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The John Westlake/Lakewest MDAC/FDAC, VFET and Detox

Just to let investors not in the FB group know, that John has resurfaced from a marathon lab session and has posted on FB. In the last few weeks he's been working flat out on the 'clock section' which needed a lot of re-working and looks like it will need its own shielded and temperature controlled/compensated housing (internal to MDAC2/FDAC) ...preliminary results suggest its very very accurate and hence very sensitive to its environment.

Next step is to get a proper board designed and produced for it ('clock section), so I'm guessing the next important update will be in about 2 to 3 weeks.
 
Thank you for info, very quiet here otherwise. Ok, he still pushing boundaries at research. Question is, all those good intentions not going to go crash at production difficulties and costs like it happened with Detox?
 
Question is, all those good intentions not going to go crash at production difficulties and costs like it happened with Detox?

Your guess is as good as mine. I'd say, let's get to that stage and see. Best to be positive, all the boards are to be populated inhouse (John's lab) and I recall there was a 'partner' company in Europe willing to make the chassis. So.... Fingers crossed.

As for cost, be prepared to factor in 8 years of inflation and then some.
 
Just to let investors not in the FB group know, that John has resurfaced from a marathon lab session and has posted on FB. In the last few weeks he's been working flat out on the 'clock section' which needed a lot of re-working and looks like it will need its own shielded and temperature controlled/compensated housing (internal to MDAC2/FDAC) ...preliminary results suggest its very very accurate and hence very sensitive to its environment.

Next step is to get a proper board designed and produced for it ('clock section), so I'm guessing the next important update will be in about 2 to 3 weeks.

Clock section it’s always the clock section, that lab must have more clocks than Switzerland by now.
 
Clock section it’s always the clock section, that lab must have more clocks than Switzerland by now.
In Waltham, US we view Switzerland as the young upstart to the watch business :)

However, since exceptionally precise femtoclocks are readily available and included in $500 DACs, the difficulties with the "clock section" do seem strange.
 
In Waltham, US we view Switzerland as the young upstart to the watch business :)

However, since exceptionally precise femtoclocks are readily available and included in $500 DACs, the difficulties with the "clock section" do seem strange.
Yes I know that update info from JW is scant but I’m bemused by posters who make strong assertions based on mere assumption. This is just another example, and guess what, the assumption that JW is just using an off the shelf clock solution is completely wrong. In fact it couldn’t be further from the truth.
 
Yes I know that update info from JW is scant but I’m bemused by posters who make strong assertions based on mere assumption. This is just another example, and guess what, the assumption that JW is just using an off the shelf clock solution is completely wrong. In fact it couldn’t be further from the truth.
I totally understand that and wish you all well.

I was just surprised that one would want to develop a clock from scratch at this point.
 
He's not designing the oscilator the quartz will be bought in, it's the million and one bits to control the quartz and massage the output across the rest of the dac that he's doing.

Think that's just a language thing
 
Yes I know that update info from JW is scant but I’m bemused by posters who make strong assertions based on mere assumption. This is just another example, and guess what, the assumption that JW is just using an off the shelf clock solution is completely wrong. In fact it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Hi Ian, it appears there are very few sponsors left that receive any information directly from the source i.e. John. This is hardly a reasonable situation and it shouldn't come as any surprise that sponsors are frustrated (euphemistically speaking) and forced to speculate. It seems to me that John should at least have a designated proxy on PFM. Thus, unpalatable feedback could be filtered/moderated and sponsors could receive regular updates... everyone would be happier! Would you consider such a role or discuss the idea with John?
 
He's not designing the oscilator the quartz will be bought in, it's the million and one bits to control the quartz and massage the output across the rest of the dac that he's doing.

Think that's just a language thing
Understood. Now that I remember vibration testing one of our radar FRGs, it had a lot of circuitry besides the oscillator.
 
In Waltham, US we view Switzerland as the young upstart to the watch business

Waltham has been making watches since about 1850.

There are half a dozen Swiss makers that started in the 1700s, some predate Waltham by more than a century.

And of course Waltham no longer makes watches in Waltham, they closed in about 1950.

The brand still exists and you’ll never guess where their watches are now manufactured?
 
Waltham has been making watches since about 1850.

There are half a dozen Swiss makers that started in the 1700s, some predate Waltham by more than a century.

And of course Waltham no longer makes watches in Waltham, they closed in about 1950.

The brand still exists and you’ll never guess where their watches are now manufactured?
I own a large collection of Waltham watches and know the history of my town and the brand.

This is really Off-Topic in this thread and I apologize. My comment was just a casual reference to modern manufacturing methods and wasn't meant to upset anyone.
 
Yes I know that update info from JW is scant but I’m bemused by posters who make strong assertions based on mere assumption. This is just another example, and guess what, the assumption that JW is just using an off the shelf clock solution is completely wrong. In fact it couldn’t be further from the truth.
That would be too easy.
I don't now why, but that reminds me:

BTW "clock circuitry" is the catch phrase for 8 years now. There have been no 3 or 4 months in the history where he wasn't working on that. Perhaps it's more of a time machine circuitry and it's stuck in an infinite loop.
 
He's not designing the oscilator the quartz will be bought in, it's the million and one bits to control the quartz and massage the output across the rest of the dac that he's doing.

Think that's just a language thing

Remember he is doing a PhD researching phase locked loops, he probably is working on a clock section just not one relevant to the MDAC2. I suspect he is just dicking about doing what he finds fun.
 
the assumption that JW is just using an off the shelf clock solution is completely wrong

Given the original brief and his obvious inability to produce a working clock of his own design, my question is why doesn't he just use one of the many excellent off the shelf solutions? After all, there is no point in re-inventing the wheel!

I know, the answer is;
he is just dicking about doing what he finds fun.
 
He wants to make something that completely decouples the output of the clock from the rest of the circuit physically and electrically and this involves some serious isolation and clever practice as well as complex processing of the signal. Its certainly beyond anything available off the shelf. Whether the result audibly beats other solutions remains to be see.
 


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