Maker Projects

These are my fun projects, the quick builds, hacks, and weekend explorations.

Sometimes they’re great, sometimes they turn into traveling pieces, and other times they are disassembled and used in the next project.

In 2018, I bought a 1930’s bungalow that turned into the biggest project, but I still find time to do fun builds from time to time.

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Plush synthesizers

A combination of sewing and electronics, these singing octopuses* are a fun demo to bring to local maker events.

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Banana Keytar

Building on the synthesizer theme, this banana-keyed keytar with lights and sounds was a fun build for the Stupid Ideas Hackathon. Unfortunately, this project expired very quickly.

Craft Stick Construction Set

This project had two focuses - designing a building set that was made out of craft sticks and 3D printed connectors, and then integrated sticks and connectors painted or printed with conductive materials to create glowing circuit creations. It worked. My favorite part were the straw light pipes that glowed.

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Circuit Stickers

These stickers of common electrical components are printable on standard label sheets and help students make clear, easy-to-understand diagrams that combine schematics and the parts they actually see.

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Dice roller-Coasters

These hex shaped coasters feature playable terrain engraved into the cork on one side, and different dice and piece storage options on the opposite side.

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Kyoto Style Coffee Maker

Small apartment? What you need is 3 foot high drip coffee setup. This quick build was a brass and wood contraption that did make a mean cold brew, but required a lot of patience.

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3D Printed Programmable Yo-Yo

This yo-yo features the Adafruit Circuit Playground. I designed a snap-fit 3D printable enclosure that takes two boards and transforms them into a programmable yo-yo that can be programmed to respond to acceleration, light, or sound. The Adafruit team loved this build so much they adapted it into an official project and build on their site!

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MAME CABINET

I built a MAME cabinet from scratch with my dad while visiting for Christmas. This cocktail table style cabinet features many classic arcade games, and a handy surface for your snacks.

DC teaching Motor

This DC motor build was part of an introductory machining class, but I ended up rebuilding it several times and using it to demonstrate the structure of motors and generators during maker presentations.

Current Laundry-Room-Lab Prototyping Capabilities

  • Muse Laser Cutter

  • Anycubic Photon Resin Printer

  • FlashForge Creator Pro Printer

  • Othermill PCB Mill

  • JET Lathe

  • Silhouette Cameo Vinyl Cutter