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Viciously different creams

MacroFab Engineering Podcast #257

Viciously Different Creams

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December 30, 2020, Episode #257

Does anyone actually use the metric sizing for chip components? The ole' 0603 metric and 0201 imperial chip component switcheroo on this episode.

Parker

Stephen

  • Hardware v software – Features and their impact
    • Hardware
      • needs a lot of motivation to make a feature. It is slow and deliberate. Removing features is a big deal
      • features by default cannot break the device unless extreme cases are encountered
    • Software is “easier” to flip the switch on features.
      • Have to consider all the ways this will break things.
  • Kicad – Panelization
    • Moving between layers has hotkeys – yay
    • Middle mouse now by default pans and wheel is zoom
    • Snap to points is huge
    • Creating arrays actually creates arrays
      • There are pluses and minuses to this.
      • Ref Des is maintained!
      • Changes to one board are not copied!
    • Holes are not a function…..They are a footprint and therefore need to be created.
    • Most tutorials suggest that Mouse bites be made a part….
  • Buying new machines
    • Sometimes being an engineer is annoying but you still have to do it
    • Learn from my experience
    • Air Hose
    • Solvent
    • Power Cable
    • If you are a machine provider also consider these things
Us 2000x mep 257
Compressor hose connection

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 began his electronics career by building musical oriented circuits in 2003. Stephen is an avid guitar player and, in his down time, manufactures audio electronics including guitar amplifiers, pedals, and pro audio gear. Stephen graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

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

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