MEP EP#324: What Would You Say You Do Here? MacroFab Platform Update Six new component vendors Enabled consignment to the 10-day manufacturing service Exciting update for the platform as it will help address supply chain issues everyone is facing in the industry Better part availability and more flexibility! SparkFun Mousebites White Paper Written by Nick Poole IPC-7351 Max mouse bite width Hakko CHP DP-2 Parker’s only complaint is that the method of measuring breakaway torque was not mentioned ...
Apr 17, 2022•53 min•Ep. 324
MEP EP#323: Hyperspace Part Packages The Worst Timeline: A Printer Company Is Putting DRM in Paper Now RFID chips inside the label spool What kind of RFID chip are they using that is this disposable? EFF Article Link Component marking with the manufacturer in mind Why put indicator marks? Where? Both inside the footprint and outside Double and triple check that things are right on the design side Diodes - Making Anode and also having the diode symbol on the board Vias and marking Numbers for mar...
Apr 08, 2022•52 min•Ep. 323
MEP EP#322: Measuring up Your Interview Questions Previous Podcast where we discussed Engineering Resumes MEP EP#279: Avoiding The HR Pit of Doom, Resume and Interview Tricks for Engineers Interviewer Questions and Techniques? Stephen Schematic PDF for the test There is no output when a 10Vp-p signal is injected into the input. Turning the pot or applying a voltage to the input cv jack does not have any effect on the output. It is stuck at zero volts. Alternate – What if the output was stuck at ...
Apr 02, 2022•52 min•Ep. 322
MEP EP#321: What Engineer’s Seek Comet Grounding After over 7 years of sitting on the shelf I finally got the motivation to finish building the OD3 project. The electronics and chassis are done Finally got to test true star grounding Episode 316 - Chunk 2 Chunk Current Returns Results? Building a wood enclosure right now Need to design and finish the foot controller Western Electric is looking to expand American tube production. New sensor - Expo-pul facility in Saratov, Russia 8 days ago 6 days...
Mar 26, 2022•47 min•Ep. 321
MEP EP#320: The Drop Ship Shuffle Testing Ratchet Wrenches Update on the design Found a digital torque wrench adapter that can handle the torque Will hack to get the signal recordable Use a Linear actuator to apply the force Once the parts arrive the design will be finalized Finding Parts Regardless of Industry / Hobby Intake Manifold for the Jeep Grand Wagoneer The Drop Ship Shuffle EU Parliament adopts new draft legislation about batteries and phones Dictating manufacturers of smartphones that...
Mar 18, 2022•59 min•Ep. 320
MEP EP#319: Work to Automate the Work Feedspot has ranked this podcast #1 for Best 10 Electrical Engineering Podcasts. Thank you everyone for listening and sharing this podcast with others. We are just getting started! MacroFab Updates KiCad 6 support! PI DAY Contest March 14th (3/14) Stop by the MacroFab website to take a pop quiz for a chance to win some free pizza Testing Ratchet Wrenches Wrench qualifications Ratcheting Wrench Non-Reversible Zero-degree offset ½” hex 12 or 6 point Have colle...
Mar 12, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 319
MEP EP#318: Strategic Component Sourcing with Cody Endlich Cody Endlich has 10 years experience in electronic component distribution and commodities trade and is currently the head of strategic sourcing at Macrofab. What does Cody do at MacroFab? Strategic Sourcing Cody’s announcement - ERAI What is the ERAI ? What does this mean for MacroFab customers? Supply Chain Reports Confidence How can Engineers get ahead of supply chain problems? IHS Life Cycle information Manufacturing supply issues...
Mar 04, 2022•58 min•Ep. 318
MEP EP#317: When an Alien Craps Autodesk Eagle DRC Problems Via in Pad Detection Is there a EDA tool that actually detects this? Diptrace Eagle Altium FAB3000 MacroFab's Internal tool set does not What do we do about this as Engineers? Write our own tools of course! Datasheet and Schematic Woes TI CD4053 The actual function of the chip was just not in the datasheet One typo made the datasheet unusable Old datasheets strikes again! This has been fixed sort of What matters when you read a datashee...
