Categories
Consulting Engineering Work

Pro Bono Engineering

Today I’m announcing a new project: Pro bono engineering. I will be offering a couple hours per week to those in need in an attempt to make a positive impact.

The concept of pro bono is nothing new. It is a common practice in law and medicine. Sometimes as a method for writing off hours at a tax break (though that is on shaky ground with the IRS) and sometimes as a public service; the American Bar Association recommends donating time to those in need to maintain good standing with the law community. And while engineering doesn’t really have a centralized organization for licensure (yes, the National Society of Professional Engineers acts as this for some fields), it is still an important thing to think about. Really it’s about helping people who are not able to afford services. Other precedents exist for this as well, like Engineers Without Borders (EWB), but I am not aware of this existing for electronics/tech projects.

I would love to tell you that I’m doing this solely out of the goodness of my heart, but that’s not how idea started. It primarily started because some of my skills are less sharp than they had been in the past. I have been working on a lot of things in the last 3 years, but I’ve been learning mostly outside of the field of engineering: marketing, product management, business administration. All of these things are necessary, especially for running a small business. But the core skills that I talk about and am proud of are my engineering skills. Much like my strife over selling my drums, moving away from engineering is as much an identity crisis as anything else. I am the first person to talk about the power of “learning by doing” (see also Contextual Electronics), so this is my form of that.

That’s not to say I’m not excited by the prospect of social good and helping people move their projects forwards. As you’ll see in the criteria I lay out below, the project goals will also help me decide which project to prioritize. Really instead of “social good”, I’ll try and focus on “impact”. If I can help a software engineer move a project forward for a device that helps a lot of people (even if it’s a commercial project), I’ll favor that.

But enough about the motivations, as this is really an experiment. I’ll only know it is working once I have tried it out! Let’s take a look at some of the restrictions and guidelines for projects I’m looking to work on:

  • This will be no more than 5 hours per week of my time.
  • You will need to pay for parts. Even when a friend mechanic works on a car for “free”, you’re often paying for the parts.
  • I will be working in KiCad. This is my eCAD of choice. If there is mechanical or other work, I’ll help out how I can (have been learning Fusion 360).
  • I will be talking and writing about all projects I help with. If you have a “secret” project, you probably should be hiring someone to help you out.
  • There are restrictions on what I’ll agree to work on, including life-critical and dangerous projects. Really I am the only person who decides what I’ll be working on.
  • Projects with existing documentation (even background info counts) will be given priority as that helps to assess the project. There is a place on the form below to add info about where to find the documentation.

So the last thing is that I am taking the “applications” for this via Google Forms. You can access the form directly here and I will attempt to embed the form below.

I am hopeful I will be able to help a lot of people and find great new people to work with. If you have thoughts or questions, please leave them in the comments below.

Thank you Antonella Beccaria for the picture of helping hands

Categories
Contextual Electronics Engineering

(KiCad) Information Wants To Be Free

This is a cross-post from the Contextual Electronics blog, as it affects readers here and there

TL; DR: I am releasing all of the KiCad videos that were part of Contextual Electronics to the public and have started a new site/forum to support them. See below for announcement video.

I officially finished the first two sessions (1A & 1B) of Contextual Electronics in early June. It was a great experience, especially for a first time course, especially one where there was money involved and I was the IT guy on the project. It wasn’t a super smooth build, but that kind of added to the project; we were all “in it together”. At the very least, I can very confidently say I don’t regret quitting my job to teach electronics; it has been rewarding and an eye opening experience.

The first part of the course (session 1A) was all about how to design a PCB for a particular application. We use an open source PCB CAD program called KiCad. The open source was important to me because it not only meant that members would be able to download and use the software free of charge, it also meant the final product–which is licensed as open source hardware–could also be replicated and improved upon without needing to buy a license for the software that designed the product.

I had been a fan of KiCad long before starting the course and the software has been in development long before that (since 1992!). But it has never really taken off either in the professional nor the hobbyist community, the latter being the more perplexing data point; the predominate piece of CAD software with electronics hobbyists is CadSoft EAGLE. I think it’s a good piece of software and have used it a bunch for previous designs, but also think KiCad has surpassed EAGLE in many ways.

Not only am I a fan of KiCad, I also see how fast it is moving. It is a dynamic software environment, with developers who are regularly working to make it better. In fact, CERN recently added resources to assist in the project and have been rolling out some exciting new features. They are helping to inject some advanced techniques into the package, which should help move it towards being a world-class piece of CAD software.

