I don't end up documenting all my projects. You can see pictures here of the stuff I'm working on, and also some random pictures from my life outside of engineering. I'm always happy to answer questions via email if you would like to know more about something.

On July 13th 2019 me and Lucy Greetham got married! I'm really excited about our future together.

The drone racing club I'm in has Tiny Whoop (micro drone) races once a month in addition to the regular races.

I recorded one of my heats from the last event. It was a really fun race.

Got a new incubator in the works. Every time I set up a new office, it's twice as big as the last.

And it's never big enough...

Bonus pic of one of the cabinets under construction.

Needs more IO.

I've been wanting a reflow plate for a long time. Something more controlled than a cheap hotplate.

Well I had the bright idea of making one out of a 3d printer heated bed. I figured since it basically is a pcb, that it should be able to withstand reflow temperatures.

Well it turns out it could not... At about 250C the surface bubbled up and the plate was destroyed.

Reflow Plate Part 2

Luckily I was able to swap out a few parts and use the controller on a hotplate instead. I opted for an "Infrared" type that looks like it will have better heat distribution.

And it worked!

I was able reflow a few lead-free boards. Including a VQFN 24 package! For those who don't know, a VQFN 24 package has 24 pins, and is only 4x4mm!

Reflow Plate Part 3

At first I tried to use a feedback loop to control the ramp rate in real time. The system turned out to be too laggy for this to be effective. What ended up working best was using fixed duty cycles for ramp sections.

During the soak periods I use a form of modified on/off control to maintain the temperature. Instead of on and off, I picked 2 duty cycles; one which definitely reduces the temperature, and one which increases it. I then switch between those duty cycles as the input goes above and below the setpoint.

I took apart my old sonicare toothbrush the other day to fix it. I have to say the internals are really impressive.

I took Lucy hiking up Camels Hump in VT last winter. You couldn't see anything from the top, but it was still pretty cool being up there.

I've been saving bacon grease for years, but I haven't be sure what to do with it. Well a while back I tried making some soap. And it worked!

I took more pictures than just this. I'll try to make a full post about it soon.

I just finished building my second racing drone. Every part is better than my first one, and it's 17% lighter to boot. This thing's going to a monster!

I'll try to put the build up on rotor builds once I test it out.

The frame is a SabotageRC Frigate 5 and the motors are Emax RS2205 2300kv's.