Projects
Sometimes I like to get my hands dirty. Be that with wood, metal, solder, or grease. Here's an assortment of things I love to do presented in roughly chronological order.
Marantz
This Marantz 2270 belonged to my grandfather. I disassembled the unit, replaced electrolytic capacitors, applied a healthy dose of contact cleaner, trimmed up the amplifiers, and re-aligned the RF section.
Featured with my custom Purpleheart Blumenstein Orcas and U-Turn Orbit.
GRAPHEX
I repurposed this speed graphic camera as a retro piece of statement lighting.
Blumenstein
I reached out to Clark of Blumenstein Audio hoping to come on as an apprentice and further explore the world of acoustics and speaker construction. During my time there I improved my woodworking skills and learned some of the things it takes to make an excellent speaker.
This led me to take on new projects to further develop this body of knowledge. The Credenza, Dallas II, and BLH Center Channel are examples of this progression.
Bottlehead
I assembled a Bottlehead Stereomour while working at Blumenstein. This was my first attempt at point-to-point wiring with terminal strips. It's all about the harmonics for those that swear by vacuum tube amplifiers.
Credenza
I built a simple media cabinet for my sister. Constructed from birch plywood and solid cherry, it features a turntable drawer, built-in power bar, and hidden power outlets. I also made a pair of stands to elevate the speakers to a more appropriate height.
Ninja
The ubiquitous starter motorcycle stripped of its fairings for a deep clean. Carburetor cleaned, valves adjusted, oiled changed, brakes bled, and it's ready to unleash all 30 horsepower.
Though it served me well, this Ninja has since been replaced by a Triumph Speed Triple.
Dallas II + II
My experience at Blumenstein led me to appreciate the simplicity and efficiency of a full-range horn loaded cabinet. As a result, I built this pair of Ron Clarke's Dallas II horns out of birch plywood. The Fountek ribbon tweeter sits in its own sealed compartment, crossed in at roughly 12kHz for subtle reinforcement as the Fostex rolls off.
With the horns complete, I made a pair of relatively small sealed subwoofer enclosures utilizing 9" ScanSpeak drivers to lower my system response down into the 25-30Hz region. This new octave is a welcomed addition, especially for movie nights.
Drones
It started with the Flying Bulldog, a 10lb. payload capable hexacopter which I designed, constructed and tuned for my capstone design project.
Following this introduction I decided to build a 5-inch freestyle quadcopter. Minor controller surgery was required for compatibility with an upgraded transmitter module.
I designed the production test fixture for the 26-inch propeller pictured with my quad for scale.
ηpk = 0.27
With the impressive efficiency of my Dallas II towers I can afford to take a hit in amplifier efficiency with a peak of 27% (closer to 3% at normal listening volumes).
I built this First Watt F6 Class A amplifier in a 4U chassis to make sure I have plenty of heatsink to dissipate all of that unused power.
Truckle
This is Truckle, my 1983 Toyota Pickup, and I think it's adorable. I am in the process of a modest restoration to keep it on the roads for years to come.
I have painted the wheels, applied a rust preventative coating to the frame, performed a full brake and suspension service, and installed some small LED light bars behind the front bumper to help out the stock sealed beam headlights.
HoldPhones
I had some headphones without a holder and a scrap piece of Maple cutting board, the perfect combination. The faceplate is blued steel for a bit of contrast.
IoT Thermostat
I worked with my co-worker, Grant, to design an Arduino-based thermostat as a low-cost, open-sourced alternative to anyone looking for more insight into their IoT devices.
The thermostat features a 64x128 pixel OLED display, SHT40 combined temperature/humidity sensor, two capacitive touch buttons, and three buttons for manual operation while the display is removed.
The first prototypes are now up and running, only application software to go!
LED Cubes
Another project with Grant to design a small LED pod to replace a dying fluorescent fixture in The Small Cube. I also built a pair to serve as position-able task lighting for my desk/workbench.
The design is based around a TO-3 heatsink with a stainless steel reflector. It is a 46mm cube with current regulation and a 5W, 98CRI LED from Bridgelux.
BLH Center Channel
This will serve as the latest addition to my home theater system. Inspired by Terry Cain's Double Horn BEN, I selected the smaller version of the Fostex full-range drivers used in my Dallas II build to power this back loaded horn center channel.
I am currently in the process of taking initial driver measurements and tuning the horn geometry before picking up some Birch plywood and getting to work on my cut list.
An impedance sweep of the driver prior to break-in and preliminary design sketch.