So between enjoying my own use of KiCad, educating others how to use it and still not seeing it take off, I decided that I am going to release all of the videos that were part of Contextual Electronics about KiCad onto YouTube. I hope that these will encourage people browsing YouTube for help with KiCad to take a deeper look and start using it for all of their projects. I will also add move videos as newer features become standardized and new stable builds are released.

The other thing I noticed that was missing was a place to discuss KiCad. There is a Yahoo group but I am not a big fan of Yahoo groups nor how they are run. So I decided to start up a new site with information on how to do the builds and a forum where people can discuss KiCad and the videos I posted. It is meant to be a resource for people getting started who want to build their own PCBs with KiCad.

So that’s all for the big announcements today. I will be over at the new KiCad.info forums, answering questions and supporting the site. I hope you will join me over there!

Categories
Engineering Mechanical

CNCs And Stuff

I often find myself worried about where my job might be in the future.

It’s not that I worry that my current job will evaporate overnight (though that is a possibility for any and all of us). But it’s more of a general concern, because globalization continues its march onward. In general, I find that globalization continues to be a thrilling enterprise because I see what changes it is made in my own life and my own career; electronics really have gotten more exciting since expanding to the worldwide marketplace. The trend is most often notice is the one of general consolidation of duties of an engineer. What this means from an analog electronics perspective, is that my job as an engineer is shrinking. Many of my favorite companies (analog electronics companies) continue to make highly integrated components that I love talking about. In fact, this is why I started ChipReport.TV. I saw it is a general trend that engineers are expected to know more and more about parts without; no allowance is given for being told about them…they just need to know. So I sought to be the one to tell engineers about the parts.

However, I ran into an interesting dilemma and got completely sidetracked from the project, as some of you probably noticed. But this article isn’t about parts, it’s about CNC machines; so let’s talk about the physical world. Specifically, let’s talk about 3-D printing. I have been interested in 3-D printing ever since I first heard about it. I’ve had the interesting opportunity to meet some people involved in the scene, including interviewing one of the former founders of MakerBot and others involved with that project and the Rep Rap project; I even know someone with a great 3D printing company in Cleveland. How cool is that? I wanted to buy my own machine for a long time, but never had the true justification in order to buy one. And so I have trudged along, watching newer and newer 3-D printers being announced. I’ve come close to clicking “Buy Now” on more than one occasion, but thankfully have never pulled the trigger. It’s not from lack of application nor lack of want, but simply the lack of justification for having a device that only prints plastic. In fact, let’s look at some of the applications I’ve seen in my own experience so far:

Are all these practical and necessary in my real life? Who’s to say. Well, my partner, but she’s honestly been winning this battle so far. She makes too much sense for her own good sometimes; I just can’t seem to justify it still.

In all of this, the biggest desire is to change my physical environment. To be able to dream of a component in my mind, render it in a CAD program, introduce it in some low skill, quick turn way.  I truly want a fabricator, without any of the overhead, nor training required.

So where did I go from here? How did I go from 3-D printers, to CNC machines, as the title of this article suggests?
I could route PCBs from copper clad FR-4The thing that really kicked it all off was an article I found on a subreddit, /r/hwstartups (one of my favorites). The article described gear making from a hobby CNC machine in order to make a planetary gear setupfor a robot. Granted, I didn’t know what that meant before I started delving into the article, but I soon found that those little gears help increase the torque from a stepper motor in a compact way. Still, it was not the fact that this person was showing me how to make tiny gears, but instead showing me the value of a CNC machine. In fact, it was immediately recognizable how much value it had outside of the 3-D printer (the section comparing the two really helped!). And most importantly, it showed the value and justification I might have in order to purchase one. What were some of these additional characteristics? What else could I possibly make with CNC machine that I could not make with the 3-D printer?

  • I can do small engraving jobs on existing products, similar to what laser cutters do .
  • I can utilize a variety of materials, outside of the existing plastic options that 3-D printers currently handle. This is especially exciting when I considered bending aluminum to my will. The article also mentions the lower cost of material because it’s so generic.
  • Some CNC machines have built in “scanners” that use a sensor to map the surface of an object. This would be less of an issue since there are now tools like 123D Catch, but would be more accurate.
  • The article is actually about mold making, which would allow more mass-produced parts, with a variety of materials and formulas. Making more than one part would also not require lengthy prints like 3-D printers do for each new item.

