M&M Color Sorter
Built entirely from scratch: concept, hardware, software, and electronics. Identifies each M&M by color and routes it into the correct bin with a motor-driven sorting wheel.
CNC Etch-A-Sketch
A scratch-built CNC machine that draws on a standard Etch-A-Sketch. I designed the hardware, wrote the control software, and tuned the mechatronics myself.
CNC Laser Cutter
Designed and built a laser cutter from scratch: frame, motion system, and controls, all self-sourced and assembled.
Metal Casting Series
A running body of cast metal work, from the foundry itself to finished tools and sculpture — hammer, trilobite fossil, knife, coin, and several sculptural busts.
Pneumatic Can Crusher
My metal casting habit needed more raw aluminum, faster, so I designed and built a pneumatic can crusher to speed up prepping scrap for the furnace.
High-Pressure Water Launcher
Designed and built from scratch for a school-wide Senior Assassin game. The mechanism, pressure system, and safety considerations all had to hold up outside the shop.
Smaller Projects
Heavy-Sleeper Alarm
Are you tired of peaceful, boring mornings? Sick of the same old alarm clock? Well, do I have the solution for you! A completely inconspicuous alarm clock where instead of a boring buzzer sounding, that signal is sent to a relay, which triggers a real horn for a full-size car! Wake up to the soothing sounds of rush-hour traffic™.
Soda Distillation Rig
After watching a few Nile Red videos that got me excited about chemistry, I wanted to build my own water-cooled distillation rig. The liquid in the first pot is boiled on a hot plate and then condensed in the copper coil in the second pot, which is full of ice water. I used this to retrieve the syrup from the world's worst soda, Mountain Dew.
Bottle-to-Filament Recycler
On a 3D printing forum, I stumbled across plans online to convert an old Ender-3 printer into a bottle recycler. I quickly went on Facebook Marketplace, saved one from the landfill, and got to work. This is a model of the online Recreator 3D project, which I used to convert plastic bottles into usable 3-D printer filament. This is one of the many ways that I have upcycled old printers. More recently, I used the frame and bearings from another retired printer to make my laser cutter.
More In Progress — the shop is rarely empty. Check back for what's next.