3D Printing, educational electronics, EFM32 Gecko, EFM32 Gecko Silicon Labs, Indiegogo, injection molding, LED, LED driver chip, lego compatible, MacroFab, macrofab engineering podcast, MEP, multiplexors, pi, Podcast, protobrick, shapeways, Silicon Labs, sketchup, solderless breadboard
Podcast
80
Parker Dillmann  | 

MEP EP#80: The Brick That Shall Not Be Named: A Joe Broms Story

Download: MP3
RSS Feed: Link
Twitter: @MacroFab

Runtime: (00:55:09)

Hosts:
Parker Dillmann
Stephen Kraig

Guest:
Joseph Broms
ProtoBricks

Podcast Notes

  • August Hardware & Electronics Engineering Meetup by MacroFab & Mouser Electronics event is live! Come grab some food, beer, and socializing if you’re in the Houston area.
  • Joseph Broms
    • Joe received his B.S. at the University of Illinois in Computer Science
    • He has worked in numerous industries including, medical device, security, professional audio, broadcast, and education
    • One central theme to Joe’s career is successfully turning ideas into sellable products
    • Has worked on many projects ranging from a FDA approved cardiac simulator to a critically acclaimed instrument tuner, APTuner
  • Joseph is releasing a product called ProtoBricks on Indiegogo
    • Protobricks are LEGO compatible building blocks to lower the entry level of how electronics work
      • Purpose is to remove how much ancillary gunk is needed to understand how it works
      • It has been Joesph’s hobby for the past seven years with many different revisions
    • Mold design and plastics
      • LEGO stud pitch is 7.986mm, 2.54mm on solderless breadboard = exact factor of pi difference
      • Used modified LEGO bricks as initial tests
      • 3D printing has gotten good enough to prototype injection molding
    • Electrical Contacts
      • Copper tape and sheets pressed into the plastic did not work
      • Spring loaded pogo pins everywhere!
      • QUANTITY DICTATES EVERYTHING
  • Stephens Game – Room for of balloons. How do you get rid of them.
    • Joseph – Blowtorch
    • Stephen – Pull a vacuum on the room
    • Parker – Throw cats into the room
    • Combination – Flamethrower vacuum cat
Figure 1: Joseph Broms with his ProtoBricks!
Figure 2: Prototypes Joseph has been working on over the past seven years.
Figure 2: Prototypes Joseph has been working on over the past seven years.
Figure 3: Close to the final product. Protobricks integrates with standard LEGO bricks.
Figure 3: Close to the final product. Protobricks integrates with standard LEGO bricks.

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

About The Hosts

Parker Dillmann is MacroFab's Co-Founder, and Lead ECE with backgrounds in Embedded System Design, and Digital Signal Processing. He got his start in 2005 by hacking Nintendo consoles into portable gaming units. He also runs the blog, longhornengineer.com, where he posts his personal projects, technical guides, and appnotes about board layout design and components. Parker graduated with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas.

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.

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