Of course, there are a variety of limitations–not the least of which being my complete lack of knowledge about machining and all things metal work. I never took any shop class in college or high school because I was more interested electronics at the time. Other limitations include cost, time, danger/safety concerns, space for the machine and so on. In fact, I was encouraged by a variety of people to instead utilize the increasing number of options out there for fabrication from services, as opposed to machining or constructing on my own. Services such as Shapeways, Ponoko and others now will provide 3-D prints and laser cut components from acrylic or MDF for a reasonable price, in a short time span. My favorite PCB service, OSH Park, can turn around really high quality, low cost boards in a couple weeks. They’re all really quite a good deals. However, I still find I want the ability to crank out a model at 3 AM in my own basement; I know the likelihood is low that I would need to, but that can make the difference between trying something and not trying something on a project. Plus, I feel like there’s a lot of value in learning this skill and carrying it forward with me through the rest of my career.

Lately, I have been finding the benefits of having a platform from which I speak my mind and request help. Specifically, when I put out the call on The Amp Hour for help regarding CNC machines, I had many kind offers of assistance. It must’ve been woefully obvious to my listening audience how little knowledge I actually had in this field. Luckily, I’m not the first electronics nerd to dive into the mechanical world. I was referred to a variety of resources, which I’ll list below:

  • The first and most useful so far has been the patient ear from a variety of listeners. They have answered my questions, not laughed when I asked stupid ones, and given useful tips on what to look for in a new machine. Surprisingly, the most useful of all things they do is question whether I really need to machine all. This soul-searching may save me thousands of dollars if the answer turns out to be “no”.
  • Next most useful has been CNCzone.com. This is a standard message board (a quite cluttered one, actually), which lays out many of the existing tools and arguments for and against each one. You never know the depths of nerdery, until you hear people arguing about the merits of the machine but maybe 100 people in the world regularly use. Still, I find it suits my needs quite well and I hope to join this small brotherhood, so I’ll let it slide.
  • Finally, I found that YouTube has offered the most illustrative examples of what I’m looking for. Not necessarily in the details of each machine, because often the people taking videos do not run the machine to their extremes. Instead, it’s interesting to see the limitations on what people are making. For example, I’ve learned that most subtractive methods such as CNC milling machines are actually more of a 2.5 axis devices not 3 axis devices, as they are often stated to be. This is actually just a limitation of milling in general. An end mill ( which looks like a drill bit) can only reach so much of whatever you’re trying to cut. As such, interesting methods must be employed in order to hold the material and then to reach the other side you must actually flip it over and precisely hold the material in order to match up the other side being cut. In a 3-D printer this is accomplished by simply only adding material where is needed. In fact, I’ve learned this is the main advantage of 3-D printers over CNC milling machines. Regardless, I’m glad I had YouTube folks to help me realize some of these limitations before being surprised upon purchase.

While I’m still in the process of researching and narrowing the field of potential CNC milling machines (and in reality I’m still determining whether I am going to purchase one at all), I thought I could lay out some of my potential options in order to help meet gather and refine my thoughts on the matter. While I am leaning one way already, I’ll try to remain as objective as possible in case others find this document in the future and are looking for a range of options.

  • The Harbor Freight Special — While HF isn’t known for their superior quality tools, this one has surprisingly good response from many of the people that bought one. The tools are actually made at a factory in China by a company called Sieg, but it’s distributed under many names. One of which is Grizzly Tools, who make a device called the G0704. It’s not necessarily low cost machine (about $1200) but it has a nice stand included, has a large table and can be converted to a computer numerically controlled machine, or CNC.
  • The Shurline 8540 — this is a nice-looking little kit,I specially like the manual turns on all of the CNC motors. I was advised to actually learn how to manually machine before doing CNC work, but something like this would actually allow that to happen. The thing I don’t like is they sell the computer alongside the machine itself and don’t seem to offer options without the computer. I feel I’ve earned the right to buy and set up my own computers after all this time. Between that and my cheapskate tendencies, I’m not really favoring the more expensive solution.
  • The Taig MicroMill — I’ve seen a lot of nice things said about this tiny desktop machine on forums and elsewhere. The thing that I like about it is it’s designed specifically for the hobbyist and desktop market, and the quality seems very nice. While it does come with a manual version, there’s also a CNC ready version, which reduces some of the headache of converting manual mills.
  • Another option that was suggested to me is to buy a used Bridgeport mill. These can actually be found quite cheaply on the market (Cleveland has a great resale shop I’ve showcased on this site before, called HGR Industrial). However, since these machines are meant for large industrial settings and are from an earlier time they also are quite heavy and large. That would prevent me from moving one down to my basement and I’m not sure I want my first mill to be as large as my car.

