• Machining Projects

    One of my favorite passtimes in college was going down to the machine shop and seeing what I could make from scrap materials. It earned me the title of "shop rat" and occasionally even resulted in something useful. Ever since then, I've loved machining.

    a block of aluminum set up on a milling machine

    Milling something

  • Wobbler
    (Fall 2022)

    When I started working in the machine shop at CU Boulder, I hadn't done any machining in nearly three years and I was a bit rusty. I built this pneumatic engine from plans to brush up on my skills. I made the bottom plate on a waterjet.

    • a pneumatic engine

    The wobbler engine (Top) and the wobbler engine with air supply (Bottom)

  • Machinist's Hammer
    (2019)

    To get promoted at my job in undergrad, I fabricated this hammer from plans on the mill (head) and lathe (handle). The process required practicing many useful-to-know processes, like fly cutting, single point tapping, using angle blocks, and polishing.

    • a threaded steel hammer handle
    • a steel machinist's hammer

    Handle with single point thread (Top) and hammer (Bottom)

  • Multi-Tool Handle
    (Winter 2017)

    In High School, I made pocket knives out of sheet metal, wood, and other materials. Once I learned how to use a milling machine, I figured I'd try my hand at making a handle out of aluminum.

    • an aluminum knife handle
    • an aluminum knife handle with leather scales

    The knife handle (Top) the knife handle with leather scales (Bottom)

  • Replacement Tripod Mount
    (Winter 2018)

    This was a fairly simple project. I bought a second hand tripod that was missing the mount that attaches to the camera. I machined a replacement one from aluminum and it works great!

    • a camcorder on a tripod
    • the replacement tripod mount
    • the replacement tripod mount attached to a camcorder

    The replacement mount being used to hold a camcorder to a tripod (Left), the mount (UR), and the mount attached to a camcorder (BR)

  • Miter Gauge Angle Set
    (Fall 2019)

    I once saw one of these in a woodworking video. Depending on where you place the dowel pins, it creates different angles that can be accurately transfered to a miter gauge. Not wanting to pay $100 to buy one, I made one up in CAD, scrounged some scrap aluminum, and got to work making my own.

    • an aluminum block with holes and a groove to fit a miter gauge
    • a CAD model of the block
    • a miter gauge

    The angle set and projection drawing (Left), CAD model (UR), and a miter gauge for woodworking (BR)

  • Magnetic Belt Buckle
    (Fall 2016)

    A magnetic belt buckle based on the design I created for the foley catheter bag project. It kind of works.

    a magnetic aluminum belt buckle

    The belt buckle

  • Replacement Oven Dial
    (Winter 2020)

    One day at my college apartment our oven dial fell off, leaving us with a Shrodinger's oven in an eternally uncertain superposition of on and off. After taking some speedy measurements with my calipers, I ran down to the shop and whipped up this replacement from an off-cut of Delrin. I matched the angle on the front so I could glue on the old label.

    a magnetic aluminum belt buckle

    The replacement dial

    a decorative dingbat