⚡ The Analog #99: Designing Buttons in Consumer Electronics
⚡ The Analog #99: Designing Buttons in Consumer Electronics
September 24th, 2024
We’ve had a great time meeting our readers, and we’re excited to host another private event in San Jose, CA, on October 8th! Applications are open with limited seats (~20), click to register – hardware engineers, founders, and investors are all welcome.
Instrumental is hosting the Build Better 2024 Summit on October 16th, a manufacturing summit for leaders across engineering and operations. The focus is on 'The Next Way'—exploring how companies are using data and AI to transform complex electronics development and production across consumer, aerospace, defense, and networking industries.
Interesting Links 🏭
The Zenith Space Command was the very first television remote control, developed in 1956. As an entirely mechanical system, the Zenith ‘tunes’ a TV to its channel by hitting an ultrasonic tone with a spring-loaded hammer, giving it the famous ‘click’. A microphone in the television picks up the signal and changes the channel. An interview with Zenith inventor, Robert Adler, here.
If you want to learn more about modern button design, check out this mechanical design guide for rubber keypads. It covers the essentials for making durable silicone inputs, like membrane geometry, material choices, and designing for snap ratios—the tactile response of a button. Key travel (0.8mm to 1.2mm) and actuation force (150g to 350g) are crucial human factors, shaping the feel people expect in different types of switches. If you were to open up your Google TV or Roku remote, you’ll likely find a rubber membrane designed like below!
How Ted Hoff invented the first microprocessor. Hoff thought designing 12 custom chips for a calculator was crazy, so he created the Intel 4004 in 1971. That original microprocessor contained 2,300 transistors and could perform 60,000 operations per second. For context, a typical modern CPU like the Intel Core i9-13900K contains over 10 billion transistors and hundreds of billions to trillions of floating-point operations per second (FLOPS).
A breakdown of the $3 billion the U.S. Department of Energy has allocated towards 25 battery technology companies as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. These funds support a range of battery technologies, including solid-state batteries, lithium-metal anodes, and silicon-based anodes. The funding is project-based, with most companies using it to build production and recycling facilities.
Some notable grant winners: GM-backed Mitra Chem received $100M to build a facility in Michigan & Form Energy received $150M to build a factory in West Virginia.
From IMTS last week: a few photos of Apple molds used in production by JINGDIAO. The photos include interesting details, like the ~25 hours spent polishing an AirPod cavity surface! The mold piece has a maximum surface deviation allowance of ≤ 10 μm and surface roughness of Sa ≤ 20 nm.
MEMS devices can be highly sensitive to small-molecule gasses like helium. In 2018, nearly 40 Apple devices were disabled when a helium leak from an MRI machine broke the vacuum seal on the SiT512 MEMS timing oscillator. Check out the detailed analysis of the incident by iFixit.
Sponsored: Presented by POP Manufacturing
Our friends at POP Manufacturing just installed their largest 3D printer, the Stratasys F900, at their Emeryville location. If you need high-quality 3D printed parts with great service and quick turnaround times (same-day and overnight available), we highly recommend giving POP a try for your next build!
Startup News 🚀
Toolpath has raised a $10M seed round to develop an AI assistant for machinists aimed at addressing key front-end gaps in job evaluation like machinability, cost estimates, and tool planning. The software currently integrates with Autodesk Fusion to send the CAM program. The round was led by the Leaders Fund.
Karman Industries has emerged from stealth with a turbomachinery-based heat pump aimed at replacing industrial boilers used in chemical and food manufacturing. While turbomachinery is rare in heat pumps, Karman is the first to explore its use at an industrial scale. Their design draws inspiration from the turbomachinery in SpaceX’s Raptor engines, replacing traditional compressors with high-RPM turbomachinery. Riot Ventures led the $4M seed round.
Mosaic Manufacturing closed a $20M financing round to support global expansion of its fused filament 3D fabrication technology. Unlike traditional 3D printers focused on prototyping, Mosaic’s systems are designed for manufacturing applications, such as factory floors. Their printers have features like up to 40 print beds, a robotic arm to replace print beds, and the ability to print with up to 8 materials in a single part!
A new fusion startup Fuse Energy raised $32M at a $200M valuation this week. Fuse is developing a nuclear pulse generator, a device which uses powerful electromagnetic waves to mimic the effects of extreme radiation. This kind of testing is a critical bottleneck in the fusion industry, and Sandia Labs, which operates the world’s leading facility, is already a customer. Fuse was founded in Montreal in 2019 by JC Btaiche, who was 19 at the time, along with former Pentagon and Iranian Atomic Energy Organization employees.
Open Jobs 💼
Sponsored:
Cartken is looking for a Robot Electrical Engineer in Phoenix, AZ
AllSpice is looking for a Product Manager in San Francisco, CA
Entry-Level
Raytheon is looking for an Electrical Engineer I in Tewksbury, MA
Cisco is looking for a Mechanical Engineer I in San Jose, CA
Mid-Level:
Turion Space is looking for an Electrical Engineer in Irvine, CA
Oculus VR is looking for an Electrical Test Engineer in Redmond, WA
Tesla is looking for a Mechanical Design Engineer (Prototype, New Programs) in Fremont, CA
Senior to Staff:
Starpath is looking for a Senior Electrical Engineer in Hawthorne, CA
Neptune Medical is looking for a Senior/Staff Manufacturing Engineer in Burlingame, CA
Lam Research is looking for a Mechanical Engineering Manager in Fremont, CA
Internships:
Noah Medical is looking for a Mechanical Engineering Intern in San Carlos, CA
Shure is looking for an Electrical Engineering Intern (Battery Lab) in Niles, IL
Relativity Space is looking for a Robotics Engineering Intern (Summer 2025) in Long Beach, CA
To see the full list of open roles, visit our job board. Want to share an exciting role at your company? Reach out here.
Meet our Sponsors:
Sygma is building the AI assistant for hardware teams - track issues smarter, stay on schedule and on budget, and ship faster.
Doss simplifies your operations by tracking inventory from PO to POS.
SendCutSend manufactures custom sheet metal parts, delivered directly to your door.
FlashPCB provides super-fast PCB assembly by running design rule checks on your board, automatically generating a BOM, and final quotes within minutes.
POP Manufacturing offers rapid prototyping and quick-turn services for FDM, PolyJet, full-color 3D printing, and CNC machining.
Summit Interconnect is a manufacturer of advanced technology printed circuit boards focused on complex rigid, flex and rigid-flex PCBs.
Cofactr is an automated electronic component procurement and inventory management platform.
AllSpice.io is the Git for hardware collaboration platform, connecting native engineering design tools to provide revision control, automation and more.
Partsbox controls your electronic components inventory management software. Keeps track of where your parts are stored, manages BOMs and production.
Roboze manufactures high-performance super polymers and composites through advanced 3D printing, creating parts strong like metal.
Looking to get ahead in your career? We offer interviewing resources for engineers!
For all resources available, check out our home page.
Thanks for reading to the end - if you’ve enjoyed the mechanics of these insights, consider sharing this email with a fellow enthusiast!