Idea: DVD Driver 3d Printer

This is my next big project: a 3d printer from recycled DVD drivers! The purpose is to learn more about how 3d printers work in a cost efficient and sustainable way. An Arduino UNO will control the 3d printer. The entire design of the 3d printer is public on the cad software, Onshape, for everyone to see as it grows (Just look up "3d Printer from DVD drivers" on onshape.com). Should be a fun build!

Vietnam War Casualty: Paul Vincent Nelson

Although this isn't engineering related, I thought I'd share with everyone a history project I made on a Vietnam war casualty: Paul Nelson. One thing I really liked about the project was that there were barely any restrictions or guidelines. We could make a poster, grow a tree, anything we wanted. For my casualty, there wasn't much information online, so I ended up calling numerous people to try to find out more about who Paul was during high school and the war. (All of the quotes in the video are from phone calls) The project gave me the opportunity to know Paul as a friend, even though I never met him. As the movie "Taking Chance" told it, "You're his witness now. Without a witness, they just disappear." 

High School Pep Rally Air Lifted Banner

I brought my Tricopter to the pep rally at our school to bring cheer to new heights! The banner falls with a servo I hot glued to the rear boom, causing the banner to unravel and fall. All in all, the mechanism is super simple and easy considering the end result!

Homemade Tricopter Overview

This is the tricopter! All the hardware was bought from Home Depot and the Electronics from Hobbyking.com. The KK2 board I mentioned in the video controls the stability of the tricopter and tells it where level is. Let's say a gust of wind hits it unexpectedly from the side. The gyros in the KK2 board will know where level is and will speed up/slow down motors to make up for this outward force. Thanks for watching! P.S. Don't mistaken this for a drone. A drone flies itself, this is controlled by an external transmitter operated by a human.

Rambling Pines Camp from Above using the Tricopter

Here is a video I made of the camp I work at:

For the last week of camp I decided to take aerial shots of the camp to provide a new perspective never seen before. It was all shot on a GoPro I mounted on the Tricopter. There is no gimbal, but post stabilization editing was done to improve the video. The kids loved seeing it fly and seemed to be very inspired by it! I also got featured in a blog post by one of the head staff at the camp which you can see here: http://snyderthomas.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-magic-of-rambling-pines.html

Tricopter Complete!

Here are some pictures to see before the full video is released...

Tricopter Beginning Stages

Tricopter Frame:  This is the beginning stage of the tricopter I am building. A
tricopter has 2 motors in the front and one in the back that moves with a servo
to control yaw. Its purpose will be to carry a GoPro and record things from the
air at a very low cost. 

This is the center/base part of the tricopter. It will hold the KK2
Board which will stabilize the craft. It will also hold the battery
and receiver. Underneath it will be an isolated mount to hold a
GoPro. This isolated mount will have vibration dampening to
minimize vibration from the motors that can create a jello look
in the recorded footage from the GoPro. 

Sanded and holes drilled out. It is made from polycarbonate.

This is an up-close picture showing the bolts and wood
mounted to the base frame. Looks pretty good, eh? 

An advantage with the tricopter vs. a quadcopter/hexacopter/

octacopter is that it can easily be folded up and transported, as

shown in this picture.

Here is the full parts description. I kept the parts very cheap
because I am naturally very frugal. See you shortly with all
electronics attached and a ready to fly tricopter!

Twin Boom RC Plane

This is another RC plane I made. It is maneuvered by what is called, "bank and yank" meaning only ailerons and elevator but no rudder. The advantage of this design is that it allows the motor to face backwards, protecting the prop on the inside and allowing for a view for FPV that isn't blocked by a moving prop. The whole plane took about 5 hours to make and design. It is made from mostly Dollar Tree foam board and pink insulation foam. That being said, the entire airframe only costs roughly 3 dollars. Electronics were about 40 dollars. Thanks for watching!

The Scooter Upgrade

In this video, I show the process I took to upgrade the electric scooter. The upgrade allows it to go farther, using the extra battery pack. The new batteries rest on the back, making it a little less stable, but it isn't too bad. The batteries are hooked up in parallel to give the extra range. Therefore, the batteries in total have about 48 amp hours (12 aH per 12 volt battery). I charge the two sets of batteries individually on a 1.5 amp charger. I might buy a higher amp charge- something like 3 amps, to make charging time quicker. Until next week...

