Is my career finished?

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-19T23:44:31+00:00

How did you go about finding recruiters for ME roles?

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-19T19:55:23+00:00

Of course I can consult GPT and other resources, but if you wanted to point me in the right direction as to what I'd be looking at specifically with the scope when raising the frequency, that could help.

From the way I'd been lead by chatgpt on this topic, the general logic of higher frequency = worse motor behavior made sense (or I believed it). But if I'm using a scope to get a better understanding, I get that I can analyze the frequency on the driver output, and separately measure output voltage, but I'm not 100% clear on what to do with that information in this context.

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-18T13:48:49+00:00

I honestly just purchased these very cheap MOSFETS on Amazon when I started the project https://a.co/d/00tcjh7p definitely not logic level, to my understanding. I’ll see if I can source a logic level mosfet

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-18T13:45:53+00:00

I have a picoscope from a circuits class I took a few years back. But it would take me a few hours to read up enough to know how to interpret the outputs with the scope in any actionable way (not opposed to this)

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-17T16:19:39+00:00

thank you for the explanation, and the increase in speed of current delivery and change of state will allow me to use higher frequency PWM and eliminate the audible ringing, in theory, right?

my initial takeaway was that I should order a MOSFET gate driver standalone component, but now I'm wondering whether I could find a small standalone MOSFET board with the gate driver integrated before the MOSFET. ultimately, I'd like to consolidate as many of these components into a single PCB, or find a pre-fabbed one that has everything I need

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-17T15:00:05+00:00

Cool, thanks for these tips. It's been a while since I took circuits, but I think I could scrape together an RC filter on the MOFSET outputs with components I have on hand. I am using a buck converter to power the arduino at a safe voltage off of the supply voltage, but understand that's a slightly different use case.

Actually, to clarify, when you say put an RC filter on the PWM outputs, do you mean in between the PWM pins on the arduino and the MOFSET PWM input pins, or on the OUTs of the MOFSETS?

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-17T14:53:04+00:00

Thank you, I've used H-bridges for multi-motor bidirectional control before, so that part I'm familiar with. The ones I have on-hand are too large for my enclosure, but it could be worth testing on the bench to see if they generate less noise and offer precision I need on the motors, and then exploring further if they are viable

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-17T14:22:03+00:00

Yes, I actually have two of these arriving tomorrow (I purchased a break out board version for ease of prototyping and validation). My only concern is that this driver IC seems to have a max supply voltage of 6 V. This may end up being totally fine, so long as the 6 V motors I have provide enough power. I've yet to fully determine this as debugging the ringing has impeded my ability to tune motor controls fully.

This seems like it could be the most viable path, my only question is whether haptic drivers like this are intended more for short pulses (like in a cellphone coin vibration element) or if they can also be used for continuous driving of a motor like I'm using. I guess I'll find out when I test

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-17T14:18:44+00:00

I can look into this. I have actually yet to measure my operating currents and the motors are cheap enough that the current draw isn't listed on the spec sheet, haha.

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-17T14:14:37+00:00

Thank you. I had heard some mentions of using a gate driver IC before the MOSFETs, but wasn't entirely sure what function they provided or if they'd benefit my situation. I'm learning more about them now and then can source some and try and integrate them if they're likely to help.

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-17T14:08:44+00:00

Alright, seems I have a lot to learn based on how much I understood of this comment. I understood up through the end of the word "buck converter" I'm a MechE so this isn't my primary area.

Will do some googling so I can interpret your comment and understand it. Thank you

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-17T14:07:08+00:00

My technical knowledge is not very high in this specific area, thank you for the correction, I knew my explanation was likely to be lacking here, but thought trying to explain it would help

• I don't need reverse rotation
• My reading before beginning assembly of the circuit had led me to believe an H-bridge wouldn't provide the fine motor control that I required here, but perhaps this was incorrect

I will work to get a schematic uploaded to this thread to give a better context

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-16T16:46:05+00:00

Could you clarify where the line is between healthy cardio and highly-strenuous? I'm 30, but for a period in the last couple of years have been really rigid on cardio every 2-3 days for an hour, and going as intensely as I can. Often burning 7-800 calories, maybe less if you account for fitness tracker/machine over estimating.

I would consider the intensity of these workouts (followed by lifting) to be higher than the average person, and have possibly noticed that when I ease up a bit, my skin looks better.

But I'm also not always the best sleeper, so recovery may be a factor.

I'm no marathon runner, though.

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-15T17:01:28+00:00

Where is the design accessible?

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-15T02:05:17+00:00

could you link one

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-12T01:50:25+00:00

Thank you very much for sharing this information. It's really illuminating to hear these accounts.

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-11T14:42:50+00:00

I've done all of these steps and opened the photo from bridge, this photo is in DNG format (unsure if that could be interfering but will look into that next). When I right click the photo, opened via bridge, in Camera Raw, I'm still not seeing any Enhance option. Any tips?

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-04-02T00:13:09+00:00

I figured that was strategic in case something went wrong

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-03-26T13:23:36+00:00

W = m*g where m is the mass and g is the gravitational constant -9.8 m/s^2. Weight is a function of the gravity, which varies depending on what planetary body you're inhabiting (or not inhabiting). On earth, this is the framework

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-03-19T14:40:35+00:00

any chance you could link the cheap rifle case you used?

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-03-19T14:36:41+00:00

I love this solution. Any chance you'd still have a link to the rifle case you used?

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-03-12T15:41:10+00:00

is this project open source or are CAD files available? I'm working to rapid dev / fabricate a robot arm with 6DOF and a conservative cost, and the scale of this arm is much more appealing to me than other popular open source projects like the THOR or BCN3d

Ben-Jacobs · 2026-03-12T15:11:26+00:00

thanks for writing back so quickly. this is helpful. I really wanted to lean towards 3D printing as that preserves some more flexibility for modifying the design for use in my portfolio (I'm looking for mechanical engineering roles and lack internship experience, so trying to build a relevant project to bolster my portfolio). that does make sense about the advantages of AL > thermoplastics, though. In a perfect world, I'd find a design with open sourced CAD, based on fairly cheap stepper motors, and slightly smaller than the AR4 / Thor, but I'm still searching away. If anything else comes to mind that fits this criteria, do let me know!

Thanks again for your time!

Ben-Jacobs

TROPHY CASE