Macrofab Engineering Podcast

Podcast NotesPart B Weapons of Star Wars (continued)  Light Sabers  Elegant weapon for a more civilized age. Lots of mystical lore surrounding this weapon. Force aligned crystals are necessary for their construction. How would the blade be created? Plasma? Use EM fields to constrain it. Blasters They are not laser weapons! This is why the projectiles do not travel at the speed of light.  Gas cartridge and a power cell. 400-500 shots per charge. Gas can be mostly anything but typically is Tibanna – a naturally gas found on Bespin home of cloud city. The gas is created by Beldons huge gas filled creatures. Tibanna is also used as hyperdrive coolant.

Podcast NotesPart A  Vehicles of Star Wars  Tie Fighters: Twin Ion Engine. This tech exists but its super low power but efficient. Hovercraft and levitation. Land speeders, Pod Racers, Repulsor Lift technology. Magnetic levitation? Power: Fission batteries? A AA battery weighs around 23g. Convert it all to energy e=mc^2 and you get 2 quintillion Joules of power. 2,067,136,911,094,680,572 Joules to be precise. 16 Teslas to levitate a frog. This consumed 4MW of energy according to the paper. A “common frog” weighs 22.7g. Compact car weighs about 1200kg. So that is 211,453 and some change MW or Joules per second. 8.4million Teslas.  This is 211,453,000,000 Watts. A Fission AA battery could power this for 9,775,869seconds or around 113 Days. Weapons of Star Wars  Death Star  Cost of Steel alone would be $852 quadrillion which is 13,000 times the worlds GDP. How much steel  required to make it? It is 160km in diameter and they modeled the Death Star to have a density similar to a modern warship. Which gives us 1

First Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas SpecialThis is a reupload of Episode 46 into one continuous podcast. Originally it  was broken into 4 parts. Vehicles of Star Wars Tie Fighters Hovercraft and levitation Power: Fission batteries? A AA battery weighs around 23g. Convert it all to energy e=mc^2 and you get 2 quintillion Joules of power. 2,067,136,911,094,680,572 Joules to be precise. 16 Teslas to levitate a frog. This consumed 4MW of energy according to the paper. A “common frog” weighs 22.7g. Compact car weighs about 1200kg. So that is 211,453 and some change MW or Joules per second. 8.4million Teslas. Weapons of Star Wars Death Star Cost of Steel alone would be $852 quadrillion which is 13,000 times the worlds GDP. How much steel required to make it? It is 160km in diameter and they modeled the Death Star to have a density similar to a modern warship. Which gives us 1.08×1015 tonnes of steel. World wide production of steel is 1.3 billion tonnes a year which will take over 800K years to make en

Podcast Notes Parker has a new update to the Jeep Bluetooth Radio Mod. To level shift the Bluetooth audio to what the TDA7340S expects, Parker is going to build a differential opamp. The Bluetooth audio adapter has a 50mV DC offset and a 1.9V Pk-Pk at max volume where the TDA7429L is expecting a 4.65V DC offset with a 800mV Pk-Pk. See Figure 1. Stephen has a crazy idea to make the "ultimate" inexpensive resistor standard. His plan is to use a big array of resistors that are in parallel/series. He hops that statistically it will swamp out the tolerance. Stephen will use different manufactures to swamp out batch issues. Next week we should have some analysis on this project done. Analog-EETimes article: Why the zero-ohm resistor? NASA Wants SpacePoop Hackers. Reminds Parker of this Apollo 10 radio transcription. See page 416. New Bluetooth 5 spec is out. Key updates to Bluetooth 5 include longer range, faster speed, and larger broadcast message capacity. Samsung exploding battery update. Special thanks t

Podcast Notes Popping in last weeks audio was probably due to a cheap USB cable. Stephen and Parker recorded last week on a laptop with a USB powered mic preamp that has less then stellar power filtering and performance. Stephen is continuing work on his automatic brewing rig. Has a motorized ball valve to control the flow rate for proper mashing and cooling rates. Parker found the correct IC that is inside the Jeep radio. Part number TDA7340S. It is a 100% direct match to the pinout of the IC inside the radio. He found it by looking at ST's catalog of Audio and Radio ICs from that time period. To switch Audio sources to an external source, Parker is going to hack into the TDA7340's external effects loop. See Figure 1. The signal will probably have a DC offset since the IC is on a single power rail of ~9.4V. DC offset should be around 4.5V. The Bluetooth adapter will need to have a DC offset to match. ICs to switch the audio signals will either be a NJM2520D or a MAX4544CPA+. Shout out to Pat Hensley from Te

