Hardware Podcasts

Dotty Ernest Annty Frost

The Amp Hour · 9 Sept 2019 · 1h 03m · Episode 457

What this episode covers

Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss Gammell's recent experience hiring paid tutors to accelerate his learning of GCC and debugging for a new hardware project, contrasting this with informal mentorship. They analyze the economic viability of ultra-low-cost PCB manufacturers like JLCPCB and the real-world impact of US-China tariffs on component sourcing, citing a personal $500 tariff bill. The episode concludes with a discussion on Australian legislation protecting the title 'Professional Engineer' and the history of Wi-Fi patents.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
JLCPCB, PCB Way, Oshpark, DigiKey, IEEE, CSIR
Products
Wi-Fi

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • OnTrack · 22m

    OnTrack PCB Design Podcast 2025 Year in Review

    Host Zach Peterson reviews 2025 industry trends, highlighting how tariffs reshaped global supply chains and spurred UHDI manufacturing expansion in the US. Guests including David Schild, Tyler Richards, and Greg Papandrew discuss the economic realities of reshoring, the technical challenges of high-layer count and rigid-flex PCBs, and the specific innovations in solder paste and substrate materials. The episode also examines the practical application of AI in embedded development and supply chain management, noting both its utility in automating coding tasks and its current limitations in deterministic engineering optimization.

    Sourcing & supply chainAI & machine learning
    12 chapters

  • OnTrack · 51m

    The Future of PCB Manufacturing: Tariffs, Supply Chains & More

    Greg Papandrew, Managing Director of DirectPCB, discusses the impact of tariffs and supply chain shifts on PCB manufacturing, explaining why China remains the preferred source despite geopolitical tensions due to capacity and lead times. He highlights the critical importance of Design for Manufacturing (DFM), noting that designers often over-engineer boards with unnecessary sequential laminations and gold plating, which drives up costs and limits vendor options. Papandrew also addresses the challenges of export controls, proprietary data protection, and the lack of domestic US capacity to absorb offshore production, suggesting that private sector joint ventures might be necessary to scale advanced PCB production in the US.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringPolicy, trade & tariffs
    8 chapters

  • OnTrack · 44m

    PCB East 2025: Exhibitors, AI Trends & Networking Opportunities

    Ethan Pierce, a Field Applications Engineer at Altium, joins host Zach Peterson to review PCB East 2025, highlighting the conference's value for networking with fabricators, EDA vendors, and operations staff. They discuss the surge of AI tools on the expo floor, including Arena AI, DPCB, and AutoPCB, noting that these tools are currently finding their niche in prototyping and junior engineering workflows rather than replacing senior expertise. The conversation also addresses the immediate impact of new tariffs on domestic and overseas PCB fabrication, with vendors like Silicon Expert and Cofactor providing real-time compliance data to help engineers navigate supply chain disruptions.

    AI & machine learningSourcing & supply chain
    9 chapters

  • Thoroughly Considered · 1h 11m

    124: Tariff Talk

    Myke Hurley joins hosts Tom Gerhardt and Dan Provost of Studio Neat to discuss the impact of tariffs on their business, explaining how they mitigate costs by performing final assembly and value-added machining in the US while sourcing raw metal parts from Asia. The group also covers the discontinuation of the Material Dock due to its complex, multi-supplier supply chain and low sales volume, and reviews past predictions, including a debate on whether DSLR camera sales are recovering. Finally, they discuss Studio Neat's new Pocket Notebook, highlighting its use of Colorplan paper and GeoSmyth's Abstract recycled paper, and touch on the strategic shift toward automated, AI-driven marketing.

    Policy, trade & tariffsManufacturing partners & offshoring
    6 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 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.