Macrofab Engineering Podcast

Podcast Notes Stephen has been running tests on the Energon Cube for the SSPS. So far everything is working great. Check out Stephen's blog post update: Super Simple Power Supply "SSPS" Design (Part 3). The FX Dev board enclosure arrived and it looks great. See Figure 1 for some sweet powder coated goodness. Parker has been working on streamlining all the MacroFab Engineering Github Repositories. Most of them should look consistent in layout and information now. All the Eagle footprint libraries have been updated with MPN and Populate attributes. Check them out here. Should be adding these features to DipTrace and KiCad footprints by next week. Releasing MF-CON-2.54mm-01xXX pinheaders. Check out the house parts section on the MacroFab website. Parker had an article come out earlier this week about Eagle Part Attributes. This way designers and engineers can easily add the MPN and Populate field to their own parts. In Episode 26 of MEP, Parker had a hacked together USB Type C prototype. Now Parker has a full

Podcast Notes Our Guest this week is Kwabena Agyeman who runs OpenMV. See Figure 1. The OpenMV project is about creating low-cost, extensible, Python powered, machine vision modules and aims at becoming the “Arduino of Machine Vision“. See Figure 2. Parker is using an OpenMV camera for the first iteration of the Semi-Automatic Inspection Machine. The great thing about Open Source is you can fix bugs. OpenMV started as a kickstarter. The original OV2640 Omni Vision camera sensor was discontinued and gray market parts where found but didn't work. Replaced with the OV7725. KeySniffer sniffs cheap wireless keyboard protocols. We should take a page from BSG and go all wired to prevent Cylon infiltration. Facebook has a new Area 404 Hardware division. Could see some interesting hardware come out of this? Possibly similar to Bell Labs of ole? Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro theme!

Podcast Notes Stephen has been working on making the copper buss bars for the SSPS Energon cube. See Figure 1. We calculated that the resistance of the copper buss bars is 0.00458 ohms or 4.58 mohm. Our measurements show 2.5 mohm. See Figure 2. The Macro Amp board is populated. Now the enclosure needs to be made. Stephen thinks he will use Parts Badger to make the mounting plate for the amp. Parker has been updating the MacroFab part libraries for Eagle and will move onto Diptrace soon. He also has been writing articles for eagle that will be coming out soon. Parker got USB 2.0 working on a Type C connector using the FTDI FT230X chip. Parker is working on a new layout to add to pre-existing designs which utilizes MacroFab's standard PCB specifications (5 mil trace width, 12 mil drill, 6 mill annular ring). Analog Devices is in the process of purchasing Linear Technology for $14.8 billion. We discuss what will happen to the datasheets and LT Spice. Avnet outbids Daetwyler to purchase Farnell for $691 mil

Podcast Notes Stephen has completed the SSPS Analog board. See Figure 1. Testing will begin early next week. The Macro Amp that Stephen has been working on is almost done. He just needs to solder the through hole onto the board. See Figure 2. Stephen has been working with Altium this past couple weeks while doing DFM work for customers. He would like the software if it didn't cost $15K. Parker finished programming the new revision of the MacroWatch V2. See Figure 3. Uses the EFM8SB10F2G in a QFN-20 package. EFM8 series has tons of built in peripherals. Reduced power consumption by 5 fold. KiCad will be adding built in SPICE simulation to the schematic portion. Stephen is now willing to try out the EDA tool. ARM was purchased by SoftBank for $32 Billion. Parker and Stephen talk about the implications of this purchase. The ARM founder isn't to happy about the deal. Microchip will be boosting the Atmel AVR8 product line later this summer. Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro the

Podcast Notes Parker 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

Podcast Notes Dactyl 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

Podcast Notes Scott 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 sig

Podcast Notes Dustin 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

Podcast Notes Matt 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. T

Podcast Notes With 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

Podcast Notes Parker 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.

Podcast Notes This 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 perfo

Hosts: Parker Dillmann Stephen Kraig Guests: N/A Figure 1: Non working Space Echo RE-201 Figure 2: A NuTube 6P1 straight from KORG. Figure 3: The constant current source Stephen is using for his NuTubes. The equation for the constant current is I ~ Vgs/Rs. Figure 4: Jig of Destiny 3D render. Podcast Notes Parker really wants to get Josh's (the sound guy) Space Echo RE-201 working. There is a digital filter that simulates the effect though. See figure 1. Stephen received his NuTube's from KORG this week. See figure 2. To run the tubes, Stephen is going to use a constant current power supply like on page 229 in "Designing High-Fidelity Valve Preamps" by Merlin Blencowe. Stephen really likes this book. See figure 3 for the schematic. Parker has been working on the "Jig Of Destiny" which is a aluminum fixture that is designed to support the large 16" x 16" panels used for prototype builds at MacroFab. Test version was made out of 10mm x 10mm MakerBeam material. Production version will be machined out o

Hosts: Parker Dillmann Stephen Kraig Guests: N/A Figure 1: SSPS front panel test layout. Miniature version of the real front panel to test physical placement and new parts. Figure 2: Two TPS65982-EVM booster packs. One is powering the other over USB Type-C. Parker was able to pull 20V @ 3.2A before his Re:load Pro overheated. Podcast Notes Stephen is now almost done with the FX Development Board's final layout and enclosure design. He is also working on a new version of his drop in replacement for opamps that will use a dual stacked PCB. Parker finished the test panel for the SSPS. See Figure 1. Has all the critical spacing and parts on the board for testing. Parker wants to make sure everything fits before running the full sized version. A listener recommended we change the name to the Super Sophisticated Power Supply. Stephen thinks the Super Superfluous Power Supply sounds awesome. The TPS65982-EVMs are working great. Parker is doing loads of research into USB Type-C. He is currently waiting to hea

