Older Projects

This page covers a lot of my older projects, mainly from high school. They have less detail than the others, but show a different range of things I've built.

I got into engineering through RC planes. My first non-RC-plane project used a brushless outrunner motor and sensorless control, much like RC powertrains.

This time I welded a steel engine mount, much stronger than before. The gas engine came off a lawn edger and was rebuilt without a governor to better suit a go-kart, and I came up with a system to use a bike brake cable to manipulate the throttle plate.

I also updated the front end for all the new power, fixing the steering geometry so it would no longer lock, by turning new aluminum extensions and brass bushings.

Once I got more familiar with engines, I started learning more in depth — compression, carburetors and injectors, timing, and more. That gave me the confidence to start taking apart and modifying the engines I had: changing compression ratios, modifying carbs, adjusting mixtures, and so on. Especially fun since it let me apply what I was learning in auto shop class at school.

I used a 3hp engine from another edger for this minibike. To get it running, I had to clean the compression chamber, replace the gaskets, and clean the muffler internals.

A friend got this bike and I got it running for him. The previous owner had rebuilt the engine with incorrect timing, so it wouldn't run — after fixing that, I reworked the jackshaft so he'd get proper gearing.

After a while, I upgraded my original bike with a new 7hp engine, modified with electric start, a custom exhaust, a reinforced fork, and new brakes.

An electric scooter I rode to high school every day for about a year. It used a brushed motor, meaning it didn't have the jitter issues of my previous electric go-kart. I went through several iterations of battery packs for it — starting with hoverboard packs, then soldering my own 18650 packs, then spot welding them.

While building different EVs, I needed a system to organize my wiring harnesses before making them. This is the harness for my first go-kart — I didn't have access to (or the know-how for) harness software, so it was designed in Google Drawings.