High voltage gyrators and kicad plugins

Circuit Break Podcast #199

High Voltage Gyrators and KiCad Plugins

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November 20, 2019, Episode #199

Stephen and Parker discuss Equalizers for High Voltage signal paths and ultra rare Atari 2600 Hardware. Also, what is the Apple H1 Chip?

Parker

  • 50V power pack update
    • Managed to safely remove the cells
    • Protection circuit is functioning correctly
    • One of the 4 banks is “bad”
    • Scrapping all the 18650’s for future projects
  • Helping Ben debug the Atari Junior 2600 Single Chip system
    • Atari 2600’s typically have 3 main ICs
      • 6507 CPU
      • RIOT (RAM and I/O)
      • TIA (Graphics and Sound)
  • Air Raid Siren all printed
    • Needs final fitment and assembly to be completed!

Stephen

  • Rackmount case
    • Designed a rackmount case for a 1u preamp
    • New v-score bend method that works great on aluminum
    • A mixture of chamfer and cut relief
    • Can be bent by hand
  • Back to Gyrators
    • 300V 4 band EQ using high voltage Mosfets as gyrators
    • Gyrators first mentioned on Episode 173 of the MEP
    • Wanted to solve the issue of not having to make more power supply rails
    • About +/- 12is db per band
    • 80hz, 220hz, 750hz and 2k

R.F.O.

  • KiCad Action Plugins
    • Run your KiCad Python scripts direct inside the UI now!
    • RF tools – a very cool curved trace plugin
    • Parker’s major complaint about Zoom Centering in KiCad hasn’t been an issue for atleast 2 years now
      • Why did no one tell Parker 🙁
  • EE Web – now with more TOOLS!
    • All about Arrow
    • More EDA tools then you can shake a stick at!
  • Apple H1 Chip?
    • Silly marketing wank
    • Its just a custom MCU
How older style amps where built. Could be easy or hard to service…depending on your point of view.

How older style amps where built. Could be easy or hard to service…depending on your point of view.

Cut profile for bending aluminum on a CNC machine!

Cut profile for bending aluminum on a CNC machine!

Inside the Stephen’s and Roz’s high voltage preamp.

Inside the Stephen’s and Roz’s high voltage preamp.

Atari 2600 Junior with the JAN chip.

Atari 2600 Junior with the JAN chip.

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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