The pcb plague

Circuit Break Podcast #331

The PCB Plague

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Tour MacroFab's ITAR-Compliant Facility

June 3, 2022, Episode #331

Ever have PCBs that solder just will not wet and solder to? You probably thought it was improper soldering technique but that was probably not it!

Neutrik EtherCON Ruggedized RJ45

  • Lockable RJ45 cable within an XLR style housing
  • Also come in a sealed version that offers IP65 rating

Interesting PCB failures

Effect of Moon Phase on Tombstoning

  • Many factors play a role in the overall outcome of PCB assembly, especially when very small components are involved. Broadly speaking, tombstoning is a problem with very small 2-pin components (0201 caps and such) and we’ve filtered out the following challenges:
  • – proper paste application
  • – component placement
  • – designing for “good” thermal properties of the PCB with regard to tombstoning
  • – moon phase

Stretching Stainless Stencils? Oddity Today

  • Interesting manufacturing defect surfacing
  • Stencil “stretches” ever couple panels or so
  • Anyone ever seen or experienced this before?
  • Solutions? Next Steps?

Project: SNACKEY

  • Hacking a USI/Vendnet/FSI 3159
  • Theory of how a snack machine works
  • Interesting Parts
    • UCN5890A
    • UCN5842A
    • SC529136CFN2
    • M48T18-100PC1
  • What I am doing to hack it
    • Motor control
      • High/Low side transistors
      • Might change this to mosfets to reduce voltage drop
    • Arduino all the things
    • Current sensing
      • INA219 High side sensing

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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