Project Type: Fabrication
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Animated LED Sign
This sign features animated whorls of color controlled by custom code on an Arduino. The main body of the sign is CNC-cut and hand-finished expanded PVC. The clear lenses are were CNC-cut from clear acrylic and frosted by hand.
Here’s a peek at the sign’s innards. This intermediate plate was also CNC-cut to ensure perfect alignment between the side-firing LED strips and the acrylic lenses that mount into the sign face.
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Aluminum Rocket
This rocket was inspired by Art Deco designs and the retro-futurism of 1950’s sci-fi. Sleek aluminum panels are glued in place over a base shape defined by lasercut bulkheads and narrow birch plywood spars.
Engine Lighting
The rocket uses a microcontroller to light three “engines,” each composed of a 7-LED disc surrounded a 16-LED ring. From a code perspective, this uses a different approach than the last time I created an LED flame effect. This prop depends on code written by Mark Kriegsman, and I’ve shared my version in pubic gist here.
Engine light wiring: The upper circuit board is a buck converter that converts the main (12 volt) power to 5 volts, which to power the Arduino (lower circuit board) and the ring lights (bottom).
Porthole lighting
I thought simple illuminated portholes may be a little bland on a prop this size, so I made small panels to create some “screens” and subtle blinking lights you can see inside the rocket.
These are mounted deep enough to give a nice parallax effect through the softly frosted plastic portholes.
Along the bottom is a row of multicolored rotating-effect LEDS. 
The screens are illuminated by the same LED tape that lights the cabin. 
Fabrication
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Boxwood Hedges with Simple Planters
This image was provided by client. In the end we decided to make two short hedges instead of one of each. -
Signable 44” Nike Air Max
Hand cut from quarter-inch Baltic birch plywood with crisp painted numbers and linework.
The linework was created with narrow vinyl masking tape. To make the number, I laser-cut masks in tape and trimmed around the outside by hand.
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400 Bottles of Beer Wall
My client wanted a rack to hold a wall of beer. A corporate logo would be painted on huge grid of bottles, which would then be dramatically and variably backlit. The rack therefore needed to have a very narrow profile and a largely open back.
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Zigzag Rope Suspended Pendleton Blanket Frames
All projects evolve during the journey from concept to completion. Some transform so completely that the initial sketches are of something completely different from what (if anything) gets built. Sometimes things change in arbitrary ways. This isn’t one of those projects: this project changed in a few simple ways that reflect the constraints of time and budget.
This is the drawing I made after the initial discussion. The original idea was to to use grommets in the blanket and u-bolts in the frame. We also planned to make the zigzag rope go around all four sides of the suspended blanket.
But the needs of the event, budget, and lead time conspired to bring about the following changes:
- Site plans changed such that the frames would need to be hung from hooks at the top instead of having legs and being a freestanding piece. A straightforward change.
- Because the fabric would not arrive until quite late in the production period, the grommets were replaced with a row of loops and matching dowels. I expected this method to work more reliably given the unknown qualities of the material I would end up with. The loop-and-dowel plan would spread the load enough to keep the fabric panel straight even if were too thin or stretchy to take grommets properly. It also meant the loops along the sides could be omitted, saving hardware budget and simplifying construction.
- No supplier could deliver the number of U-bolts within the available lead time, so with options and time dwindling I substituted screw-in eyelets.
Laminating the pieces that will become the sides of the frames. Each is made of three ½” by 1 ½” pine furring strips. 
This is the template I made to mark out the openings between the loops. Along the bottom are notches I used to line the template up with tick marks I marked along the edge. 
The eyelets and binding wire were weathered with self-etching primer and a cocktail of spray paint decanted into a disposable cup and applied with a brush. 
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Horse and Shoes in Steel
I traced a pattern for 1/4" steel from the same client-provided file I used in the Engraved Plywood "Big Jake" Horse and Shoes. I outsourced the cutting to Portland Waterjet, whose work was beautiful and crisp. Sadly I never took a photo of the pristine parts, and by the time I removed the pieces from the good ol' under-bench time-dilating corrosion pot, they already had a nice crusty patina.
This one didn't look quite old enough, so I put it back in for another 25-year cycle. -
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Horse and Shoe Engravings
The client provided an image for this project, but it’s wasn’t quite suitable as-is. To change it into something that would look pleasing engraved, I set up a few adjustment layers in photoshop in the following way:
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Colorful Mosaic Flats with Weathered Cedar Planks
This drawing depicts the intended pattern and scale of the planks. I based this pattern on the dimensions of common cedar fence pickets, which I knew to be cheap, readily available, and have a varied and interesting grain.
See Panel Assembly, Finishing, and more -
SkeeBall Redux
This drawing shows the original design for the refreshed game. The plan was to repaint and fix a drab old rental skee-ball machine.
First, I disassembled the machine a bit to assess things. The heart of the machine were plastic targets with integrated ramps and optical sensors. Unfortunately, these were blow-molded and had become brittle and were damaged beyond repair.
The broken targets rendered the game’s electronics completely nonfunctional. 
I talked with the client and we decided to fabricate durable new targets and ramps and simplify the planned paint job to keep the overall project within budget.
I made the new targets from hardboard paneling and rigid foam. 
Transplanted ball sensors and wiring harness.
Making new targets and ramps changed the project from one of refurbishment to one of game engineering and design. It took a couple tries to find the ratio of hole size to ball size to get the balls to “circle the drain” in a satisfying way, and I spent a while experimenting to learn the right shape for the ramp to lob the ball at the target without skittering across it.
The ramps are made from yin-yang-opposed slices of PVC pipe. 
Ball return mechanism. 
Reassembled for playtesing before refinishing.
The finished machine looked snappy, if a little plain for a carnival machine. But it’s durable enough to last years and it played, counted, and sounded great.
I ordered a few new wooden balls for each lane and rolled some games with the kids. -
Chrome Bar
A Fusion360 model I used to show the client the project shape and proportions.
This bar was designed as four pieces: the top, left and right ends, and the center panel. Pictured above is a rendering from SketchUp I made to verify my figures for general proportions and the corner radius.
The center and end pieces attach to each other with latches, so one person can assemble this bar in about three minutes.
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1946 Chevy
Chassis and Drivetrain:
- 1996 Vortec-head roller cam 350 Chevy truck engine
- Modified 1989 Corvette TPI Fuel Injection
- Handmade wiring harness using factory sensors and OBD 1 controller.
- Mustang II-based front suspension
- Power steering, 4-wheel power disc brakes, front and rear sway bars
- handbuild exhaust, fuel tank, frame members
Bodywork:
- Chopped top including modified tilt-up windshield mechanism.
- Suede and Flames
Interior:
- Tilt steering with column shift
- Bucket seats
- A sweet pioneer tape deck.
I built this truck during my last years of high school and early college. An early version took second place in the Twin Falls Moonshine Run.
