The Amp Hour #79 — Ludibrious Luxating Layout
Posted by Chris Gammell on January 23, 2012 in Radio Show |
- Happy Chinese New Year! Find out how to say it on YouTube.
- Or how to say it as a hardware engineer!
- Dave wasn’t able to get parts from AliBaba.
- So is he a locavore now? Locatech? Ugh, terrible term. Dave’s new boards are from NZ! http://www.pcbzone.net
- Chris likes the LPKF S43, which can dispense solderpaste right after etching a board. If only he had 15k sitting around…
- Looking at beginning a startup? Look at localized funding sources. The Cleveland Foundation is an example in Chris’s hometown.
- A new kickstarter campaign is looking to fund $30K in the next 7 days for a board cutter project. Is it lack of interest in this niche-ier piece of gear that prevents us from seeing an OSHW version of one? This one looks a tad expensive but quite accurate! Love the capacitive mechanism for board sensing.
- The Open Source Ecology project has one on their roadmap. They were happy to hear from our expert listeners are now are looking for one more. Interested in helping with project management for the Universal Power Supply? Fill out the form below!
- TI came out with a new chip that allows users to easily add WiFi to anything.
- Dave got a creepy new webcam for his office.
- Vendors continue to chase boundaries, such as switching speeds. Is millivolt switching a realistic goal for chips?
- Chip makers also keep chasing 3D processes in their continuing quest for nano devices.
- Kodak announced it’s going into bankruptcy protection last week. They’ll emerge as a niche player…because there’s always a niche, no matter how bad!
- On the EEVforum, “Aurora” clued everyone in to a free eBook available online about analog electronics from Leslie Green. Great resource!
- Chris found out that Sergio Franco, author of one of his other favorite books, “Design with Operational Amplifiers and Analog Integrated Circuits“ just released a new spiral bound book for a new class of his, “Analog Circuit Design: Discrete and Integrated“.
- Chris also found a copy of the 1987 Linear Technology Application Guide with AN1-AN21! What an awesome find! (though they’re all available here)
- Kent Lundberg (@DoctorAnalog) is reading all of Jim Williams’ old app notes and adding commentary on his site, “Reading Jim Williams“. Great to follow along!
- We now have all of our files going through LibSyn! Let us know if you have any issues with it. Thank you so much to our donors!
- Looking for a bit of fun? Check out these ridiculous “science” stockphotos.
- Brad Lyster writes in about a tutorial about laser cutting a solderpaste stencil from KiCAD.
- Dave likes being able to hold a proto or board in your hand. Chris wrote about how this is what keeps him motivated in engineering, just last night!
Thanks to Heidi & Matt for the Chinese New Year picture!
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David gave a demo of the MezzoMill last week at the ATX hackerspace (he is based in Austin). I took some pictures and videos of the machine in action:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyohm/sets/72157629008638729/
Chun Jie Kuai Le! Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Or as I like to call it: Fibreglass Free Fortnight. But seriously, Happy Chinese New Year / Spring Festival.
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I would use PCBZone/Circuit Labs for a short lead time project but those prices are still offputting. Good on Dave for giving them a go. I might try them for a future project although there are still some Sydney/Aussie fabs making fibreglass that I feel I should get quotes from first.
Yes its funny when boards turn up before components. All you can do is sit and admire your fibreglass until the components turn up.
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I’m glad the CC3300 exists but on the face of it, it looks just like all the other WiFi asics. Maybe it’s existence will bring down the cost of the others that are out there – module solutions included. Maybe the chip itself will be more readily available in small qtys as well (without having to sign up or become best friends with a sales rep) The CC3300 still needs PA, antenna switching and filter/matching circuits, settings eeprom and clocks (same as other wifi asics).
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I design in a couple of PCB iterations into a project and the first iteration is usually just so we can have something to point at and talk about how we really want it to look and work.
Re. silver PCBs – they may look nice when new but don’t stay that way for long as they tarnish quickly – especially if you get fingermarks on them. Fine for boards to be soldered immediately but not if you want to keep them a while, or need any surface test pads etc.
What about Serbian New Year? It was on January 13. and I don’t remember you mentioned it last week…
Oops! Sorry we missed it, but happy new year!
To be honest though, when Serbia produces as much as the Chinese do in the electronics industry, I think you’ll find more people taking notice. Especially if Serbians take 2 weeks off at a time.
Thanks. Well, I don’t know about producing electronics as much as the Chinese do, but at least we take two weeks off evry week…
I’ve got the same 1987 Linear Tech applications book in my collection. Of course, I got it when it was new
(#olderthanIthinkIam)
Regarding the cloud server “free app”, why don’t you write one that explains what your crazy episode titles mean?
Here, I just did http://bit.ly/zc7PPU
The chip Chris was thinking about might have been the ARM. The hardware was designed by Steve Furber, the software by Sophie Wilson. Sure it has come a long way since then, but the basic design and architecture is still the same.