Podcast Notes This podcast was recorded at the MacroFab Engineering location. See Figure 1. MacroFab had its annual Thanksgiving Potluck today. See Figure 2. Parker has been working more on the Jeep Radio. Part numbers for the IC's are the following: TDA8563 : 2-Channel 40W power amp TDA7429L : ST manufactured 3 Band Equalizer Audio Processor TEA0675 : Dual Dolby IC Stephen brewed another beer with his electronic brewing rig. He has updated it to be safer and less likely to kill him. See Figure 3. The FX Dev Board is nearing launch of the crowd funding. Video is almost done. The synth Stephen has been working on has the VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) designed and layed out. Open-V, The First Open Source RISC-V Microcontroller. Students at the Universidad Industrial de Santander in Colombia, have been working on an open 32-bit microcontroller based on the RISC-V instruction set. It is being crowd funded on Crowd Supply. $49 USD gets you a first-run mRISC-V in a QFN-32 package and $99 gets you a

Podcast Notes Justin Knight and Brandon Knight talk a bit about their background and how they got into technology and startups. They have always worked together on projects and at companies. See Figure 1. Justin is the Vice President of Operations at MacroFab. Brandon is the Director of Customer Success at MacroFab. The Houston Maker Faire was a lot of fun for Brandon and Parker. Lots of MacroFab's customers where there showing off their new products. See Figure 2 for a signing fish. Another Kind of Cloud: The Internet of Farts. A geolocating fart tracker with food logs. Brandon thinks it should be able to measure the intensity of the fart as well. Crowd Source your funding. Crowdfunding site Indiegogo has partnered with equity crowdfunding startup Microventures to allow anyone to invest in startups. Parker thinks this is basically allowing people to invest in companies that could not get funding in a traditional way through venture capitalists which will lead to lots of people losing their investments. V

Podcast Notes MacroFab will be at the Houston Maker Faire this weekend. Stop by and meet us! The FX Dev board's crowd funding campaign is almost ready to launch. The video for it is in post production now. It is awesome and Stephen can't wait to upload it. The fixture Parker designed for the selective solder is working. Allows 16"x16" panels on the machine while supporting the middle with a magnet. Stephen has been adjusting the machine to make it fit. See Figure 1. Parker's LED clock idea will need some slight revising after he did a bit of napkin math and realized his clock will take almost 3kW of power to light up all the segments. The MacroDuino Light Tower will be at Maker Faire. It is using a TGS2602 to measure VOC levels in the air. Stephen needs to repair his Hakko FR-300 Desoldering Gun. Unfortunately Hakko does not sell the part he needs.  Visual Guide to the Best Hacker T-Shirts. The MacroFab shirt is missing from this collection. We must fix that! See Figure 2. Samsung can’t catch a break. Top

Podcast Notes Stephen has been working hard on getting the crowd funding setup for the FX DEV Board. Video is being recorded now. Should have something to show next week about the video. Parker's bluetooth radio hack for his Jeep is going well. Tested the module and it works. A spare radio to hack on arrived so Parker can get to work. The MacroDuino Rev 2 is working! To make the ATmega328PB work with the Arduino IDE, Parker used the Watterott's ATmega328PB-Testing repo. See Figure 1 of it controlling a light tower. Wall Clock idea is in progress now. Parker will be ordering boards for it soon. Stay tuned for this one. Upgraded USB killer V2.5 U disk killer miniature high voltage pulse generator. Parker and Stephen talked about this on a previous podcast but this is a newer version. The description is full of broken English. High voltage, power must be off after standing for 2 minutes, until the release of more than electricity, and then carefully openings on the motherboard! Solve the USB killer V2.0 pro

Podcast Notes As mentioned in last weeks episode, MacroFab is moving to a new location currently. See Figure 1. Parker is going to hack his Jeep's radio this weekend with a Bluetooth Audio board. Parker is using this board found on Amazon. See Figure 2. Parker goofed on making the podcast notes and had that NXP was buying out Qualcomm. It is actually the other way around. Set for a $39 billion buy out. Botnet Recall of Things. This is a continuation of the IoT DDOS attacks that have been happening this past couple weeks. Commentator "anszom" in the Hack A Day comment thread had a really good idea. 1. Write a bot attacking the vulnerable devices. It doesn’t seem very difficult 2. Our new bot either simply bricks the device or changes the default password to a random one 3. Problem “solved’ :) Stephen and Parker think they need to make designers and programmers of IoT devices accountable for security. Maybe implement a CE/FCC emissions and ESD testing for hardware. Can a security test be standardized acro

Podcast Notes Trey German is back to give an update on completing the epic Icarus Trophy race. See Figure 1,2,3,4. Trey was previously on MEP EP#10: IoT's Cloudy Future. The Icarus Trophy race is a 1000 mile, unsupported, cross-country paramotor race that starts in Montana and finishes in Nevada. Trey is working on a Bluetooth connected device that fits in the wing of the paramotor. Using this he can get more flight information and data about pilot control input. It connects up to his phone which runs a custom app. See Figure 5. Trey's paramotor motor causes RF interference that disrupts the Bluetooth connection. He is working on shielding the ignition system with should solve the problem. The Scariac is a water based resistor built by Grant Thompson a.k.a. "The King of Random". Grant needed a way to adjust the power to this homemade stick welding system but couldn't find an easy or inexpensive way to control the voltage. The idea is to use water as the medium of the resistor and by adjusting the distance

