Circuit boards, explained from the factory floor.
Pick, Place, Podcast treats electronics manufacturing as shop-floor problem solving, not abstract theory. Circuit boards, assembly failures, vias, sensors, cleaning, test systems, and supply-chain waste all get discussed through practical examples and working-engineer curiosity.
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Pick, Place, Podcast is a practical electronics manufacturing show centered on the path from circuit-board design to assembled hardware. It is strongest when small design choices become real production problems. Vias are not just holes here; they are thermal paths, solder-mask puzzles, plugging decisions, filling decisions, and possible causes of strange reflow behavior. ESD is not treated as a checkbox either. The conversation around inevitable failures points to a familiar manufacturing tension: customers want confidence, but prototype-volume work still carries risk, handling variation, and test gaps. The show often works by slowing down problems that engineers may have learned to route around too quickly. A discussion with Dave Wilcox turns via tenting, LPI mask, dry film, and filled vias into a chain of cause and effect. The motorsport sensor episodes with Caleb Holloway bring a different environment into view, where RF design, antennas, brake temperature sensing, and physical punishment matter. A conversation with Kenny McGee widens the frame to component brokers, excess parts, landfill, and the environmental cost of electronics. Other recent topics reach into PCB cleaning and PCBA functional test systems. The talk is technical, but it is not polished into distance. Chris Denny and Melissa Hogue often let the uncertainty stay visible while they ask for clearer explanations, better analogies, or the practical reason a process behaves the way it does. That gives the show a useful rhythm. A specialist can follow the manufacturing detail, while a growing hardware builder can hear why the detail matters. It suits a listener who wants circuit-board knowledge tied to actual manufacturing behavior, not just design-rule summaries. The show also has a candid, shop-conversation looseness: schedule jokes, production headaches, support realities, and the occasional self-deprecating aside remain part of the texture. Its differentiator is proximity to the work. Similar hardware shows may talk about products or engineering culture; Pick, Place, Podcast spends its time on the friction between what a board design asks for and what manufacturing can reliably deliver.
Made for: Suits a listener who designs, builds, buys, tests, or troubleshoots PCB assemblies and wants practical manufacturing context. It also fits hardware builders who want the reasons behind fabrication and assembly advice.
What sets it apart: The show keeps manufacturing details close to real examples: vias, ESD, reflow behavior, cleaning, testing, sensors, and component reuse. Its edge is the mix of technical specificity and candid production-floor problem solving.
The Pick, Place, Podcast is a show where we talk about electronics manufacturing and everything related to getting a circuit board into the world. Join hosts Chris Denney from Worthington and Melissa Hough from CircuitHub as they discuss the pcb assembly process, design tips that will make your manufacturer love you, and talk to industry guests.
Scattered QFNs after reflow are your invitation to develop strong feelings about vias.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at why circuit boards fail, and how extra units, testing, and handling discipline can improve the odds.
Inevitable Failures frames failed circuit boards as part of ordinary engineering work, not a shameful surprise. Chris Denny with Worthington and Melissa Hogue with Circuit Hub tie the habit of ordering extra units for a hundred-piece project to the realities of prototype-scale…
A grounded look at sensors built for the brutal measurement problems inside racing wheels and brake rotors.
Motorsport sensor design turns into a practical lesson in hostile environments as Caleb Holloway explains what it takes for an antenna to work inside a wheel, close to ground planes, a tire, and possible embedded steel.
Caleb Holloway explains how motorsport sensors found early customers, and why support demands shaped Izze Racing's business.
Motorsport sensors turn into a business test as much as an engineering one in this conversation with Caleb Holloway of Izze Racing. He describes stepping into a political, competitive field, asking whether the market would trust the product, and finding early use among…
A QFN reflow issue becomes a practical tour of via plugging, filling, planarization, and thermal tradeoffs.
Via management gets a compact manufacturing story in this single-episode review. A large QFN with thermal vias in its ground pad leads to parts shifting after reflow, turning a familiar layout choice into a clear look at solder behavior and the pain of rework.
A practical PCB discussion makes via tenting and gold plating easy to picture without flattening the technical stakes.
Vias, solder mask, and gold plating make for a more animated electronics manufacturing discussion than the subject might suggest. The hosts keep the questions practical, moving between dry film and liquid photo imageable mask, while a returning PCB fab design engineer connects…
Specialists walking through software's tradeoffs, one system at a time.
Founders and engineers on AI coding agents like Claude Code, and supply chain security.
["Chris Denny and Melissa Hogue use Pick Place Podcast's 'Inevitable Failures' to ask why a PCB can look perfect after assembly and still not work.", "They contrast customers who accept a few failures on 500-piece or 2,000-piece orders with customers who expect 100 percent yield.", "The conversation names IPC A610, the J standard, thermal cycling, ESD handling, and the New Jersey pogo-pin 13 example that kept D1 failing.", "Chris and Melissa end on a practical rule: talk to the supplier, test before a three-hour chassis build, and group repeated failures until the root cause is clear."]
Caleb Holloway says braided steel whip antennas solved the hardest RF problem in Izzy Racing's wheel sensors after chip antennas and helical antennas failed inside a metal-heavy environment.
Chris Denny of Worth and Ten says a new reflow oven will make the SMT line fully automated, but the ventilation quote climbed from $8,000 to $15,000 before electrical work pushed the project near $20,000.
Chris Denny of Wordenton, Melissa Hoag of CircuitHub, and CircuitHub PCB CAM engineer Dave Wilcox focus on plugging and filling vias in PCB fabrication.
Pick, Place, Podcast spends this episode on vias, tenting, and why a masked thermal via can turn into a rework problem in PCB assembly.
Kenny McGee of Component Sense says electronics sustainability gets real when scrap, solder paste, and excess stock can be traced to vetted recycling facilities.
Hosts discuss electronics manufacturing, PCB assembly, and industry insights, with a mention of a guest appearance on another podcast.
Hosts discuss electronics manufacturing, PCB assembly, and industry insights, including a recent Hack Chat experience and preparation for new pick and place machines.
Hosts discuss electronics manufacturing, PCB assembly, and design tips for circuit boards.