The things listed above actually aren’t CNC machines right out of the gate. more specifically, they’re milling machines; the CNC part you often have to bolt onto them yourself. And for this task, like all things on the Internet, there are people who will gladly sell you something to help you get the job done.

  • The first that was suggested to me with The Gecko G540. This is actually just a controller (which translates machine code into actual currents and voltages sent to the steppers), but you can also buy the stepper motors and power supplies there. Also of note is that there is a reseller called deepgroove1, which sells the Taig MicroMill and the Gecko all at once.
  • Another site that sells a lot of conversion kits is CNC Fusion. they’re one of the few that will sell a conversion kit for the Harbor Freight Special mentioned above. they also have complete CNC machines that they have developed in-house.
  • If you’re extra ambitious you can always roll your own. This actually makes a large percentage of the hobby builds shown on CNCzone.com. The problem with this is you need to actually build your own mounting fixtures for the stepper motors with the manual milling machine before you actually construct your CNC milling machine.

One thing I’ve left out of this entire equation is the issue of software. In machining is not just a CAD program that is required. Once the model has been rendered in a CAD program, you need some way to translate the machine data into lower-level code that CNC machine can then use to carve out a path on the raw material you start with. This is called CAM software. The combination of the two allow you to draw a hole drilled in a block of wood on your computer and then load that into your CNC machine and have it actually drill that hole in a block of wood; pretty neat, eh? I’ll continue to research this as I move into the depths of this hobby but I know there are a variety of open source and paid programs on the market. I’ll most likely choose support and community participation over cost. I’ve learned the hard way that getting stuck with no form of assistance available is a very discouraging path in any new hobby. I may even let cost slide and suppress my inner cheapskate.

Speaking of cost, I feel it’s important to point out here that this is not going to be a cheap hobby. I realize this from the beginning; I was reminded of this with everyone I talk to. It actually brought up an interesting conversation comparing a project (“constructing a CNC machine from scratch”) to a tool (“buy it off the shelf and start using shortly thereafter”); I decided early on that I wanted the latter. While I’m sure that I will learn a lot about CNC machines and stepper motors and everything else involved in computer controlling a milling machine, I’d like to learn that long after I have a couple projects under my belt. Then I can actually make some parts for the second machine from the initial machine. In fact, one of the first projects I dreamed up is cutting the components for a 3-D printer, specifically a Rep Rap. I’m sure this is entirely too ambitious but a dreamer is going to dream. It does show another benefit of a CNC milling maching: I’ll be able to make tools I need in the future. What this all means for me is that I’m going to have to sacrifice some other things in my life. And though it pains me a little bit, I’m actually selling my drum set and saying goodbye to one of my former hobbies. Well, it’s more, “packing up the thing I said goodbye to a long time ago”; I don’t really play drums anymore. Still, it will be nice to see something that brought me so much happiness be transformed into something new that will also hopefully bring me happiness.

So if things all go according to plan (and they never really do, do they?), I will eventually buy a CNC milling machine and start my journey as a hobbyist machinist. I likely won’t think of myself as a hobbyist machinist but instead just someone who wants to make stuff. I hope to document it here and elsewhere around the web and hope that anyone who still happens to read this site might find some useful information from my experiences. And if you happen to have some experience you might want to share with me or share with others in the comments, please do so below.

Many thanks to Nick Carter of Cartertools.com and Philip Friedin of Fliptronics, both of whom offered valuable advice and warnings about getting into this hobby. While I might not take every piece of advice they gave me (nor all of the advice left in the comments), I very much appreciated everyone taking time to explain things to me.

Thanks to UncaughtException and chuckoutrearseats for the pictures.

Categories
Engineering Podcast

Another Engineering Podcast?!?

I’m not around here too much anymore. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, it’s just that I have so many other places to say it. And I may have added another one.

As some you may know, I’m the co-host of an electronics podcast called The Amp Hour. It’s a lot of fun and our listeners run the gamut of hobbyists to professionals. Me and Dave Jones talk about circuits and related topics weekly.

But something has happened lately. I keep trying to draw the conversation away from electronics during the show and into more general engineering topics. I enjoy talking about more general topics such as innovation and the design process. But that’s not what Amp Hour listeners want to hear, they want circuits. We’ve done a couple surveys and each time that comes through loud and clear.

So, I started a second podcast!

I’ve paired up with Jeff Shelton of Engineering Revision. He’s an experienced mechanical engineer who is back in school for his PhD at Purdue and has lots of great experiences to draw on during the show.

This is just the first episode, so we’re looking for two things:

  • Feedback on the content of the show!
  • Help naming it!

