FPV Drone Builds

These are the two drones that I fly the most, and therefore inevitably wind up repairing the most. The one on the bottom left with the larger battery, I purchased prebuilt and have replaced the VTX on it since. It is a great freestyle FPV drone and can lift a GoPro for cinematic-like shots! The smaller drone, with the orange battery I built myself, after learning about all the electronics that go into an open source project like this. The only challenge I faced with the smaller drone was squeezing all of the electronics into the frame and tuning the PID balance. On my maiden flight I also learned the importance of electronics being firmly secured, as from a few flips one of my receiver wires broke due to being pulled around. This caused my drone to failsafe and fall out of the sky. Since then I have learned and now fly regularly with no issues.

Second Year Project

The second year project required teams of two students to design an automatic workcell that moved pre-fabricated rings through a pressing manufacturing process. The work cell consisted of a hopper, magazine, pick and place robotic arm, and indexing and pressing cylinders. I designed the pick and place robot as well as designing the brackets for the pneumatic cylinders. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, none of the parts for this work cell were manufactured. However, at the top of the portfolio section you can download the complete drawing set that was submitted to the project coordinator.

First Year Project

For my first-year project, I was the design lead. The project requirements included the manufacturing of a robotic arm that could be controlled by an operator. The arm had to lift and place blocks in various locations. Since all components of the robot had to be manufactured at the college, many designs had to be carefully studied and revised to stay within the capabilities of the machine shop. This image shows all the components manufactured in the machine shop assembled together. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, our team was unable to complete the pneumatic and electrical side of the robot.

Top End Engine rebuild

An early project where a 636cc 4 stroke engine had developed a loud ticking noise within the engine. Upon further tear down of the top end it was found that one of the valve retainers had broken and the valve had fallen through its seat and into the cylinder head area. This issue was quickly fixed with a new valve and retainers, the piston was also replaced in that cylinder.

First Drone

One of the first drones I ever built in early 2017 and had a diagonal wheelbase of almost half a meter! It was massive and at the time I dove into it head first as I had experience with hobbyist electronics projects. I learned about wiring more than one electronic speed controller to a flight controller, connecting four brushless motors, a 3 axis gimbal, and the flight controller to control it all! Unfortunately this project lives as spare parts now for my other builds as it was just too heavy for any practical applications.

Smaller Projects

These are some of the smaller everyday projects I started with; some during high school and others in first and second year of college. The bottom right is a line following a robot that was designed by my highschool computer electronics teacher. I soldered the entire PCB, as well as assembled and programmed the robot in C++. I do all the work on mine and my family's vehicles, keeping up with maintenance and replacing worn out/failed components. Solving everyday problems and having fun small projects allows me to keep learning new methods and techniques with tools while also developing new skills.