Hardware Podcasts

A 2013 Recap - Year-end Yarn Yakking

The Amp Hour · 31 Dec 2013 · 1h 10m · Episode 178

What this episode covers

Hosts Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics and Dave Jones of EEVblog discuss a wide range of hardware engineering topics, including the complexities of part numbering, version control in production, and the challenges of sourcing obsolete components. Jones details his experience with a Kickstarter campaign for his Microcurrent device, highlighting the impact of currency exchange rates on unit economics and the decision to manufacture locally in Australia. The conversation also covers the technical limitations of a new 10 GHz USB sampling oscilloscope, the decline of the hobbyist kit market due to cheap contract manufacturing, and the value of lab notebooks for patent defense.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
EEVblog, Contextual Electronics, DigiKey, Mouser, Agilent, Adafruit, SparkFun, Heath Kit, TI, Rad Castle, Teespring
Products
Microcurrent, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, MakerBot, Keithley, Ruckingenur 2
Chips
LM324
Also
Rachel Rivera

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 17m

    140: Physics Is the Same Everywhere

    Andrew 'Bunnie' Huang, creator of the Novena open source laptop and author of Hacking the Xbox, discusses his new book, The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen, which he funded via Crowd Supply. He explains the cultural and economic differences between prototyping in China versus the US, noting that Chinese factories use manual assembly with higher defect rates but lower upfront costs. Huang also reflects on the value of open hardware for privacy, the challenges of self-publishing physical books with unique features, and his desire to use his engineering skills to help society.

    Crowdfunding & preordersManufacturing partners & offshoring
    8 chapters

  • Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast · 45m

    033 - All Over the Place

    Hosts Jen Castillo and Alvaro Prieto discuss their pandemic-era projects, including Alvaro's recreation of his father's 7400-series digital clock, a USB-C power adapter using a Cypress chip, and a t-shirt quilt. Jen details her reverse engineering of a greeting card chip, her exploration of Chinese manufacturing via Alibaba, and her choreography of a remote dance piece. They also cover the cancellation of hardware conferences like Hackaday Supercon and HackRF, and recommend movies such as 'Mood Indigo' and '3 Idiots'.

    Prototyping & iterationDebugging & failure analysis
    9 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 56m

    35: All These Different Reasons Why You Might Want to Do Something

    Chris Gammell, co-host of The Amp Hour podcast and employee at a large industrial electronics company, discusses his new online course, Contextual Electronics, which bridges the gap between academic theory and practical hardware design. He explains the course's structure, which targets advanced Arduino users by teaching them to design, source parts for, and build a 'Bench Buddy' project using KiCad and open-source tools. Gammell details the logistical challenges of running a remote hardware class, including managing global time zones, version control via GitHub, and optimizing for low-cost, low-quantity component sourcing.

    Validation & product-market fitEDA & CAD tools
    8 chapters

  • The Hardware Entrepreneur · 36m

    #032 - Why manufacturing in USA vs China is becoming interesting, with Scott N. Miller of Dragon Innovation, USA

    Scott N. Miller, co-founder and CEO of Dragon Innovation, discusses the shifting landscape of manufacturing between the US and China, highlighting how rising Chinese labor costs and the rise of crowdfunding are making US production viable for lower-volume hardware startups. He details Dragon Innovation's new software tool, Product Planner, designed to help hardware companies manage bills of materials and unit economics, and announces a partnership with Kickstarter and Avnet called Hardware Studio to support creators. Miller also shares a critical failure story from his time at iRobot involving the first 15,000 Roombas, where a design flaw caused optical encoders to fail due to rubber dust, illustrating the importance of testing and quality control.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringPricing, margins & unit economics
    8 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 07m

    96: Yarn Is Serious Business

    Carrie Sundra, an electrical engineer and owner of Alpenglow Yarn, discusses her Kickstarter campaign for the SkeinMinder, an automation device for small-scale yarn winders. She explains the technical design using an ATmega328P and solid-state relay, and details the financial challenges of reaching the 100-unit production threshold for economies of scale. Sundra describes how a late-stage pledge match saved the campaign from failure and her strategy for transparently communicating manufacturing costs to backers.

    Crowdfunding & preordersPricing, margins & unit economics
    7 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Amp Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.