Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

MEP EP#332: This Podcast Intentionally Left BlankUSB-C will be mandatory for phones sold in the EU ‘by autumn 2024’ The rule will apply to other electronic devices including tablets, digital cameras, headphones, handheld video game consoles, and e-readers Laptops will have to comply with the rule at a later date What about laptops and devices that fall out of the 100W? USB “Extended Power Range” or EPR for 240W of power More Voltage 48V from 20V as max, still 5A Are there any USB Type-C connectors rated for the 48V yet? Stretching Stainless Stencils? PART 2 Continuation of last weeks topic Ended up being that ⅓ of the panels had poor copper registration from the PCB manufacturer Project: SNACKEY PCBs ordered from OshPark Parts ordered from Mouser Drop in Mosfets to replace TIP 102 and TIP 107? IRL510 for N-channel IXTP76P10T for P-channel Time to Say Goodbye, Floppotron 2.0 The stack of floppy drives, harddrives, and scanners is finally being put to rest after 6 years Supposively Floppotron 3.0 is coming soon though! The Floppotron: Doom E1M1 - At Doom's Gate Prep your boards! Some things to consider when preparing your designs to send to your CM Part placement Edge is the wrong place to put parts for many many reasons Leave room for fiducials Provide a Stackup - we are regularly asked for that File naming - use a common naming system or provide info on which files are which Do no provide every layer your EDA tool exports, some are blank!

11 Jun 202248min

MEP EP#331: The PCB PlagueNeutrik EtherCON Ruggedized RJ45 Lockable RJ45 cable within an XLR style housing Also come in a sealed version that offers IP65 rating Interesting PCB failures “The Plague” Black Pad Very poor to no solderability Effect of Moon Phase on Tombstoning Many factors play a role in the overall outcome of PCB assembly, especially when very small components are involved. Broadly speaking, tombstoning is a problem with very small 2-pin components (0201 caps and such) and we've filtered out the following challenges: - proper paste application - component placement - designing for "good" thermal properties of the PCB with regard to tombstoning - moon phase Stretching Stainless Stencils? Oddity Today Interesting manufacturing defect surfacing Stencil “stretches” ever couple panels or so Anyone ever seen or experienced this before? Solutions? Next Steps? Project: SNACKEY Hacking a USI/Vendnet/FSI 3159 Theory of how a snack machine works Interesting Parts UCN5890A UCN5842A SC529136CFN2 M48T18-100PC1 What I am doing to hack it Motor control High/Low side transistors Might change this to mosfets to reduce voltage drop Arduino all the things Current sensing INA219 High side sensing

3 Jun 202259min

MEP EP#330: Rogue Gerbers - Jerry McDaniel of Customer Care at MacroFabJerry McDaniel Has been at Macrofab for over 5 years Currently the Director of Customer Success Previous life, he was the CTO/CFO of Litigation Records Services A records retrieval company in Texas managing litigation records for both Plaintiff and Defense attorneys Application support for Presensoft Inc. for almost 11 years Customer Success How do you figure out how customer's act? What is the advice you can give to engineers? What is the weirdest thing a customer has ever done?

27 Mai 202254min

MEP EP#329: Supply Chain Crunches Reddit Question from r/ECE What are some pros and cons of becoming an electrical engineer? I'm a senior in high school, and I am giving great consideration to majoring in electrical engineering. What are some pros and cons that I should know about? From r/ElectricalEngineering - If you get an electrical engineering degree, you can get a software job. The reverse is not necessarily true. Pinotaur Supply Chain Crunches Replacing a Relay with a Mosfet Looked into Solid State Relays but nothing seems to fit Design concerns? Mosfet drivers like the IRS25752 A primer on high-side FET load switches (Part 1 of 2) Integrated or discrete load switch: which one should you use? (Part 1 of 2) Constant Innovation in Quality Control Current Sensors Replace integrated solution with more discrete solution Little differential opamp Current shunt Sprinkle in some bypass capacitors

20 Mai 202251min

MEP EP#328: Berry Based Physics with Collin Anderson Collin Anderson Computer scientist turned electrical engineer Has worked on things as varied as: Quantum key distribution at Los Alamos National Laboratory A tool to help decipher glyphs of the classical Mayan civilization FPGA firmware at the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory Currently an engineer and co-founder of Orthogonal Systems An engineering and software development firm specializing in: Custom test & measurement hardware Databases Data analysis What are Particles Really? Thinking of sub atomic objects as particles muddies the water Starting with an understanding of wave theory Knowing particles are waves, the weirdness is less weird Electron Standing Waves Current flow is more like a sound pressure wave Each electron is kinda doing its own thing

13 Mai 20221h 10min

MEP EP#327: Mike Kahn of Elemental Machines Mike Kahn Been working in the high tech industry for over thirty years The bulk of this time he has been involved in the architecture and design of complex electronics and embedded systems across a wide variety of segments including general purpose computing, digital communications, digital video, medical devices and life sciences instrumentation Currently the Vice President of Device Engineering at Elemental Machines, a startup that has created a service that allows LabOps professionals to monitor their lab equipment through a combination of IoT devices and a suite of cloud applications How did you get started in the industry? Elemental Machines What is it How is it all integrated Cloud Vice President of Device Engineering What is your primary focus? IoT connectivity for data gathering What is being sensed Industries served How to get started? Services for outfitting labs Manufacturing and bringing products to market for Enterprise customers Consumer VS Enterprise Custom specifications How rigorous your documentation and process is ISO9000

7 Mai 202244min

MEP EP#326: The Infinite Finite GridPART 2 : Is there a macgyver way to measure voltage without a multimeter? Lots of great suggestions in our slack channel Recreating older devices before digital multimeters where available Galvanometer Electrostatic Voltmeter Most of these require lots of experimentation or other precision devices to calibrate Let's explore the electrolysis method further Tools and measuring devices required Watch / time keeping Container of known volume Materials Distilled Water Equations from Purdue Amps & Time <-> Coulombs <-> Faradays <-> Moles of Electrons Interesting EE homework question Calculating actual component resistance by in circuit resistance measurements

29 Apr 202250min

MEP EP#325: Metric KnuckleKeystone Cool Part Countersunk parts? Have you used any parts like that? Design considerations Possible Assembly issues Cool 16x2 character display How do I branch into Electrical Engineering? Is it worthwhile to get certifications? Projects Finding your path. Is there a macgyver way to measure voltage without a multimeter? Electroscope - pith ball or gold leaf Vacuum may be necessary

23 Apr 20221h 3min