So I did my first assembly for the claw machine!. FYI this is for my claw machine project. See it here - https://github.com/hamesjan/clawedtronics Basically, I got it working ( kinda ). I've learned a lot and I'm really excited to iterate on the PCB I had built. I wrote down some notes for what I have to fix - Ive written it here Power decision circuit needed between USB and Power Supply power. Having both will cause back driving that blows stuff up 0.1 nf Capacitors are too small. Also there is order for 100nf capacitors in wrong size and 0.1u in right size, just use right size for all Screw terminals for 2 are flathead screws. Dont have a flathead. Either change them to philips. Also, It might be nice to just find the right 9x9 connector so it's an easy connection. Buttons are the wrong footprint. Also Non inverting buffer is wrong, too small too. Weird bug with the bootloader. Not sure what is happening with ESP but I can’t get into the app sometimes. DONT Solder while power is on!!!! Also, get a power switch so I don’t have to keep unplugging and replugging. Pull up EN and GPIO0 USB C has the wrong footprint, wrong holes so it's hard to fit. Break out GPIOs use too small pitch, just standard breakout pins like esp32. During assembly I blew up 1 motor driver, a resistor, and other stuff. I basically have no sure idea what happened - a couple of suspect reasons but I'm not experienced in electronics enough to say for sure. Think I might have to get an oScope and really apply my little EE knowledge to figure out what went wrong before I order the next revision. I'm kinda bummed this is the only way to iterate on HW, where I have to spend a bunch of money to buy parts, pcbs, etc. But I'm glad I got setup with assembly tools so I can not have to pay for those things now :)

I'm currently in the process of building out my second ever PCB, first ever done by myself. I'm building a claw machine - mostly for fun and to learn how to better design pcbs and get experience with electrical engineering. It's been fun! I especially love KiCad, it is so freaking simple and intuitive and the fact that it is open source gives me hope in humanity. I wanted to write this to point out one of the pain points I had during pcb development. Maybe this is just one of those first time learning curve things but yea.... So the issue I had was that the separation between PCB design software, part vendors, and the fab shop. I would design my PCB, have to change my design because I find the footprints/symbols in my design don't match the cheapest thing the vendors offer (Digikey), and then I would have to revise my pcb design after I submit it to fab, and then yea you get the gist. There is just a disconnect between the components a beginner designer like me works with and the enormous catalog of DigiKey, as well as the fab's rules. Now that I'm writing this, I learned that nailing down the components first, and then doing pcb design/layout seems to be the path to doing as little revisions as possible. Maybe I'm just being lazy and I just don't want to do revisions lol. I think in a perfect world, there would be a set list of components that a fab has, and I can just export all footprints/symbols for those components into KiCAD under a library, and then have those things automatically map to DigiKey MFGPNs so I don't have to keep going back and forth between the three things. It would be so nice if I could just start in KiCAD, have all my components chosen for me ( basic passive components, etc.) and then just have them be the cheapest thing that vendors offer; or the vendor can partner with the fabs to set up this beginner workflow so PCB design doesn't seem so intimidating. This probably already exists and I just don't know about it. Anyways, I'm excited. I just spent like ```$400 (im testing this code block functionality lol)``` on the following - all the smd components - PCB and stencil - soldering iron, solder, flux, fan, wire, wick, helping hands, magnifying glass, tweezers, etc. It's gonna be like Christmas once all my components get here. Edit: Oh brother JLPCB just contacted me they need to do a 4 wire Kelvin Test??? WTF is that.... Them boys charging $70 for that just cuz I have a couple of holes with size 0.15mm... Time to revise again >:(

I decided to start this blog because I wanted to create a space just for me. I've been an avid journaler for more than 10 years now and I really enjoy going back and reading through them because 1. it helps me remember minute details of my life in a vivid way 2. Its funny to see how I have changed/ haven't changed. I wanted to create a space on the web where its all mine and I can customize it however and I can just put as many cool things as I want because its like the ultimate version of my own cozy nook in the internet. So just to give an overview of where Im at in life: I'm currently writing this in a quaint coffee shop in redwood city. I've been living in the SF bay area for 5 months now - working as an intern at Tesla on the Firmware platforms team. I really enjoy the work, its very fast-paced and startup-like, but there are development practices that one would only see in a huge company like itself. Its cool to work on both sides - a place where scalability really really matters but is kind of scrappy; it seems like the best place for me since I dream of starting my own thing one day but I want to really get years of experience learning best practices first. During my free time, I've been just doing random stuff around the city - yesterday I went to Pacifica pier to go crabbing with my roommates. Its funny, we were out there for hours and between the 5 of us we caught one crab that barely missed the 5 3/4 inch size requirement so we didn't even get to take it home and grub on it. Meanwhile, there's these people at the end of the pier that are having a fiesta - blaring corridos and drinking beer and smoking cigarettes - they are catching huge crabs, 2 - 3 at a time on their snare, and just leaving with buckets of them. We met this one guy who was from Mississippi and had traveled all the way west to catch crabs because his wife back home really liked them. Anyways - I'm looking forward to making this website as cool as possible in the future. I want to make really cool projects and post them here, and just stake out my own corner of the internet.