Feb 26, 2022•50 min•Ep. 317
MEP EP#316: Chunk 2 Chunk Current Returns Circuit 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...
Feb 19, 2022•57 min•Ep. 316
MEP EP#315: A Rant About How Magnets Work Topics 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?...
Feb 12, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 315
MEP EP#314: Plastic Deg-Ra-Dation with Scott Hansen of Retro-Brite Our 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-...
Feb 05, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 314
MEP EP#313: Another Tool for Your Toolbox 3d 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 ...
Jan 28, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 313
MEP EP#312: Armchair Military Strategists Destroy 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 integr...
Jan 22, 2022•59 min•Ep. 312
MEP EP#311: The Gamification of PCB Assembly Tig 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...
Jan 13, 2022•51 min•Ep. 311
MEP EP#310: 2022 New Year Engineering Resolutions Tig 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 suppor...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 310
MEP EP#309: Perpetual Prototypes How 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 tryi...
Dec 30, 2021•57 min•Ep. 309
MEP EP#308: Ghost of Projects Past Due Christmas Projects Tube Compressor - A Decade in the making Synchrotron phaser Tig Welding Parker's Mother’s Golf Cart Red Jeep Update Local Electronic Store Talk What local stores can you still buy electronic supplies and parts at? Are there any Radioshacks left? Electronic Parts Outlet Ace Electronics The MacroFab Engineering Podcast Christmas Project Ghost Names The Ghost of Christmas Past represents memory Ghost of Projects Past Due The Ghost of Christm...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 308
MEP EP#307: Sixth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special - The Bad Hunch Latest in Star Wars Media What has released since last year's Star Wars podcast episode 255 ? Star Wars Visions Ending of Mandalorian Season 2 LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special Bad Batch Does Audible count? Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy book 2 and 3 were this year Star Wars: The High Republic Upcoming releases you're excited for? The Book of Boba Fett Ahsoka when it finally comes out Mostly because it should have a live ac...
Dec 16, 2021•2 hr 27 min•Ep. 307
MEP EP#306: Removing The Barriers Bench Equipment for Hardware Development Lab Power Supply Oscilloscope James Lewis just made a really good video about Oscilloscope Bandwidth Check out podcast episodes #222 and #144 for more James Lewis! Frequency Generator Frequency Counter Multimeters Benchtop Handheld Digital Logic Analyzer Active Load RLC Meters Accessories Multimeter probes Non Slip Tips?...
Dec 09, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 306
MEP EP#305: Electron Congo Line The Big Misconception About Electricity Veritasium YouTube video Is this really a big hidden secret? There is nothing incorrect but... Problems with the explanation Lack of context Doesn't go far enough on the explanation and would leave new hobbyist asking more questions then it answered Light bulb question at the beginning of the video How long does it take for a light bulb to turn on if the wires connecting it are a light-second long. Parker's quick "practical"...
Dec 02, 2021•53 min•Ep. 305
MEP EP#304: Cow Field This week Stephen and Parker where supposed to discuss bench equipment for development and testing but got distracted by talking about homebrewing beer and Maxwell's equations...
Nov 24, 2021•59 min•Ep. 304
MEP EP#303: Tip Resurrection Cream Bench Soldering Supplies/Consumables Solder What kind of Solder Alloy? Preferred Brands Get a datasheet! Flux core Diameter of the solder Flux Ensure compatibility of the fluxes you are using Flux cleaner Tip cleaner/tinner Brass sponge thing “Tip Resurrection Cream” Solder wick Solder pot Stephen forgot about this in last week's episode of solder equipment...
