Personal Projects
This is a page for personal, fun projects that I have worked on over the years. Projects are listed newest to oldest.
E-ink Display Keychain
Designing a small, battery-powered e-ink keychain with an RP2040 to display custom messages for a holiday gift. The biggest challenge for me with this project is learning to work with the RP 2040 chip! I would like to challenge myself to design a full PCB for this project with all the nescessary headers, chips, and equipment instead of using a Raspberry Pi dev board. This keychain will be made with a rechargeable battery.
- Skills: Low-power embedded design, PCB layout, enclosure CAD
- Tools: E-ink modules, RP2040, KiCad, 3D printing
Custom Starship Miniature Replica Robot
Building a fully functional miniature replica of a Starship-style food delivery robot. Project includes mechanical drivetrain and embedded control software.
- Skills: Embedded systems, ROS-lite / microcontroller control, mechanical design
- Tools: 3D printing, PCB prototyping, motors & encoders
Woodworking & Bowl Making
Explored woodturning and hand-finishing techniques by making bowls, spoons, and small furniture pieces. Emphasized tool setup, safe lathe operation, grain selection, and finishing for durability and aesthetics.
- Skills: Woodturning, joinery, finishing techniques
- Tools: Lathe, chisels, sanders, finishes (oil/wax)
American Rocketry Competition & L1 Certification
Designed and built multiple rockets for team competitions and personal certification. Responsibilities included airframe design, recovery system selection, electronics integration, and successful flight to obtain an FAA L1 certification.
- Skills: Aerodynamics, composite and cardboard airframes, recovery systems, telemetry
- Tools: OpenRocket, hobby-grade CNC/laser cutting, sanding and painting.
Custom Sewn Soccer Ball with 3D-Printed Jigs
Developed 3D-printed jigs to accurately size and align leather panels for a hand-sewn soccer ball without using an industrial leather cutter. Iterated jig geometry to account for leather stretch and stitch allowances, then sewn and pressure-tested the finished ball.
- Skills: Rapid jigs, iterative prototyping, hand sewing, material behavior
- Tools: Fusion 360, 3D printer, hand sewing tools
Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition — Purdue Fort Wayne
Designed and built a truss-style popsicle stick bridge for an engineering competition. Focused on optimizing geometry and adhesive patterns to maximize load-to-weight ratio and taught team fabrication and test procedures.
- Skills: Structural design, CAD-to-scale modeling, team fabrication
- Tools: Laser cutter (for jigs), calipers, tensile test rig