Podcast Notes MacroFab is moving soon. Fun times! See Figure 1 to see all the stuff we need to move. Parker has finished the first version of the Selective Solder Fixture. It uses magnets to support the PCB to prevent sagging. Files here. To calibrate the machines MacroFab is designing, Parker is working on the O.A.T.B. or Optical Alignment Test Board. It is a 16"x16" PCB panel that has markings and footprints of all sizes to calibrate computer vision systems. As a side project, Parker is gathering parts for the Fantastic Air Realtime Tester. He is going to use a Adafruit Light Tower, the Macro Duino, and possibly the IAQ-CORE air quality sensor. The IAQ-CORE runs $35 however and Parker wants to try the CCS811 which is probably cheaper if he can get his hands on one. Stephen has been continuing work on the Synth Engine he was working on the past couple weeks. The AD9833 is up and running along with a 16bit A/D and D/A. He is able to produce a saw wave that ranges from 13.75Hz to 14080Hz. It is 0.5V/octav

Podcast Notes First podcast and the first recording in the "Bomb Shelter" (name pending). See Figure 1. Parker is working on an adjustable fixture to work along with the Jig Of Destiny that is currently being used. It will have an adjustable slide to fit multiple panel sizes. The Macro_Duino has been fixed. Parker tied the FT230X's VCCIO to the 3.3V output on the FT230X which is the standard way to do it. The I/O on the FT230X is 5V tolerant so this should be good. The 3.3V regulator on the chip can supply 50mA if you are daring enough to hook some external circuits up to it. Parker's AVR Tag Connect article came out. Go check it out. Stephen has continued his work on his "Synth Engine" that he started while his wife was in surgery last week. Arduino stuff is working well! However the Arduino wasn't working to well for getting high speed frequencies so Stephen moved to the AD9833 - a 28 bit frequency divider. He put a 1Mhz clock generator (ECS-2100AX-1.0MHZ) and can get up to 0.004Hz resolution. See Figur

Podcast Notes Parker got the bootloader on the EFM8 working. The Errata shows that EFM8 chips younger then data code 1601 do not have a working bootloader. Should have an article out next week about using the EFM8 MCUs. EFM8 Factory Bootloader User Guide and the associated software. Has open source Python code for the uploader. DTR - Data Terminal Ready : RTS - Request To Send Stephen - "C is awesome" Parker thinks someone should make an IDE where you can click on register names and it will open up the datasheet to the correct spot. MacroDuino: "Better version of the Arduino Uno". Has USB Type-C, a FT230X, and a non working power management. See Figure 1. Stephen was out for most of the week for his wife's surgery. They used the DaVinci Machine. It is a "ridiculous medical like robot, anime, mecha, crazied" 4 armed robot where the doctor sits in a pod and controls everything remotely. Video of the DaVinici Machine skinning an apple. While waiting during surgery, Stephen designed a voltage controlled

Podcast Notes Michael Lyons of Centex Paranormal pays us a visit. Centex Paranormal is based out of Austin, Texas. They design ghost hunting equipment. See Figure 1. New product out, EDI+. Has SD card data logging, humidity, air pressure, and all the data can be graphed onto a computer. Michael is using the BME280 sensor humidity and pressure sensor by Bosch. Datasheet can be found here. The EDI+ runs off of a STM32 ARM MCU where as the original EDI ran off a MSP-430. Michael did not know what he wanted to do in college so he just took some Electrical Engineering classes. He says he got "lucky". Stephen got into electronics when his mother bought him a Gakken ex-150. Parker got into electronics by fixing old Atari consoles. MakerBot releases their 6th generation of 3D printers. The STM32 ARM MCU that Michael Lyons uses on the EDI+ has interesting markings. It has two "pin one indicators" on the package molding but only one is marked in the datasheet's mechanical drawing. See page 75 of the datasheet and F

Podcast Notes Co-Podcast time with The Amp Hour's Chris Gammell. Parker finds new ICs through the subreddit /r/nicechips and subscribing to manufactures mailing lists. Chip manufactures should just advertise the specifications of new chips and link direct to the datasheets. Other sources for new parts and information are EEweb and Electronics Weekly. Parker and Stephen do a really bad job explaining what MacroFab does. MacroFab does end-to-end electronics manufacturing and operations for low volume companies. Everything can be done via API end point which can enable your webstore to automatically drop ship inventory to your customers. Last time MacroFab talked with Chris Gammell it was only four people. Now MacroFab has over 20 employees and is moving to a 11k sq ft warehouse space. Renesas to Buy Intersil for $3.2 Billion. Everyone agrees that competition is good and these mergers go against that. How to defend against the USB Killer Thumb Drive. Best solution is to just not give users access to a USB p

Podcast Notes Stephen 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 ov

Podcast Notes Parker 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 de

Podcast Notes Parker 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 Yo

Podcast Notes Stephen 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. Pa