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KiCad Testpoints Plugin
Tuesday, June 04, 2024 in Blog
(Updated: )Over the past few months I’ve been working on turning the internal tools we’ve developed at EOI/HEO for various projects into a new company. We recently launched TheJigsApp to make the design and manufacturing of test jigs fast and …
KiCad 8 Contributor Shirt
Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in Blog
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KiCad 8 has been released, and they were kind enough to send us a contributor shirt! It’s amazing how much the tool has improved over the past five years. I’m looking forward to the API-based version, even though it’s going to break …
Photoreceiver Testing
Thursday, May 16, 2024 in Blog
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At ElectroOptical Innovations (EOI), we build a wide range of optical measurement systems tailored to diverse applications. When a subject matter expert approaches us with a measurement challenge, we collaborate closely to define the measurement …
KiCad Custom DRC Rules
Monday, October 30, 2023 in Blog
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I got a board sent back by JLCPCB the other day due to a DRC rule I hadn’t come across before: “If the copper area is less than 30% of the outer layers, then the trace-trace spacing should be at least 0.15 mm.” This is in contrast to their usual …
Pin 1 Markings and PCB Assembly
Monday, October 23, 2023 in Blog
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Most pick and place files are programmed by hand. Remember this and repeat it to yourself whenever you’re checking your files for PCBA manufacturing. Chris Denny’s KiCON 2019 talk is essential viewing on this topic—he breaks down the …
Spreadsheet Wrangler
Monday, October 23, 2023 in Blog
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Summary Spreadsheet Wrangler is a command line tool to make working with spreadsheets easier. I use it primarily for handling bill of materials. Github PyPi README spreadsheet-wrangler Command line tool for interacting with spreadsheet data …
Rectangle Packaging Problem / Efficient 2D Packing
Thursday, October 19, 2023 in Blog
Summary Automatically fit 2D rectangular parts onto standard-sized CNC panels to reduce waste and manual layout work. This post outlines a Python-based approach using the rectpack library and OpenSCAD for visualization and tool path. Using rectpack …
Object Oriented OpenSCAD
Friday, October 13, 2023 in Blog
Summary This is a discussion on using vectors in OpenSCAD as objects that can be used polymorphically. I’ve found this to be a powerful approach which encourages more generic algorithms. It’s a bit ugly but it works. Nothing here is …
Preparing Laser Cutting Files from SVGs
Thursday, October 05, 2023 in Blog
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Here’s a trick I’ve been using to prepare files for laser cutting that have been exported to SVG. SVG is just an XML file that contains a bunch of vectors and metadata. Here’s an example of one exported from OpenSCAD. Remember this, …
pyetest: Electronics Testing Tool & Method
Saturday, September 30, 2023 in Blog
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Name: pyetest Github: https://github.com/snhobbs/pyetest pypi: TBD pyetest is a Python library designed to simplify pass/fail test scripting for electronics by leveraging spreadsheets as test descriptions. The goal is to reduce custom code and make …