The Brick That Shall Not Be Named: A Joe Broms Story

August 11, 2017 Hosted by Parker Dillmann, Stephen Kraig

Guest Joseph Broms talks about his experience in prototyping and designing his product ProtoBricks.

  • August Hardware & Electronics Engineering Meetup by MacroFab & Mouser Electronics event is live! Come grab some food, beer, and socialize if you’re in the Houston area.
  • Joseph Broms
    • Joe received his B.S. at the University of Illinois in Computer Science
    • He has worked in numerous industries including, medical device, security, professional audio, broadcast, and education
    • One central theme to Joe’s career is successfully turning ideas into sellable products
    • Has worked on many projects ranging from an FDA-approved cardiac simulator to a critically acclaimed instrument tuner, APTuner
  • Joseph is releasing a product called ProtoBricks on Indiegogo
    • Protobricks are LEGO-compatible building blocks to lower the entry-level of how electronics work
      • Purpose is to remove how much ancillary gunk is needed to understand how it works
      • It has been Joesph’s hobby for the past seven years with many different revisions
    • Mold design and plastics
      • LEGO stud pitch is 7.986mm, 2.54mm on solderless breadboard = exact factor of pi difference
      • Used modified LEGO bricks as initial tests
      • 3D printing has gotten good enough to prototype injection molding
    • Electrical Contacts
      • Copper tape and sheets pressed into the plastic did not work
      • Spring-loaded pogo pins everywhere!
      • QUANTITY DICTATES EVERYTHING
  • Stephens Game – Room for balloons. How do you get rid of them?
    • Joseph – Blowtorch
    • Stephen – Pull a vacuum on the room
    • Parker – Throw cats into the room
    • Combination – Flamethrower vacuum cat

Hosts: Parker Dillmann, Stephen Kraig

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!