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Catching up with Bob Tarzwell
September 20, 2013 | Dan Beaulieu, D.B. Management GroupEstimated reading time: 7 minutes
Industry guru and inventor Bob Tarzwell has been largely off the radar since his move to the Bahamas several years ago. But he has been anything but idle. Besides running his resort, painting and sculpting, he has also been deeply involved in a number of critical “If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you” type projects.
I spoke with Bob via telephone recently. Actually, I was looking for some technical help for one of my clients and, as only Bob can, in 15 minutes he solved a heavy copper problem we had been working on for two weeks. Then we chatted about what he's been up to since he moved to the islands.
Dan Beaulieu: So Bob, we have not heard from you in a while. Where have you been?
Bob Tarzwell: Finishing the resort in the Bahamas and taking a breather.
Beaulieu: This is a resort? Man, I thought it was just your home.
Tarzwell: Well, it is my home, but it is much more than that. In addition to our house, we have 12 fully furnished executive apartments. It’s a whole compound, actually, including a pool, and a small marina. We have a tidal canal in the back and the ocean in the front. It’s pretty nice.
Beaulieu: So where did you get the idea for this?
Tarzwell: It came to me when we were staying in Sunnyvale a few years ago. Remember that place, St. Francis Arms? Well, I got the idea from those apartments.
Beaulieu: Yes, those were great apartments.
Tarzwell: Mine are better! We have everything a person or a family needs to stay one night or one year. We have rented them out to a variety of people. We had a National Geographic exploration team with us for three months; they pretty much took over the place. Then another time we had a whole crew that was building a bridge here. It’s fun. We take care of them like it’s a cross between and bed and breakfast and a hotel.
Beaulieu: It doesn’t sound like you’re taking it easy.
Tarzwell: No, but it's fun.
Beaulieu: How is your consulting business doing?
Tarzwell: Surprisingly, I’m doing quite well. I have a couple of ongoing clients in the states that I work with, but I only have to visit once in a while. And then I have a big client I’m working with. I’ve been inventing a very large point telephone switching relay made out of printed circuits.
Beaulieu: How’s that going for you?
Tarzwell: Very good. Typical startup company blues, but the printed circuit board with the movable relay arms inside is working. This is the first time they have that work. But before you go any further I have to tell you that this is all I’m going to say. If I say anymore, I’ll have to kill you.
Beaulieu: Got it, I’m good with that. Are there others besides that one that you can talk about?
Tarzwell: I have a few small contracts and besides that big one, I have been working with another shop to get them into very heavy copper and high-power printed circuits. They are a very good company to work with by the way, very well run. I’m also doing a small contract with high voltage PCBsfor new solar smart grid, and the large contract for the phone PCB switch is pretty interesting.
Beaulieu: What technologies are you working on?
Tarzwell: I just finished a new book on down-hole extreme printed circuits which seems to stretch the abilities of every part of a PCB, seems I get to work at the extreme ends of the design for some reason.
Beaulieu: I hear that the down-hole boards need to be the most rugged we make and that their specs are actually the most stringent in the industry.
Tarzwell: That’s right, in most cases these boards are going on sensors that are actually in the giant drill bits that they use. These sensors really are the brains as well as their eye and ears, letting them know everything they about what is going on at the bottom of the hole thousands of feet below the surface. If one of those stops working and they have to stop drilling or worse yet pull them back up, it sets them back for weeks. So they want to make sure that those boards are reliable.
Beaulieu: What do you think is hot right now in our industry and why?
Tarzwell: For PCB shops, I see more of the non-normal boards. I get calls asking for help on high-voltage, heavy copper, low-temperature boards and fine lines. The ability to do very fine lines to 1 mil is not that hard, and yet I still get calls from board shops who only do 4 mils, and they wonder why their sales are dropping.
Beaulieu: Wait a minute. Did you say the ability to get lines down to a mil is not that hard?
Tarzwell: Yeah, you heard me; just about any shop can get lines down to a mil.
Beaulieu: I don’t believe you.
Tarzwell: It’s true.
Beaulieu: So, how do you do it?
Tarzwell: Well, Dan I like you but I’m not going to tell you that. People pay me a lot of money to learn how to do that, so I don’t give that away for free. Sorry. However, all the books on my technologies are available at dmrpcb.com, and many have been re-priced and available at little cost.
Beaulieu: Okay, I get it. What new technologies are you excited about?
Tarzwell: Very high-speed circuits. I invented a new, simpler way to get very low-loss 0.3 db, up to 50 gigs. I'm just waiting for a patent application to be finished before we announce it to the industry.
Beaulieu: Keep me posted on that, will you?
Tarzwell: I sure will.
Beaulieu: Bob, I’ve been reading a lot lately about 3D printers and what they can do. What do you think of all this talk about 3D printers? Is this really a viable way to build things?
Tarzwell: Yes, I think so, assuming someone spends the money to perfect it. In Formula One racing, they now have 3D printers making parts right in the pits using carbon fibers; there's no need to bring all the extra parts. Years ago, I saw the possibility for a 3D printer to pop out very complicated multilayer boards. They were printing a fiberglass reinforced layer and UV curing it. I was also involved in printing copper particles and light pulse fuses. It actually worked pretty well. But with the industry thinking that it’s in the doldrums (and yet the global PCB market is larger than ever), it’s hard to find venture capital in the USA for the future.
Beaulieu: You might have a point. And the industry is getting better. Some say that we are going to innovate our way back to success and I feel that the 3D printer may be one of those tools that helps us get there.
Tarzwell: It could be Dan, it just could be.
DB: So, what are you plans for the future, Bob?
Tarzwell: I’m going to keep doing small exciting contracts working on the extreme side of PCB, doing more bleeding-edge PCB, design-based consulting. I’m also writing a new book on very high-speed electronics.
Beaulieu: So, I have to ask, how did it go for you during the hurricane? I know that you’re pretty self-sufficient and you wrote a book on building a hurricane-proof house.
Tarzwell: We have full solar power and water storage so it was a non-event for us. We lost a few trees, but other than that it was just another beautiful, windy day in the Bahamas.
Beaulieu: Tell me about your art work.
Tarzwell: I have been doing a lot painting and I am getting pretty good at it. I’ve actually sold a few paintings and I’m had my first art show at a prestigious art gallery in Toronto at the end of January. I’m pretty excited about that. Here are a couple of paintings I did recently.
Beaulieu: Wow, pretty impressive! So, you had a heart attack in 2010.
Tarzwell: Yeah, but I’m doing a lot better now. My doctors say I am in very good shape. It’s just that travel and being away from home for weeks at a time like I used to be took a lot out of me. Now I prefer to do a lot less travel and for only a couple of days at a time.
Beaulieu: Bob, thanks for solving my problem and taking the time to talk with me. It’s been very interesting catching up. I wish you well, my friend.
Tarzwell: Great talking to you, Dan.
For those who want to learn more about Bob’s technology, visit his website at www.dmrpcb.com. Here you will also find links for his resort and art work.