bcohen5055

Joined 12 years ago

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153

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Member since

Jan 29

Mechanical Engineer who pretends he knows how to code

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Recent submissions

Comment · 4 years ago

This qualifier is actually more about lawyers and accountants. The US has a very unclear policy about labeling something as USA Made. It comes down to the US content in the BOM cost and it is specific to costs essential to the product, at my last 2 companies these decisions were left to accounting and legal.

In my current company we make sunglasses a non-polarized pair of sunglasses will say made in USA and a polarized pair will say assembled in the USA because the polarized wafers are not domestically made. In both cases the boxes, stickers, and logos are non domestic but aren't counted because they "aren't essential". In my previous company anything that had electronics from overseas had to be "assembled" but electronics from NAFTA areas were "usa made"

In reality it doesn't make much sense to ever have a BOM 100% USA made as that fully negates the benefits of trade but we should have policies that still encourage companies that chose to conduct business here. When consumers are turned off by "assembled in" it drives business out of the country.

*I work as a product development engineer for consumer goods. My current role and previous company both had US MFG sites

Edit: here is a link to the requirements https://www.nist.gov/standardsgov/compliance-faqs-made-usa#4

Comment · 6 years ago

Not a home but if you were a bank and a 17 year old walked into the bank, talked to someone and was able to walk out with a fat stack of cash i think the insurance company would have to reconsider your policy.

Comment · 7 years ago

The distinction you are looking for is parametric vs. geometric.

Parametric models such as Solidworks or Creo use complex equations to derive the 3D geometry. Geometric models use a point cloud built from polygons to develop surfaces. These point clouds are defined by the user and are not as "stable" when used in product development setting where you are trying to create multiple iterations/sizes of an object

Comment · 8 years ago

There is a system for TV Meta Data to be sent over the air and TVs with tuners used to be able to read this data and create an on screen guide. I had this on one of the first HDTVs I got but haven't seen it since

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Program_and_System_Information...

Comment · 8 years ago

I've been running Home Assistant for a while in Docker on my home NAS server. It runs great, is reliable, very scriptable, and so easy my wife can use it! I run it on my LAN without needing any additional online services and I VPN when away from home if I want to check anything out.

Comment · 8 years ago

To be fair they don't pay for it every time... The chargers are now in LA, not SD

Comment · 8 years ago

I grew up in Colorado and having them as a local resource for components was truly a gift. My dad was an EE and in his eyes Sparkfun was a great alternative to the Radioshack of his early days.

When I was in college in Fort Collins I made a quite a few trips for last minute parts to finish my projects and I had a ton of fun when I got one of the 5.00 dumpster dive boxes.

Keep up the good work!

Comment · 8 years ago

Thanks for this list.. you have killed my productivity this afternoon.

Comment · 8 years ago

Any links to good articles about this? I for one have not heard of this before.

Comment · 8 years ago

Yes, because seat belts and airbags only encourage people to drive faster and more reckless

Comment · 8 years ago

Where I live in Southern California the problem is that supply is kept down by people renting out their first home and buying a 2nd. The houses appreciate at 4% per year and the rent increases at nearly 8% so it's win win for owners. On the flip side renters continue to spend their money renting and paying the mortgage of their landlords. The 2010 census reported Irvine was nearly 50% rentals [1].. In one of the largest planned communities in the US that is a problem.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvine,_California (see census data for 2010)

Comment · 8 years ago

I work in a product development environment. We have a worldwide network of suppliers. At the beginning of this year our employer stopped reimbursing our monthly cell phone bill. When asked if we still should respond to emails form our phone both durring and outside of work hours we were reminded that although it is our choice to reply after work hours our bonus is contingent upon launching product on a timely schedule. Personally I enjoy being connected at all times as it maintains better relationships with engineers across the globe but ever since this decision was made I'm much more selective about what emails I reply to.

Comment · 9 years ago

Profession: Mechanical Engineer - Full Time (large well known consumer product brand)

Workday:

-[8:00] Meeting, once a week with Italy (tool supplier), 2 days a week with US manufacturing (on site)

-[9:00-11:30] Catch up on emails, review 3D CAD for projects, individual casual meetings with designers, marketing, CAD etc

[11:30-1:00] Lunch with coworkers, usually go to local climbing gym or go for a hike

[1:00-5:00] Same as morning routine, sometimes have to help manufacturing team with production issues, usually schedule larger meetings to kickoff new projects

[5:00] Touch point call with Chinese counterparts for new projects

[6:00] Go home.. exchange email/wechat with China for a while

Comment · 9 years ago

I'm a current robinhood non-gold user and they actually eliminated this restriction around 6 months ago. Now as soon as I sell a position I can buy my next with the funds from the sale.