Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast

Podcast NotesParker and Stephen have been working on the Super Simple Power Supply. Parker has the test panel done and working. See Figure 1. Stephen has the Analog "Energon Cube" PCB made. See Figure 2. Should be working by next weeks podcast.The datasheet for the VFD display Parker is using has an ambiguous pinout for the serial interface. Part number  CU16025-UW6J. Parker had to bridge some wires to fix the problem.The entire front panel for the SSPS will draw roughly 60W of power. Will have to have its own transformer inside to power it.Stephen is writing a series of BGA footprint and layout articles. Check out the first one.Another datasheet rant. This time about the FX Dev boards breadboards. There was a critical dimension that was 1mm off. 1.54mm VS 2.54mm. See Figure 3.Parker has been working on USB Type C. Will be writing a couple articles in the future about his findings. Parker made a test dev board to experiment on the Type C connector.Intersel made a really interesting buck boost battery charger IC that is perfect for USB Type C Power Delivery. Can boost 5V and buck 12V and 20V to charge a lithium battery pack. Part number is  ISL9237 and Parker wants to get his hands on it to make a battery pack for his phone.Pokemon GO goes without saying that it was a huge hit. Sparkfun has a project to build your own Pokédex that has a battery backup to keep you going to catch 'em all.Mike of the Useless Duck Company built an  Arduino powered door lock that is activated by opening an incognito window in Chrome on his desktop. He says he uses it for "shopping".Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

15 Jul 201636min

Podcast NotesDactyl nightmare -  One of the first demonstrations of virtual reality used in a video game at the mall of America in the early 90s.Sony/Nintendo console – Before Sony created the Playstation, they had partnered with Nintendo to create a SNES console. The Ben Heck show has featured a tear down of the device.Snes star fox voices – Ben shows us his excellent talent of emulating the voices of the characters from the Super Nintendo Star Fox game.Parker and Ben tell the story of how they met at the Midwest Gaming Classic.Pinheck system – Parker and Ben discuss in detail the design of the  Pinheck pinball system. This control system is used in the America’s most haunted pinball maching made by spooky pinball.We determined that the Parallax Propeller utilizes the Von Neumann architecture as opposed to the Harvard architure for its program memory.Adafruit recently had an interview with Matt Berggren, the director of Autodesk circuits, to talk about the future of eagle. The interview can be found  here.Mega processor – A massive,  discrete-level processor designed by James Newman which uses over 42,000 transistors is finally complete.  His project can be found here.A clone of the Apollo Guidance computer, the computer that brought astronauts to the moon and back, has been built by John Pultorak.  schematics can be found here.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

8 Jul 20161h 3min

Podcast NotesScott Shawcroft of Chickadee Tech is our guest on this weeks podcast. He is working on a modular flight control system called polystack. It has 13 different boards that can be stacked together. Similar to shields for the Arduino platform. See Figure 1.Scott is down here in Houston visiting MacroFab to see his production run being built and working on his test fixture worked correctly.  See figure 2.Seattle Multi Rotors is the group Scott is a part of.The software stack is based of off Beta Flight which is a fork of Clean Flight which is a fork of BaseFlight. The very first flight controllers where based of the Wii Nunchuck. Scott uses custom pin mappings and uses a larger ST MCU which required another fork.Scott got into Quadcoptors after watching the video Crash Session!!! His first quad was a from Flite Test.The Tiny Whoop is a small FPV quad that is easy to build.Chickadee Tech is Scott's first step into the hardware world. His first build was a lap timer using the radio strength signal. Scott self taught himself KiCad.AutoDesk purchased CadSoft from Farnell. Autodesk EAGLE - The perfect tool to designing stuff for PIC16MEGA32u4.The FR4 Machine Shield we mentioned in a previous podcast has a kickstarter now. It is a Arduino “shield” CNC machine. It comes on a 18” x 22” PCB panel. Motor controllers are called “Swap Drives”. Driver chips are on PCB cards that go into edge connectors.The FAA released new rules for operating rules for unmanned aircraft (Quads).Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

