From PCB drawings to conference badges and more, designing circuits isn’t just for rectangles (although I’m always fond a good business card PCB). If you’re interested in designing for complex shapes the presentation below by Andrew Sowa is worth watching – the presentation proper lasts about 30 minutes followed by about 13 minutes of Q&A – the slide screenshot above shows Andrew’s details online for further exploration.

While most PCBs can be simple rectangles, sometimes the design requires more complex geometry. EDA tools don’t always make this simple, so we will go over a few KiCad tips to make it easier. In this talk you will learn how to import unique board shapes from Fusion 360, create arbitrary fill zones using images, and embed high-frequency RF filters. We will use multiple software packages to enhance KiCad’s performance beyond its obvious use.

A party for hacking, discovering, and sharing hardware

Teardown is an event put on by Crowd Supply in association with Make+Think+Code @ PNCA. You can think of Teardown as live-action Crowd Supply, but with fewer cardboard boxes and packing peanuts. We’ll be bringing together hardware aficionados from around the world to celebrate, inspect, create, and, of course, tear down hardware. There will be long-time Crowd Supply creators and backers, as well as people we’re meeting for the first time. There will be hardware, art, food, drink, puzzles, workshops, tutorials, talks, music, field trips, and friends. Most of all, there will be ideas and projects to explore and inspire. We hope you’ll be there too!

Teardown is about the practice of hardware: prototyping, manufacturing, testing, dissassembling, and circumventing, all while having fun. Leave the marketing glitz and talk of venture capital at the door and come prepared to learn and teach.

[via OSH Park]