Hosts: Parker Dillmann Stephen Kraig Guests: N/A Figure 1: SSPS front panel layout. Traces to come soon. Figure 2: Inconsistencies in the LTST-C171CKT datasheets. Podcast Notes Stephen is still working on customer fixtures but managed to get some progress on the FX Development Board. Stephen has been working on the documentation to get the Crowd Supply fundraising going. Still need to prototype the enclosure. Parker has been working on the SSPS front panel design. See Figure 1. Parker is going to use Omron's B3W-9000-RG2C illuminated switches because it has a Red and Green LED and allows for custom key caps via printable transparencies. The Bourns' PEL12T-4226F-S1024 RGB Encoder will function to adjust the power on the supply. This is a 2-bit encoder with a clear shaft that is illuminated with a RGB LED. Instead of 74HC595s, Parker is going to use a STP16CP05 LED driver. The IC is a 16-bit constant current sink driver. He chose the TSSOP-24 package because it has a thermal pad to heat dissipation. Park

Podcast Notes Our guest this week is Dustin Holliday, a Production Line Engineer at MacroFab, INC. Dustin programs the My200 paste jetter, the My500 pick and place, and the Rhythm Selective Solder. See Figure 1. Stephen is working on a customers test fixture and is using the Parallax Propeller. He really likes how it is easy to route the package since each pin is just general I/O and you can change around the pin definitions. Parker is almost done with the first test fixture article. Should be out soon. Parker has also been testing the ESP-12E WiFi module which uses the ESP8266 IC. Seems that some USB ports don't provide enough power even though they enumerate for 500mA at 5V. The ESP-12E is on his Prop Dev Stick Bit Flicker. Code is a port of Bylnk written by Roy Eltham. See Figure 2. On the Prop Fan board Parker has been working on he needed to read an analog signal without a ground reference. Instead of setting up an isolated supply and an isolated data buss he is going to try an isolated opamp. Part num

Podcast Notes Stephen built a power supply for an old school tube microphone for Josh. Josh does the recordings for the Podcast. See Figure 1 for the schematic. Microphone is a Sony C37 tube condenser microphone. Parker has been working on an article for the blog about designing and building simple test fixtures for low to medium volume production runs. See Figure 2. Parker has also been working on code to run a large VFD display. Part number is CU40045-UW1J. This is for Parker's fan controller for his Jeep. See Figure 3. Blunty released a really cool video of a tour of the Nvidia Silicon Failure Analysis Lab. The equipment is pricey! They can pinpoint the exact transistor that fails on the die. Microchip released the PICDEM Lab II. Parker used a PICDEM Lab I for developing the MacroWatch REV 1. Stephen was watching the video about it and the recommended video was about Dave Jones ragging on the PICKIT 3. Desktop Siege Cannon that uses flash paper to make a fireball. Should we design an ECE version that us

Podcast Notes Parker has been hard at work on the PinHeck Test Fixture. It uses over 160 pogo pins to test every single function of the PinHeck Pinball System. There will be an article about designing pogo pin style test fixtures for production in the next couple weeks. Stephen tested the Diode Compression opamp he built a couple weeks ago on the FX Dev Platform. Sounds great! Noisebridge, A hackerspace out of San Francisco, wrote an article about the large variety of fuse quality. Cheap and gray market fuses tend to not break the circuit and melt. Potentially catching fire. Something even as simple as a fuse should be tested in your product to ensure everything works correctly and safely. Arduino.cc released a new ARM build of their popular IDE. Users can now compile code and develop on their raspberry pi style devices. Parker thinks an Android version would be great to tweak and push code up over Bluetooth or WiFi. Semiconductor materials market fell 1.5% in 2015. Mainly from changing the die bond wires

Podcast Notes First Guest for the MacroFab Engineering Podcast! Trey German is working on a IoT platform using BLE and a small coin cell. Trey's device worked on the first revision! How often does that happen? Trey used a really cool side mounted RGB LED. Part number OVSRRGBCC3 by TT electronics. The widget Trey is working on is designed to be very flexible in its use. It is not so much a development platform as a flexible device. Trey used to be an engineer at Texas Instruments and was the Launchpad Application Manager. He will miss training and teaching people electronics but will be doing classes in the future. Stephen has begun working on the analog layout of the Super Simple Power Supply. He has finished designing the power block of the supply. We deem this the Energon Cube. See Figure 2. There is a really cool video about assembling the TR-1 which is the first commercially manufactured transistor radio. They used a ferris wheel of molten lead solder to solder the PCB and parts similar to a wave solder

**Podcast Notes*** Parker and Stephen continue work on the [Super Simple Power Supply](https://github.com/MacroFab/SSPS). There is a full on simulation of the analog section on MultiSim.* Stephen found a better way to control the analog end with two separate 16bit DACs. One controls the negative end and the other one controls the positive end of the ompamp. 16 x 2 Blast Bit Processing! * Parker is working on a ESP8266 development board for the Parallax Propeller called the [Bit Flicker](https://github.com/LonghornEngineer/Propeller_Development_Bit_Flicker). Will use the [blynk.cc]( http://www.blynk.cc/). This will enable the SSPS to be IoT enabled!* SAIM Servos arrived. Chassis should be finished by Monday. They past the built in servo "test" routine. See Figure 1.* Transistor Wars: The Vacuum Tube Strikes Back. [Vacuum channel transistor](http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/introducing-the-vacuum-transistor-a-device-made-of-nothing) that switches as fast as 460GHz. No substrate for the gate and h