Conquer Car 2015

This is a project I made with two of my friends on a project called "Conquer the Hill" for my physics class. The project is a game to try and score 3 balls, rings, and erasers in the proper locations. Our car malfunctioned due the third arm not raising in the competition, so we did not advance very far forward. Nonetheless, it was very unique compared to the other cars and was a great proof of concept!

Make your own Trip Wire

This is an inexpensive home security system that you can make in under a half hour. It works using two walkie talkies, a fishing line, a couple of zip ties, and a vulnerable spot where unwanted intruders may walk through. When the fishing line is pulled, it switches the walkie talkie on which starts to ring an alarm sound. This alarm sound was already installed on the walkie talkie, so I simply kept it on. This walkie talkie sends the alarm across a specific channel to its sister walkie talkie, which will then alert you. A great advantage with this is that you could have multiple walkie talkies around your house hooked up to the same channel, allowing you to hear the alarm sound anywhere in your house. Thanks for watching!

RC Plane Quick Build

I decided to show you guys a plane I made using broken parts from an RC Helicopter I once had. I made this and the video of it a while ago but I thought some of you might like to see it. In the end, the plane was really hard to fly and underpowered, so I used the same parts to make an RC boat, which you can see in an early post. Thanks for watching!

RC Simple Storch Airplane

Here is the first long term successful RC plane I made. It is a four channel aircraft so it has ailerons, elevator, rudder, and throttle. It flys very slow, making it very easy to fly for me in my early stages of the hobby. The plane flys off a 2200kv motor (kv meaning revolutions per volt), but will be switched out for a 1400kv motor for better efficiency. Thanks for watching!

RC Plane Simple Storch Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peek at an RC Plane I made and flew today! Full video this weekend...

Go Kart Part 2

This is the updated go kart. Long story short: I got a controller and replaced the caster wheels with stationary steerable wheels. I had to switch the caster wheels because the entire go kart was swerving left and there was little I could do about it. For next weekend, I'll make a better steering mechanism and try to get more power out of the motors. Until next time...

Cad Drawing

Here is what I modeled before hand for the go kart. I had to change a lot of it, but it at least gave the general idea.

Electric Go Kart Part 1

This is the result of one weekend of building. I haven't had any major hicups yet, but I'm sure that will change. If you noticed, the two sprockets are different sizes, because those were the only ones I had. Once the controller comes in, I'll calibrate the motors to make sure that the go-kart drives straight.

FRC Robotics

Sorry for not posting something last weekend! I was away at a robotics competition for First robotics with my school. We ended in 3rd place! Not bad... See the link for more. Our robot is Team 293.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1goJRR5WLc&spfreload=10

RC Car Mods

This is a video showing all the modifications I did to the car. All the modifications are super cheap. Enjoy!

RC Plow

This is an RC Plow I made to fit my RC car. All of the parts from it were made from junk I had lying around. Now I can clear the driveway from the comfort of my home!

The plow is made from sheet metal steel. I bent the steel from a piece of PVC pipe to get the right curvature. I then mounted a hinge to the back of the plow and to a piece of aluminum that I mounted to some empty screw holes on the frame of the RC car. I then used an old servo and glued it to the aluminum to provide the power to lift and drop the plow. The servo was connected to a broken and old RC helicopter receiver and electronic speed controller. I then had two different controllers for the RC car and the plow. Next time, I will try to put both the plow and the RC Car remote controllers in one, by adding a switch to the RC Car's controller.

RC Boat

Here is an RC boat I made a while back. The boat took about a day to make, since forming the styrofoam took a while to get the shape I wanted. It is primarily made from broken RC helicopter parts. It isn't very fast, but it is still plenty of fun! I'd use it again today but it's 5 degrees Fahrenheit outside...

This is a blog I am starting to document all the projects I make in my free time. This way my parents know that I'm not just sitting around doing nothing the entire weekend. Enjoy!