complete yet but it does work. Stephen converted his brew kettle to include a 4500W heating element bought from  lowes. It runs on 220 volts. At full blast it pulls ~20A.The enclosure for Stephen's brew rig is currently a USPS box. See Figure 1 and 2.Parker is working on an  Audio Amp for Spooky Pinball. It is going to be based on the Gainclone. Instead of the LM3875, Parker is going to use the LM1875 as he does not need 56W per channel.For Tone control, Parker found these dirt cheap potentiometers on  Ebay. Seem to work fine...EMC FASTPASS has a great article ever product engineer should read. PCB Cost Reduction and EMC – A Cautionary Tale. The article is about redesigning a product to lower its cost and the trials of the FCC/CE certification.Awesome click bait title from Hackaday.  Top Ten Reasons Not To Buy A Fake MacBook Charger. Number Eight Will Shock You.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

9 Sep 201627min

Podcast NotesParker designed the Macro Duino! Basically a Arduino clone using Type C USB, a FT230X as the USB UART bridge, and proper power switching with the Ti TPS2113A. See Figure 1. Also supports 3.3V and 5.0V.Earlier this week Parker had an article about adding external Part Libraries and DRC rules to Eagle. Check it out  here.Some new work on the PinHeck Pinball System. Parker is working on adding the Octavo OSD3358 to replace the Parallax Propeller as the A/V processor.Stephen has been working on his Brewing Rig. He is giving a talk at Destination Codes about the Brewing Rig since it will involve programming and hardware.For flow control, Stephen is using a  Atlas Scientific flow meter and a  motorized ball valve from Amazon.LattePanda is the platform Stephen wants to use for the Brewing Rig. Runs Windows10.KAIST process engineers, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, have developed a  chip packaging technology that creates flexible integrated circuits. The substrate they designed is very interesting. Fixing the Ampere: Redefining the SI Unit. ON cleared to buy Fairchild. ON has received the US FTC’s blessing to proceed with its $2.4 billion takeover of Fairchild on condition that it sells off the Ignition IGBT business.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

2 Sep 201633min

Podcast NotesParker is working on streamlining the Selective Solder Process at MacroFab. Writing a script that will take XYRS data and generate the G-Code for the machine.Design work on a calibration board for visual systems like the SAIM and calibrating the Selective Solder is being designed.Stephen is getting the analog side of the SSPS working. The -35V rail has a blown transistor. He found that pnp transistors were flipped C to E!After testing the circuit node by node, Stephen found some deviations from the simulation. The feedback voltage was supposed to be about 34 volts but it was reading 15.2 and -1.78 for both regulators. Put the scope on the fb nodes and found that the + error amp was oscillating at 12.6kHz and the - regulator was at 2.4kHz. Both error amps has insufficient control feedback. Added a 1M resistor with a 100uF cap in parallel and the oscillation went away. See Figure 1.Engineering click bait article titles. Parker came up with "5 Cost Saving Tips No Contract Manufacturer Wants You to Know About". Stephen has "The PCB went in the oven. You will never guess what happens next".Parker wants to design a small battlebot type platform that utilizes an entire 16"x16" panel that includes the mechanical chassis parts. Can reuse the controller board for even larger bots.Popular Internet of Things forecast of 50 billion devices by 2020 is  outdated. Revised to 30 or so Billion depending on who you talk to.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

26 Aug 201634min

Podcast NotesStephen is currently working on DipTrace part libraries and templates for DRC and CAM file generation. Should have an article out next week about it. GitHub repository for DipTrace files are located here.The BGA Escape article is complete! Read it on our  blog. See Figure 1.Parker finished up the USB Type-C test board. Download the files  here. He is using a  Molex 105450-0101 USB Type-C that is all SMD. See Figure 2.Progress on the KiCad footprints and part libraries. Check out what Dustin has done so far here.Stephen found out that KiCad uses ".pretty" as an extension format for the libraries. Parker thinks the developers thought it was good for KiCad's self esteem. Toilet seat has a scale that tells you how much your excrement weighs. Stephen's IoT toilet exists. Modular Moto Z Android phone supports DIY and RPi HAT add-ons. A modular cell phone you can buy right now as Project Ara hasn't seen any real hardware in customer hands yet. Has a SDK that allows talking to the interface.Parker asks "College is starting back up. As a Freshman Electrical Engineer what should you buy to get a leg up?". A  good breadboard and  jumper wires would help out in labs. Stephen and Parker will be putting together an Intro to Hardware article in the future.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