30 Jun 201654min

Podcast NotesDustin Holliday is our guest this week. He was on EP#13 of MEP. Dustin has been working on MacroFab's KiCad parser and is currently researching the KiCad Python API Documentation.Stephen and Dustin have also been working on a customer test fixture. The fixture can program an entire panel of boards with an ST Link. A brushless motor is attached to the fixture with an encoder to automatically test the boards. See Figure 1.Parker has been working on the Jig Of Destiny REV 3. Parts where ordered on Monday.The SSPS front test panel is complete with minimal hardware mods needed. Parker didn't get to writing test code for it before the podcast but should have something to show on his twitter by Friday. See Figure 2.Parker got a I2C LCD display working. Ran into an issue but it turned out his SDA and SCL lines for the I2C protocol where backwards. He is using a Saleae DLA to debug the information. See his twitter post about it.Stephen has the analog test board for the SSPS ordered. Has a Pos/Neg rails of 35V, two OPA541 output opamps in parallel, and 0.08 Farads of capacitance. Beefy! See Figure 3.The MacroAmp's PCB has been completed. Stephen ordered the PCB earlier this week. It is a 2 X 10W tube Hi-Fi stereo using Korg Nutubes as the preamp.The FCC is going to investigate why the RF noise floor in the US has risen in the past years. Parker thinks its the "cost reduction" of devices after being certified. Will this be good or bad for makers? Does import customers have to test devices now? On the plus side, energy harvesting the RF band is more viable!Parker, Stephen, and Dustin get in a rant about Vss/Vdd/Vcc notation for schematics and circuits and Parker offers a solution.The AeroScope is a wireless, ultra-portable oscilloscope that uses Bluetooth 4.1 LE to communicate to a phone or tablet for the screen. Would be useful for Maker style field work. 100Mhz, 500M/samples, +-40V input. Fairly typical specifications. Runs $260 on the crowd funding website.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

24 Jun 201643min

Podcast NotesMatt Keas is a onboarding instructor over at The Iron Yard. Matt has a background in software and startups. He runs tech related conferences like Space City JS.Brian Dorton is the campus director for The Iron Yard at Houston. Brian has his background in teaching and has just started to get his chops in programming.The Iron Yard will take you from "zero to hero" in web development.Brian wanted to not compromise his BBQ so he built an  IoT BBQ. It is based off the Heater Meter by CapnBry. It was Brian's first exploration into hardware. See Figure 1 for his IoT BBQ.Stephen, Matt, Brian, and Parker talk about Feature Creep and how it effects personal projects and customer projects. Design specifications are always changing. See Figure 2 for the controller Parker was working on at Dynamic Perception.Matt talks about reverse engineering the IoT "cloud". They paused the video to find the parts list. Here is the cloud Matt and Brian built. See Figure 3.Hackaday is advising the  United Nations. The UN recognizes that HaD is a technology information aggregator and that the Hackaday community has become a world leader in thinking about new designs, implementations, and increased availability of assistive technologies.An  IoT-Enabled Toothbrush Wins America’s Greatest Makers contest that was sponsored by IBM. It is called the "Grush" or the Game Toothbrush. The prize was $1 million USD. Stephen thinks a IoT toilet called "Bombs Away" could help kids become potty trained.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

17 Jun 201655min

Podcast NotesWith the broken tap removed progress continues on the SAIM. Parker almost has the upper gantry is almost done.The SSPS front panel test is is scheduled to be built next week. Should have an update on the front panel next podcast.Parker is going to make a REV 2 of the MacroWatch. Going to change the PIC16 to a Silicon Labs Sleepy Bee.Stephen is learning more about programming the Parallax Propeller. Gotta flush those buffers.Parker is going to add a GPS module and a cell module to his Prop Fan project.Stephen made a mistake on a large board layout and had to drill out some vias.Parker goes on memory lane on learning how to draft and draw in CAD. Stephen talks about Patent Drawings. Patent Drawings have a standard.Stephen has been sick with a stomach bug so he wasn't able to get much done this week but he did get some new transformers. See Figure 1. Parker showed how to get gains by lifting them.These transformers where designed by the sloclones forums. They are the kitchen sink of audio transformers.The Space Echo RE-201 is getting an over haul. Will be getting recapped this weekend. New front plate and a  new wearable kit that replaces all the parts that wear out.Dustin and Stephen are working on a python script to control a programming and test fixture for a customer. Computer does everything automatically.Stephen brags about his latest dance move, Adjusting the Scope. See Figure 2.People are making really awesome modified gameboys. using Raspberry Pi Zeros. Will be a great project to build a all in one emulation board using the Octavo OSD3358.The FAA can detect drones/Quadcoptor with an AUDS (Anti UAV Defense System). Can also jam the radio signal.Stephen asks Parker a Boat and Rock "interview" question.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