If we keep enjoy doing the show and you enjoy what we have to offer, we’ll find a more permanent home with a website and a feed. Please let us know what you think in the comments!

EDIT: I didn’t realize the widget wouldn’t allow a direct download. If you want the mp3 file all to yourself, you can download the .mp3 here directly.

Categories
Engineering Jobs Learning Life

How To Write A Resume For Electronics

I’ve looked at a lot of resumes for electronics positions, so I thought I’d share some of my opinions on what should or shouldn’t be on there. Nothing formatting specific, so much as how to get across your interest and passion in electronics. I used examples that are resumes meant for engineering internships, but a lot of the info can be generalized to anyone. Hope you enjoy the video!

Here are those two resumes, if you’re interested: The bad (1st) version and the better (2nd) version.

Categories
Analog Electronics Engineering Learning

KiCAD Schematic Tutorial

Oh hey, remember me? Yeah, I’m the guy that’s supposed to be running this site. Sorry for the long absence. I’ve been consulting, recording my electronics radio show, managing a multi-blogger engineer site and even getting married! Jeez, it’s been a busy time. Anyway, things have cooled off a bit, so I’ve freed up some time (for now, never know what’ll happen).

I decided to dive into a new project after a long hiatus from hobby type activity. I plan to put an MP3 player and output stage board into an antique radio enclosure. I also decided to document the process, specifically using the open source board layout program, KiCAD. I’ve been talking about learning the software and doing the videos for a while now, so here it is! The first installment is the schematic capture. I’ll add more as the board gets more complex and I need to dive more into the process of actually getting a board fabbed. I’m excited! Hope you enjoy the video and the ones to come!

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Categories
Analog Electronics Engineering Interview

Featured on EE Web!

I was contacted a while ago and dragged my feet, like any good engineer. But today I was the “featured engineer” on EE Web! Exciting!

Aside from the fact that it was very nice of them to think of me, I’m just as excited to be featured on there along with friends from the electronics scene! My co-host of The Amp Hour (who probably won’t let me forget who was interviewed first), Dave Jones has been featured in the past. My co-conspirator for the recently completed 555 contest, hackmaster elite Jeri Ellsworth has been featured. And someone else I really respect from the hobbyist scene, Limor Fried of adafruit.

If you haven’t checked out EE Web, I suggest it. They have a really clean interface which I like for browsing their articles. The forums are still a bit light on participation but hopefully will fill up with knowledgeable people soon. Thanks again to EE Web for featuring me!

Categories
Economics Engineering Life

Closeout Deals From The Industrial Past

This past weekend I stopped into HGR, the local industrial surplus company in Northeast Cleveland. This place has industrial equipment from all over Ohio, unfortunately from plants closing down. Check out the pictures of all the machinery for sale…it’s enough to build one HELL of a workshop (and even a great new workbench!).

 


This Place is Monstrous


OK, I really would love a robot


The Roof Could Use Some Work


Reflow Oven For Sale (You Transport)


Because honestly, you never know when a machinist might want to get some exercise


A Heidelberg Printing Press

Categories
Analog Electronics Engineering Work

My Electronics Workbench

Aside from the 555 contest I mentioned in my last post, my February was spent building the workbench I drew in Google Sketchup. It was built partially for The Amp Hour, partially for circuits I plan on building and showing off on here and partially for my new business, Analog Life, LLC.

So for today’s show and tell, I’ll premier the first video ever with me in it on YouTube:

I also had a couple snapshots of the bench in progress:

So my bench is done now and I’m off to put it to good use!

Categories
Engineering House

A Proposed New Bench, Brought To You By Amazing Tools

After talking about my planned bench on Episode 26 of The Amp Hour, I thought it’d be fun to animate the finished versions of my plans (or at least where I’m happy with for now). I know Dave likes making fun of me, but the implications of such free and powerful tools cannot be understated. Even 10 years ago, CAD programs were inaccessible to the layman. Now, a very simple and intuitive program like Google Sketchup is letting someone like me design something like this. Amazing. It’s a subtle message for engineers to keep increasing their values and their skills over the years, as skills that were once coveted become more mainstream and commoditized.

Also, I should explain before I get more questions about it. The thing hanging off the left side of the bench is to hold the mixer for recording music and The Amp Hour. My drumset usually is just to the left of that and I’d be able to control it while sitting and playing as well as when recording the radio show.

Basically, I’m continually amazed at the power of the tools available to us today. If you’re not already taking advantage, I’d suggest giving it a try.

What kinds of tools do you use that you continue to marvel at their ability and power?