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Leafy Vine Key Holder (ongoing)

I am constantly forgetting and misplacing my keys. I had one of those extender key hooks for a while and it was so well-loved I managed to wear through the metal cable of the extension roll. As an alternative to replacing it I decided to have a bit of fun with leftover yarn and paracord I had. I’m starting with a base of paracord for strength and crocheting a leafy vine pattern onto it. I plan to finish off by making interchangeable covers for the keys (e.g. a poinsettia for the Christmas season, a Piranha plant head, a Dahlia, etc.)

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Vacuum Table upgrade to CNC Mill (Ongoing)

During my work as a postdoctoral research fellow at Haverford College myself and an undergraduate research student have set out to find a way to gently cut cylinders from sheets of polyurethane in a way that preserves the material’s optical properties. This process is not trivial, other research groups have attempted to make a similar process work with mixed success. None the less, after a summer of diligent effort the student researcher handed off a working process that simply needed refinement. I designed an all-in-one version of the initial process which incorporated a vacuum table with a clamping bracket work holding solution and shop-vac assisted cylinder collection apparatus. This set-up bolts directly onto the existing hardware of the mill and includes a high accuracy zeroing solution to protect the cutting tool. Ongoing work on this problem includes working with a skilled lathe expert to create custom tools out of hardened steel with key design adjustments to a commercial tool that didn’t quite fit our needs.

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Crocheted Dolls

As an early holiday gift, I crocheted a couple of dolls based on my two friend’s favorite Dragon Ball Z character and favorite mushroom. The Jack O’Lantern mushrooms have glow-in-the-dark gills so the little mushroom witch’s hair is made from glow-in-the-dark yarn.

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Composite Imaging Robot

Another facet of my postdoctoral work includes the development of a robot that takes an array of images we can stitch together into a single cohesive high resolution image. The technique is inspired by astrophysical composite images. Our application uses an Instron testing frame to compress a quasi-2D granular sample (cylinders stacked between glass plates). The Instron has its own control software but also allows for signaling using serial communications via an arduino uno so that the imaging portion of the set-up can be synchronized with the testing frame. The imaging apparatus consists of a 2D gantry that moves a camera equipped with a linear actuator. The action of the polarizer attached to the linear actuator allows the camera to take images with and without a polarizer at each position. A python program controls the gantry, camera, actuator, and communicates with the arduino. The video above shows a portion of an image capture sequence.

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Buster Sword Picture Frame with Materia lights

For Christmas I made my partner a Final Fantasy VII themed picture frame to hold all of the signed postcards, pictures, and posters he got from from Pax East earlier in the year. The edges mimic the style of the guard of the buster sword from the game. The top lights are LED arrays I wired myself from multicolor LEDs and a cannibalized phone charger. The light is diffused by large glass half beads given texture with Mod Podge to match the in-game appearance of Materia.

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Lantern Emblem with Antlers

In CAD
In the flesh

While learning to use the tabletop CNC mill in the Squishlab at Haverford College I did a fun practice project. This is inspired by a villain from the DnD campaign I have been a player in since 2016. This is step one in a plan to replace a well-loved tabletop game called “Don’t Mess with Chthulu” with my own version called “Don’t Mess with the Devil in the Woods.” All that remains is to make some custom cards based on more lore from the campaign.

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Stage Riser for A Greater Danger

The frontman of the Syracuse NY-based MetalCore band, A Greater Danger, is a good friend of mine and offhandedly mentioned how expensive good, portable stage risers are at a get-together. He and his bandmates had tried to DIY one in the past but it was rather unwieldy in the end. I was immediately intrigued by this challenge and asked if they wanted any help.

rounded handles for comfort
careful alignment is key