19 Aug 201627min

Podcast NotesStephen has been running tests on the Energon Cube for the SSPS. So far everything is working great. Check out Stephen's blog post update:  Super Simple Power Supply "SSPS" Design (Part 3).The FX Dev board enclosure arrived and it looks great. See Figure 1 for some sweet powder coated goodness.Parker has been working on streamlining all the MacroFab Engineering Github Repositories. Most of them should look consistent in layout and information now.All the Eagle footprint libraries have been updated with MPN and Populate attributes. Check them out here. Should be adding these features to DipTrace and KiCad footprints by next week.Releasing MF-CON-2.54mm-01xXX pinheaders. Check out the house parts section on the MacroFab website.Parker had an article come out earlier this week about Eagle Part Attributes. This way designers and engineers can easily add the MPN and Populate field to their own parts.In Episode 26 of MEP, Parker had a hacked together USB Type C prototype. Now Parker has a full on development board he designed using a FTDI FT230X and a Parallax Propeller. See Figure 2. ‘Transient electronics’ research develops dissolving battery. Basically is a battery that has a polyvinyl alcohol-based polymer casing that swells causing it to dissolve, except for some nanoparticles, in around half an hour after contact with water. It supposedly can power a laptop for 15 minutes but Parker did some napkin math and found out it was a bunch of crap. PokeBall Wiggles when Pokemon are Nearby. Cool project that uses servos inside a 3D printed pokeball to wiggle when it finds pokemon nearby for the Pokemon Go App. Uses Particle IoT's "Photon" hardware and the Pokemon Go's API.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

12 Aug 201631min

Podcast NotesOur Guest this week is Kwabena Agyeman who runs OpenMV. See Figure 1.The OpenMV project is about creating low-cost, extensible, Python powered, machine vision modules and aims at becoming the “Arduino of Machine Vision“. See Figure 2.Parker is using an OpenMV camera for the first iteration of the Semi-Automatic Inspection Machine.The great thing about Open Source is you can fix bugs.OpenMV started as a  kickstarter.The original OV2640 Omni Vision camera sensor was discontinued and gray market parts where found but didn't work. Replaced with the OV7725.KeySniffer sniffs cheap wireless keyboard protocols. We should take a page from BSG and go all wired to prevent Cylon infiltration.Facebook has a new Area 404 Hardware division. Could see some interesting hardware come out of this? Possibly similar to Bell Labs of ole?Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

5 Aug 201636min

Podcast NotesStephen has been working on making the copper buss bars for the SSPS Energon cube. See Figure 1.We calculated that the resistance of the copper buss bars is 0.00458 ohms or 4.58 mohm. Our measurements show 2.5 mohm. See Figure 2.The Macro Amp board is populated. Now the enclosure needs to be made. Stephen thinks he will use Parts Badger to make the mounting plate for the amp.Parker has been updating the MacroFab part libraries for Eagle and will move onto Diptrace soon. He also has been writing articles for eagle that will be coming out soon.Parker got USB 2.0 working on a Type C connector using the  FTDI FT230X chip.Parker is working on a new layout to add to pre-existing designs which utilizes  MacroFab's standard PCB specifications (5 mil trace width, 12 mil drill, 6 mill annular ring).Analog Devices is in the process of  purchasing Linear Technology for $14.8 billion. We discuss what will happen to the datasheets and LT Spice. Avnet outbids Daetwyler to purchase Farnell for $691 million (the owner of Element 14 and supplier of the Raspberry pi).Parker presents his method of hacking Pokemon Go - tap into the data lines on the hardware and send the software phony GPS data. This would be a true hardware hack.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

29 Jul 201631min

Podcast NotesStephen has completed the SSPS Analog board. See Figure 1. Testing will begin early next week.The Macro Amp that Stephen has been working on is almost done. He just needs to solder the through hole onto the board. See Figure 2.Stephen has been working with Altium this past couple weeks while doing DFM work for customers. He would like the software if it didn't cost $15K.Parker finished programming the new revision of the MacroWatch V2. See Figure 3. Uses the  EFM8SB10F2G in a QFN-20 package. EFM8 series has tons of built in peripherals. Reduced power consumption by 5 fold.KiCad will be adding built in SPICE simulation to the schematic portion. Stephen is now willing to try out the EDA tool. ARM was purchased by SoftBank for $32 Billion. Parker and Stephen talk about the implications of this purchase. The ARM founder isn't to happy about the deal.Microchip will be  boosting the Atmel AVR8 product line later this summer.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

22 Jul 201631min