Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

MEP EP#316: Chunk 2 Chunk Current ReturnsCircuit grounding - How big is too big? Stephen has a new design that is trying something very odd Planes that connect to the star Difference between different grounding techniques 8 layer monster board with multiple power supplies - low noise Parker likes to think of these problems as the extremes of certain examples as a way to think about what happens Take a "star" topography ground for instance Make the trace lengths that connect to the "star" really small Make the star point really "big" This is vias connections direct to a plain Coilcraft has “Elevated” inductors Parker found this tweet by Lukas Henkel showing coilcraft has inductors that are elevated off the PCB which allows placing parts under the component Coilcraft XAR7030 series Unique off-the-board design provides 1.5 mm clearance for parts to be mounted underneath Magnetically shielded for high density applications Torex Semiconductor has combined switch mode controllers and inductors to build micro DC/DC converters PCB Assembly problems? Should XYRS now have a Z height? This is typically on the CMs to "get it right" Probably best to let your CM know what your doing in this case to reduce confusion

19 Feb 202256min

MEP EP#315: A Rant About How Magnets WorkTopics for this Totally not Unprepared Podcast Episode The Book of Boba Fett Spoilers up to Episode 6 Is the Mandalorian steeling Fett's screen time? Who is a better character? Perpetual Energy and other Nonsense Magnets: how do they work? Space tether experiment Dissipating energy and charges Virtual Grounding Split power rails What really is ground?

12 Feb 20221h 1min

MEP EP#314: Plastic Deg-Ra-Dation with Scott Hansen of Retro-BriteOur guest this week is Scott Hansen, Founder of Retro-Brite. Scott holds an B.A. in Finance from the University of South Dakota and Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M. Previously Scott was on MacroFab Engineering Podcast episodes EP#77: The IdeaFab Podcast EP#223: The Inverted Success Funnel – IdeaFab EP#296: IdeaFab – Does This Podcast Change The World? Scott’s background at NASA Thermal Systems Engineer Retro-Brite Why plastics yellow? Chromophores Reversing the yellowing process Blog posts Into/Summary into plastic yellowing Chromophores Mechanisms of Degradation What Happens In The Plastic? Does Bromine Cause Yellowing?

5 Feb 20221h 3min

MEP EP#313: Another Tool for Your Toolbox3d Printing - Is It Time To Get Into It? Types of printers at the personal hobbyist level Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Stereolithography (SLA) Stephen's Hopes and Dreams Budget $400 to $600 Biggest print surface 0.001” (0.0254mm) accuracy Requires only setup/calibration/maintenance No mods just to get it to work What does Stephen mean by "work" What to use the 3D printer for Jigs and fixtures Wire harnesses Complex Air manifold Testing adjustments to injection molded parts Calibration What is needed How often? Software Own vs subscription Slicers? Consumables What is needed? How often? What kind of cash we looking at? Maintenance Periodic? How often?

28 Jan 20221h 10min

MEP EP#312: Armchair Military StrategistsDestroy TSMC if China Invades, To Make Taiwan 'unwantable', Says US Military Paper Link to article Why? Destroy the economic and technological reason for China to want Taiwan Military Paper written by Jared McKinney and Peter Harris How do you keep a free Taiwan and not enter WWIII? How would any invasion of Taiwan affect the already unstable global electronics supply chain Fabless chip makers Apple AMD Nvidia Broadcomm TSMC basically manufactures integrated circuits for almost every manufacturer Mega Load Resistor Stephen needs a dummy load for testing the output of amplifiers 300W dissipation minimum Multiple impedance taps - 2,4,8,16 ohm Is it best to buy more lower watt resistors and spread them out or is it best to buy fewer larger ones? Don't Goop Your Electronics Don't try to obscure your design by putting smoo all over your PCB assembly Your schematic and board layout are not your trade secrets Golf Cart Project Completed! Added a "user" mode switch to switch between speed and throttle response settings Had to lengthen the intermediate steering shaft length to prevent "loss of steering"

22 Jan 202258min

MEP EP#311: The Gamification of PCB AssemblyTig Stream Announcement Saturday Jan 15th at 6:00 PM Central Twitch.tv/macrofab How would a PCB assembly service be gamified? A tutorial level Mandatory Clippy Mac the PCB Guy Avatar Clothing Experience Points Titles Badges and Achievements Rankings Leaderboards In Game Currency Microtransactions Weekly and Daily rewards Quests Design Raid

13 Jan 202251min

MEP EP#310: 2022 New Year Engineering ResolutionsTig Stream Announcement Saturday Jan 15th at 6:00 PM Central Stay tuned for more information New Years Engineering Resolutions Parker Finish the Cat Feeder Unreminder Get the 65’ Checker “Running” Get to 200 lbs Stephen Smaller but more directed action Stretch resolution Be more present Practice more From the MacroFab Engineering Team Run DRC on your designs! We have DRC files for Eagle and Altium Questions about our DRC can be directed to support@macrofab.com Cheating the DRC just results in more end cost due to infield failures and extra loss in E-testing From the WMD team Let us cheat the numbers not you The numbers are there for a reason. We know when we can fudge them. Podcast Resolutions Release podcast at Friday noon Going to video and the edits will be on Youtube Transcribing the audio More polls and user engagement Swag to give out during live streams

7 Jan 20221h 3min

MEP EP#309: Perpetual PrototypesHow Far Did our Christmas Projects Go? Tube Compressor Stephen "Completed" Wants to add more features.... Synchrotron phaser Works but needs value tweaking on some gains Have a sample of the audio in the podcast Parker's Mother’s Golf Cart Finished paint and started reassembly! SendcutSend sheet metal bending experience Sent off a design for a custom rack mount shelf Used Autodesk Fusions Sheet Metal tool to design it Parts came out great! Looking forward to trying Xometry's new sheet metal service SendcutSend offers powdercoating now? Pinouts.org Art that is also functional? Some really cool t-shirts as well!

30 Des 202157min