10 Jun 201648min

Podcast NotesParker has been working on the SAIM (Semi-Automatic Inspection Machine) this week. Work had to pause as Parker broke off a M5 x 0.8MM drill/tap combo bit off inside the extrusion. Should be able to remove the tap when a left hand drill bit arrives from McMaster.Parker also designed a "man in the middle" board for the Altera USB Blaster programmer. This allows the programming cable to also power the device that is going to be programmed reducing the number of cables needed to hook up while in production. See Figure 1. This board is open source. Files on the  MacroFab GitHub.The Jig of Destiny is almost complete. Parker is waiting on a 2-56 tap from McMaster to arrive before he can finish the Jig of Destiny.There are plans to use Octavo's OSD3358 IC in a project. Parker plans on having a project lined up by the next podcast.Stephen is currently working on the FX Dev Board. He is waiting on CrowdSupply getting back to him on when they can start the campaign. The enclosure has been priced out. A prototype of the enclosure will be ordered next week.Last week, Stephen was playing around with the NuTubes. They have limitations but Stephen is almost done with a audio amplifier that uses them.The SSPS now has a simpler analog control. Stephen was able to reduce how many opamps he needed to control the larger OPA541 opamp.Fixing the Space Echo started this week. Stephen is starting by replacing all the capacitors and Parker is working on the front plate. See Figure 2 and 3.Stephen and Parker go on a lengthy rant about capacitors. Stephen bought some "Fine Gold" audio grade capacitors. Parker likes the Nichicon's UBW series since they are baby blue in color.Stephen mention Mundorf capacitors.Asus is going to make a robot. Called the  Zenbo. The Zenbo is basically IoT, home automation, and a robotic pet all rolled into a $600 package.RadioShack is returning. After closing 2000+ stores they hired a new CEO Dene Rogers. Parker wants to see a "will call" style setup for getting electronic parts.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

3 Jun 201645min

Podcast NotesThis week Stephen and Parker have a guest. Greg Sheridan of Octavo Systems.Greg is the Marketing and Sales Manager for Octavo Systems.Octavo Systems builds "System-in-Package" or SiP style chips to reduce the complexity of board layout and offset the costs more PCB layers. Their first product is a Beagle Bone on Chip IC called the OSD3358.Greg can rattle off the part number no problem as he was the one that came up with the naming convention. OSD3358-512M-BAS.Octavo Systems takes the die of the IC they want to integrate and combine it with the DRAM, decoupling, and power regulation needed and put them on a custom substrate. The IC die is then bond wired to the substrate.Octavo Systems gets their dies direct from the manufactures like Texas Instruments.The OSD3358-512M-BAS can be purchased at  Digi-key in singles for almost $50.The BGA is a large pitch of 1.27mm. Octavo hopes it will help out the maker group. Uses normal IC packaging technology so it should be fairly robust. Thermal performance is very good.FCC/CE certification will be coming soon. Greg does not expect any problems given how short the traces are.Octavo is looking at integrating more devices for the future. They are not  limited to the semiconductor process when selecting sub systems.The Ello 2M on CrowdSupply is a really "neat" stackable PCB portable computer for learning to program and hack hardware. Runs a PIC32MX MCU and Basic OS. All open source on github.Greg saw the PocketCNC at MakerFaire. They have a version made completely our of FR4 called the  Machine Shield.Industrial enclosures for the the Raspberry Pi actually exist.Video explaining how the Raspberry Pi 2 reset when a Xenon Flash his the PCB.Nest releases an open source version of its networking protocol called OpenThread. Will make all IoT devices talk to each other.Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

27 Mai 201636min