Working from home: motherboard design edition

"TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel) 03/26/2020 at 10:11 • Filed to: None

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When your work requires a lab but you can’t go into the lab anymore you bring the lab home with you. Luckily the space I budgeted for a sim rig is perfect for a lab.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 10:22

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Beats my setup for sure. I don’t even set up on my desk because that’s covered in engine bits and my table is too small.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 11:06

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Is what you can do severely limited by your setup? That's really not all that much stuff for a lab.

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 11:15

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Post title means what it says? You design motherboards? Cool! But the microscope means you’ve already designed them and someone’s made them?

A friend designed a few server motherboards and the first optical mouse.

dogisbadob > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 11:51

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cool stuff

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 11:58

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Nice!

I don’t have the space to build a lab for what I do, it’s just too big. Luckily, I had just installed a lot of hardware in my lab just as this thing started affecting us here in WA and I can do much of my work remotely through creative use/ reuse of equipment there. However, we have a bunch of suppliers that are hurting as they shipped equipment that ended up received in our warehouse but can’t be paid for until it’s installed, which is on hold indefinitely. Some also have equipment queued at their warehouses for shipment when our work can resume... It’s kind of sad, because I know this is rippling through  supply chains everywhere, putting people out of work.

E90M3 > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 12:15

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Do you also make electrical components ?

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 03/26/2020 at 12:18

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Specifically what I am doing  is validation and bring up on prototype motherboards. This is the stuff I need in order to take a non functional prototype motherboard and debug it and bring it into a working state. I also have the stuff here in order to be able to to voltage regulator characterization, tuning, and load testing. I have a bunch of smaller more specialized test tools in boxes around my apartment I will pull out as I need them. We don’t do our PCBA in house.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > VincentMalamute-Kim 03/26/2020 at 12:22

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Yup, the company I work for designs industrial and rugged PCs. You are correct that we don’t do our own PCBA work. What I am working on is taking the first batch of prototypes we got for a new motherboard and doing all the debug and rework required to get them into a booting state. Then once they are booting and functional I will be doing all the testing, validation, and tuning on the voltage regulator circuits on the motherboard.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > E90M3 03/26/2020 at 12:23

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We do not make any components. The company I work for designs and produces industrial and rugged PCs.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 12:32

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Interesting. I hadn’t ever thought much about the physical testing of motherboard prototypes. 

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 12:36

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ah - what you describe sounds familiar from what my friend tells me about his job. He designed the motherboards and after the prototype was made, populated and soldered them by hand, then did all of your other steps.

I now see your soldering iron!  I find EE stuff cool.  Maybe because it’s not my job?

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > VincentMalamute-Kim 03/26/2020 at 15:08

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I can’t imagine having to hand solder a motherboard. There’s nearly 2000 components on the board I am working on now.

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 03/26/2020 at 15:15

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Apparently he had techs under him to do some (most?) of that stuff. He also had his girlfriend stuff a motherboard. He quit early 2000's at age 43.

If you feel like, I wouldn’t seeing a pic of what some of the test equipment on the right are.