Hobbies

I have a wide variety of hobbies, many of which are engineering and design related

3D Printing

Guitar

One of my current ongoing projects is a 3D printed guitar. I was inspired when I saw a build of a 3D printed guitar that I liked, but the design was lacking creativity. I found open source templates for a Fender Telecaster, a guitar that has a seperate neck and body, and I set off to make my own design. I buried threaded inserts into all holes where components would need to attach, and I embedded tonewood into the body under the bridge in hopes to bring out a warmer sound than the plastic filament would offer. I have spent many days assembling, adding resin, sanding, and painting to get a professional looking final product.

Printer Enclosure

One of my major 3D printing projects has been to upgrade the printer itself. I had printed many upgrades for the printer already, including a fan duct and cable chain guides. I had also installed a bed level sensor. I decided to print an enclosure to help with air temperature control with more temperature-sensitive materials such as ABS and PETG. In the process, I moved all of the electronics out of the printer and under the enclosure with a large cooling fan. This gave me the opportunity to upgrade the circuit board, improve the display, and write my own firmware. The enclosure itself is made out of Ikea Lack tables with plexiglass sides and LED lights wired to the power supply. Everything on the printer and enclosure that is red was 3D printed.

Hydroplane Wing

The front wing on an in-board hydroplane, technically referred to as a canard, is used to direct the flow of air either over or under the boat, giving control to the lift on the front end. My coworker owns a hydroplane, and he needed to replace his canard. Traditionally, the canard is made by fiberglass layup, and there is only one mold that exists to make this layup. My coworker and I worked together to design a 3D printed version. He came up with a wing profile based on a small airplane, and I designed the model to be 3D printed.
The canard was printed in rib and skin sections that were glued together over a square steel tube center shaft. The front and rear were reinforced with fiberglass dowels. After assembly, we were preparing for testing when the canard was deemed too dangerous by the boat racing community. The amount of lift that it could generate would make flipping the boat a much greater possibility, so the idea was scrapped. Regardless, it was great practice in design for 3D printing.

Tabletop Miniatures

One of my most requested prints has been for tabletop miniatures. Many of my friends play games like D&D and 40K. There is a large community around printing these figures. Websites like HeroForge allow you to design your own character then download a printable STL file.
I began printing these on my FDM printer, which I have used to printed over 20 miniatures. With an FDM printing setup, are a great exercise in honing printer settings for extreme detail and testing the quality of the setup. However, these are much more suited for SLA printing, and I have since printed over 60 more miniatures in much greater detail.

Project Cars

Geo Tracker

My quarantine hobby was to purchase and work on a project car. My daily driver is terrible in the snow and doesn't stand a chance off road, so I wanted something that could take me off road that I could have fun with. I ended up purchasing a Geo Tracker that was only running on 3 out of 4 cylinders. The issue was a cracked and broken valve. To fix this, I took the head off and replaced the valve, as well as a few others that were worn. In the process, I replaced the valve stem seals, head gasket, water pump, timing belt, and gave the engine a full tuneup. It ran like a top after all these parts were replaced.

With the vehicle running, it was time to focus on making it the vehicle I wanted it to be. I replaced the struts, put a two inch coil spacer lift on it, and put bigger wheels and tires on it. One of the fenders was unpainted so I prepped and sanded it while a coworker painted it. I replaced all of the rotting interior panels with plastic panels and put in a modern stereo with bigger speakers. Lastly, I replaced the old seats with new bucket seats that I adapted to fit the seat bracket. I have continued to do all the maintenance on this car, and it has been very reliable for 9 months. I've driven it over multiple mountain passes, and even drove 450 miles each way to drive it around the sand dunes for a day. This project has taught me a lot about cars, which are a large part of why I got interested in engineering.

Custom Front Bumper

My off-road excursions in the Tracker inspired me to invest in some recovery equipment so I could get out of sticky situations. Part of this is a winch, which requires a reinforced bumper. Unsatisfied with a lot of the bumpers on the market, I decided to build and design my own. After much measuring and research, I designed it in AutoDesk Inventor to be made of steel tubes and CNC plasma cut sheet steel. I had one friend cut the pieces out, another created the bends in the sheet metal on a press brake, and a third welded the pieces together. I then painted the bumper, mounted it on the Tracker, and installed lights.
The bumper is designed with a hitch receiver in the front. This allows a hitch-mounted winch to install to the front or rear, wherever it is needed. It also carries extra lights for night off-roading situations. There are also bolting points on the underside of the bumper to add a skid plate. I also added some styling features given the capabilities of the CNC plasma cutter.

Studebaker Hawk

In the fall of 2023, I purchased a 1961 Studebaker Hawk. My grandfather had owned a 1957 Silver Hawk, and I have fallen in love with the design and body style. The Hawk that I purchased has the same body as my grandfather's car, just with a more powerful engine and improved 4 speed transmission. I picked this car up in Vermont and drove it about half way to Ohio before putting it on a trailer. I consider this car a "driving project". It is in great condition as-purchased and runs well, but it is far from perfect. It is an excellent driver that I can constantly tinker on and improve. I am enjoying the process of working on and driving a classic vehicle and taking it to car shows.

Music

Analog Synthesis

One of my biggest passions, outside of engineering, is music. I have found a way to fuse these two passions in the form of analog synthesizers. I was introduced to synthesizers through bands I was playing in, and I decided to take a college class on them. I became entranced by the weird sounds and even weirder ways they are created with modular synthesizers. Approaching a synthesizer system reminds me of approaching a design problem. There are so many options to explore, and it takes time, practice, and experimentation to find the sound you are looking for.

I took this interest one step further when I designed and built my own Eurorack modular synthesizer case, pictured here. None of the cases available for purchase met what I was looking for as far as size, aesthetics, portability, and cost. In the end, I worked with my cousin, who is a professional carpenter, and created a case that fit my criteria. This was completed for a comparable cost to commercially available cases. I continue to add modules, tinker with circuit bending, and play around with synthesizer jams.

I am currently working on a project that combines music and 3D printing. I am in the process of designing and printing my own electric guitar. More info to come.

Autocross

I have also taken up the hobby of racing. I drive my 2010 MazdaSpeed 3 around cones as fast as I can when competing in autocross. My love for engineering began with a love for fast cars, so it seemed like a natural transition to race them myself. This has deepened my understanding of cars and what makes them perform the way they do.

Biking, Off-Roading, and Adventuring

The purpose of the project car is to go on adventures. So far it has taken me up the highest road in Washington state, off-roading in an ORV park, and to the sand dunes in Oregon. It also hauls my mountain bike around. . My mechanical hobbies have facilitated my sense of adventure, taking me to some of the most beautiful and exciting places that the Pacific Northwest has to offer.