Macrofab Engineering Podcast

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 Component proximity Total number of bites Panelization Talk So You are New at your Job? Building off our series of resume, interview, and interviewee podcast topics. You just started a new job - what should you do first?

MEP EP#323: Hyperspace Part PackagesThe 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 marking? TSSOP and similar style packaging Own your design and be prepared to support it

MEP EP#322: Measuring up Your Interview QuestionsPrevious 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 + or – 11V? The output is stuck at unity gain. 10VPP in results in 10VPP out. The pot and CV controls do nothing to adjust the output level. The unit seems to work for all controls other than the CV offset input. That seems to only be unipolar. Positive voltage does not have an effect but negative voltage does. Hint: The output of U5.1 with zero volts in is reading zero volts. Bonus – What is the input range for the cv input if the microprocessor has an input range of 3.3V? The unit turns on and

MEP EP#321: What Engineer’s SeekComet 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 ago 35% tariff imposed by the US Western Electric in Rossville GA. Looking to expand their offerings from just the 300B Question that Parker was asked by the MacroFab sales team Engineer’s and Sales never get along but What can a salesperson say or do that will spark the interests of an engineer? Especially since they don't like speaking to us, what would make the conversation more intriguing to them?

MEP EP#320: The Drop Ship ShuffleTesting 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 batteries must be designed so that consumers and independent operators can easily and safely remove them themselves by 2024

MEP EP#319: Work to Automate the WorkFeedspot 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 collected 20 ratchet wrenches so far Why? Broke one and wanted to try out all the different styles and brands before buying a set What are we testing? Thickness of the wrench How does it feel? Max torque to either failure or cam out Any other tests? Thickness to torque rating How much mechanism play Measure ratchet dimension How? Quick tests show I need more than 100ftlbs but less than 250ftlbs of bolt torque Load cells to measure the clamping force between 2 plates Need a “scre

MEP EP#318: Strategic Component Sourcing with Cody EndlichCody 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

MEP EP#317: When an Alien CrapsAutodesk 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 datasheet?

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 a

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?

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?

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?

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! Add

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

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

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!

MEP EP#308: Ghost of Projects Past DueChristmas 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 Christmas Present represents generosity and good will Ghost of project ideas The Ghost of Christmas Future represents fear of death Ghost of unused parts

MEP EP#307: Sixth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special - The Bad HunchLatest 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 action version of Thrawn Parker StarWars Visions Ep 5: The Ninth Jedi asteroid grabbing trebuchet engineering exercise PDF of the document Stephen The battle of exegol is dumb…. PDF of the document Hyr0n Star Wars Visions episode 9: Akakiri Praise/Rant Lego Star Wars - Could you actually build… The stupidest spreadsheet ever TLDR: The only thing in LEGO SW Universe that could produce enough LEGO to build Death Star 1, is Death Star 1 Chris Technology in Star Wa

MEP EP#306: Removing The BarriersBench 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?

MEP EP#305: Electron Congo LineThe 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" answe “Instant” You are pushing the already existing electrons in the wire. An electron doesn't have to flow all the way around? Dave Jones' response? Does this damage Veritasium's image for Electrical engineers?