Regarding engineers that want to get every last detail right vs. “just send it out”, I’ve experienced this in the chip design world as well.
The first two companies I worked for after graduating college did not have their own fab, so my mistakes cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars and there was a lot of pressure to get things just right.
Then I went to a company with a captive fab and the culture was completely different – there was an MPW run every week or two so if you screwed up you could just respin the chip at very little cost and we were encouraged to experiment.
Interestingly, in both cases the chip design attitudes carried over into other activities as well – the company with the outside fab wanted me to get the PCB’s just right on the 1st turn, etc. It was a bit of a shock when I moved from one to the other (but it would have been much harder to move the other direction!)!
There is an org theory that a company can only produce specifications, and consequently build products, that match the company’s organization. I.e. it is Apple’s internal organization that makes them churn out their products, and it is Microsoft’s internal organization that makes them churn out one piece of rubbish after the other.
If your employer’s company organization was dictated by a fabrication issue then it is no surprise the attitude spreads to other activities within the company. A leopard can’t change his spots.
Good show this week. Can you post a link to the free pdf of “Analog Seekrets” books?
Also, a good future show topic could be to get the authors/maintainers of KiCAD to come on the show and talk about the current state and future plans for KiCAD. Also, maybe they could talk about who uses it, different PCB houses, etc….
Thanks.
Yours truly,
Blind Freddie aka “Uncle Bob”
Inventor of the “niche gilded lily”
http://www.thetan.plus.com/seekrets/index.html
Sorry, we posted the link to the forum, that should take you directly there.
Am i doing something wrong or is the link still not working?
Server issues i think or just maybe the publishers took your advice and put it back in print.
It’s 2012, and you dredged up a 2007 youtube link on how to say Happy Chinese New Year? Not only that, the link doesn’t even teach you how to say Happy Chinese New Year. BTW, the way I say Happy Chinese New Year is “Happy Chinese New Year”.
Dave,
Could you post a link or a reference to the super-cheap PTZ ip camera you found. I have been looking for something just like that.
Me three, interested in your IP Cam, Dave.
Me three.. where’s the link to the $50 pan-n-tilt camera?!
Also, the link to the analog design book is unfortunately… DEAD!!!
http://www.thetan.plus.com/seekrets/index.html
http://www.thetan.plus.com/seekrets/seekPDF.pdf
So if anyone downloaded it while it was still up.. please post!
Ebay is full of them.
Getting boards right first time. Yeah it is hard, there are thousands of ways to screw up even a moderately simple board so there will probably be something wrong. I don’t see that as a good reason for not trying. If you can’t get it right when you try how much ‘wronger’ will it be when you don’t? Fixing it might not be so simple either.
I once had to bring up a prototype (not my design or layout I am pleased to say) which had most of a 20 bit address bus missing due to mismatched net labeling between schematic sheets. Ever tried soldering a 100 pin 0.4mm pitch TQFP on a 100 pin 0.5mm pitch footprint? Do that a couple of times and I guarantee you will spend a lot more time checking footprints on the next prototype.
Dave, it would require a major re-design of the maker-bot to allow it to mill PCB’s because there is a lot more force involved with that than just extruding plastic. It would also need an order of magnitude or so greater accuracy and resolution on the z-axis. (and very small backlash) Most of the control electronics could be probably re-used but new software would have to be written (or at least a plugin).
Great show! TAH#79 had the highest SNR of any of your non-guest shows yet. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Tom, we felt the same! The post-roll clip kind of spoke to that
New link to Book, Author moved it for some reason (server overload ?) http://www.logbook.freeserve.co.uk/seekrets/
Thanks!
Just a reminder….If you like the book PLEASE make a small Donation or at least thank Mr Green for his fine work. Your Mother will be so pleased if you do
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I’ve Uploaded this to Rapidshare as the link above is a PITA https://rapidshare.com/#!download|251l33|3105166522|seekPDF.pdf|9640|R~0|0|0|RapidPro expired. (34fa3175)
Enjoy!
Very well done Chris! That’s very good pronunciation. You must have practised that a few times. Take that as a compliment from a Chinese speaker.
Thanks! I’d love to learn more, but I fear I don’t have the time nor the memory for it. Someday, perhaps.
Hi Chris
Just a suggestion but as Leslie Greens book seems to have gone viral due to your mention on the Amphour it would appear the there is a lot of interest in this field and he seems to be quite knowledgeable from a quick scan of his book, so how about getting him on the show? You may turn him into a super star (Think agency fees) Lol.
Yeah, that’s a good idea, I’ll shoot him an email.
That “Analog Seekrets” book looks good on a kindle too. Shame about the name though.
Chris’s comments on mobile phones and gadgets being good enough and therefore becoming commoditized, modularized, and accessible to hobbyists reminds me of Innovator’s Dilemma. The same with the comments about Kodak only halfheartedly pursuing digital imaging.
The stock photos are a parody of stock photos.