Nov 17, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 303
MEP EP#302: A 1 Dollar Chips Matter Announcements Thanks for everyone that donated and stopped by the live stream! We where able to raise over $5000 for the Texas Children Hospital Network! Molex 217175-0001 Tasty Type-C connector No data pins? Only power and the CC pins for doing the Power Delivery handshake Datasheet Non FCC switcher? ICL7660CBAZA-T Super Voltage Converters Power Rail Flipper/Inverter Charge pump voltage “flipper” uses only two capacitors At an input voltage of 5V and an unloa...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 302
MEP EP#301: Crispy Currents Announcements If you are currently enrolled in college we would love to chat with you. We have some ideas for future podcast content that you could perhaps help us with. Also, we would love to get to know our listeners more. If you have not already, please send a hello email to podcast@macrofab.com . Thanks to everyone who has reached out already. On Nov 6th, Parker is doing a 24 hour video game stream for the Extra Life Charity which benefits the Texas Children Hospi...
Nov 03, 2021•57 min•Ep. 301
MEP EP#300: Tradition is Peer Pressure From the Dead Announcements If you are currently enrolled in college we would love to chat with you. We have some ideas for future podcast content that you could perhaps help us with. Also, we would love to get to know our listeners more. If you have not already, please send a hello email to podcast@macrofab.com . Thanks to everyone who has reached out already. On Nov 6th, Parker is doing a 24 hour video game stream for the Extra Life Charity which benefits...
Oct 27, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 300
MEP EP#299: Operation Scope Creep 8 Layer Design Stephen is working on a 12 pcb design 11 pcbs done 1 left 6 nets left to go out of 963 How to attack an 8 layer design? Part placement Stackup prep Multi Gauge Progress / Prop_Fan Screen and navigation CFA635-TFK-KL Temperature LTC2983 Thermistors 5V analog active sensors Level shifter TXB0104DR Shift between the 3.3V MCU and the 5V LTC2986 Power filtering Comprehensive Power Supply System Designs for Harsh Automotive Environments LT8672 LT8614 Ai...
Oct 20, 2021•58 min•Ep. 299
MEP EP#298: Has Open Source Hardware Run Its Course? Benjamin Heckendorn An electronics hacking entertainment guru Former host of Element 14’s “ The Ben Heck Show” Chris Kraft A tinkerer currently working as a software engineer in the financial services industry Extensive background in 3d printing and building anything that seems interesting Previous Podcasts with Ben and Chris MEP EP#23: Interview with Ben Heck of The Ben Heck Show MEP EP#75: Does the Simulation Match the Reality? MEP EP #153: ...
Oct 13, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 298
MEP EP#297: Modern College Education with Derek Fronek Before we begin this episode I have a quick announcement. If you are currently enrolled in college we would love to chat with you. We have some ideas for future podcast content that you could perhaps help us with. Also, we would love to get to know our listeners more. Please send a hello email to podcast@macrofab.com . Derek Fronek Third year EE Co-op student at Purdue University Last on the podcast episode #146 where he spoke about his time...
Oct 06, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 297
MEP EP#296: IdeaFab - Does This Podcast Change The World? The IdeaTank Podcast Scott Hansen and Eric Benzenhoefer are idea men who, not humbly, seek to change the world through sharing their million dollar ideas, and humbly, seek to make a podcast talking about their ideas. Previous Episodes With the IdeaTank Podcast MEP EP#77: The IdeaFab Podcast MEP EP#223: The Inverted Success Funnel – IdeaFab The Ideas Eric Benzenhoefer 5 Stars to a better tomorrow… Going to perfect feedback! Scott Hansen I ...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 296
MEP EP#295: Design For Everything The DFs DFA - Design for Assembly DFC - Design for Conservation DFD - Design for Documentation DFM - Design for Manufacturing DFP - Design for Production DFR - Design for Repair / Recycle DFT - Design for Test DFS - Design for Safety How to DFX Identify what you are Designing For Perhaps list them based on priority Make a list of all of the items Make a timeline for which DF applies when in the product life Create a list of key design criteria This will vary bas...
Sep 22, 2021•57 min•Ep. 295
