Circuit Break Podcast #177

Leeroy Jenkins Transistor

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June 19, 2019, Episode #177

Parker gets test results from his APA-102C experiments and Stephen wraps up REV2 of the MacroAmp!

Check out our new MacroFab Design Contest: Useless Machine Sponsored by Mouser Electronics!

Parker

  • APA-102C-NEW-260 Tested
  • DOOM SAO in production
    • ST7789 LCD Works correctly
    • Type-C works well
    • Got the ATSAMD21 I2C EEPROM interface working
    • SOON to be public Github repo
    • Preorder on the AND!XOR website
  • Atmel SWD to Tag Connect adapter works!

Stephen

  • MacroAmp Rev 2: Sponsored by Mouser Electronics
    • Schematic is complete
    • Only grounds left to run and to do a review
    • Completely rethought design
      • Simulated power supplies
      • uTracer data gathering for everything
      • Gain calcs – one or two nutube?
      • Coarse and fine volume controls
      • PCB mounted Tube sockets
      • Terminal blocks for easy assembly
  • Wants to do something not audio related for next project

R.F.O.

Visit our Public Slack Channel and join the conversation in between episodes!

APA-102C-NEW-260 Test PCB. Arduino shield format.

APA-102C-NEW-260 Test PCB. Arduino shield format.

APA-102C-NEW-260 Test PCB powered up.

APA-102C-NEW-260 Test PCB powered up.

DOOM SAO powered up and running face animations.

DOOM SAO powered up and running face animations.

Back of the PCB for DOOM SAO.

Back of the PCB for DOOM SAO.

Fixture for DOOM SAO to speed up soldering of the screen to the PCB assembly.

Fixture for DOOM SAO to speed up soldering of the screen to the PCB assembly.

Reading bytes from the “EEPROM” that is the SAMD21 MCU over I2C.

Reading bytes from the “EEPROM” that is the SAMD21 MCU over I2C.

Atmel SWD to Tag Connect adapter. Allows 3.3V power over the Tag Connect.

Atmel SWD to Tag Connect adapter. Allows 3.3V power over the Tag Connect.

Atmel ICE programmer connected to the adapter board. Works great!

Atmel ICE programmer connected to the adapter board. Works great!

MacroAmp layout. All that is left is ground routing.

MacroAmp layout. All that is left is ground routing.

About the Hosts

Parker Dillmann
  Parker Dillmann

Parker is an Electrical Engineer with backgrounds in Embedded System Design and Digital Signal Processing. He got his start in 2005 by hacking Nintendo consoles into portable gaming units. The following year he designed and produced an Atari 2600 video mod to allow the Atari to display a crisp, RF fuzz free picture on newer TVs. Over a thousand Atari video mods where produced by Parker from 2006 to 2011 and the mod is still made by other enthusiasts in the Atari community.

In 2006, Parker enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin as a Petroleum Engineer. After realizing electronics was his passion he switched majors in 2007 to Electrical and Computer Engineering. Following his previous background in making the Atari 2600 video mod, Parker decided to take more board layout classes and circuit design classes. Other areas of study include robotics, microcontroller theory and design, FPGA development with VHDL and Verilog, and image and signal processing with DSPs. In 2010, Parker won a Ti sponsored Launchpad programming and design contest that was held by the IEEE CS chapter at the University. Parker graduated with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Spring of 2012.

In the Summer of 2012, Parker was hired on as an Electrical Engineer at Dynamic Perception to design and prototype new electronic products. Here, Parker learned about full product development cycles and honed his board layout skills. Seeing the difficulties in managing operations and FCC/CE compliance testing, Parker thought there had to be a better way for small electronic companies to get their product out in customer's hands.

Parker also runs the blog, longhornengineer.com, where he posts his personal projects, technical guides, and appnotes about board layout design and components.

Stephen Kraig
  Stephen Kraig

Stephen Kraig is a component engineer working in the aerospace industry. He has applied his electrical engineering knowledge in a variety of contexts previously, including oil and gas, contract manufacturing, audio electronic repair, and synthesizer design. A graduate of Texas A&M, Stephen has lived his adult life in the Houston, TX, and Denver, CO, areas.

Stephen has never said no to a project. From building guitar amps (starting when he was 17) to designing and building his own CNC table to fine-tuning the mineral composition of the water he uses to brew beer, he thrives on testing, experimentation, and problem-solving. Tune into the podcast to learn more about the wacky stuff Stephen gets up to.

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!

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