03 — Hardware

From schematic to brass bushing, all under one roof.

Three decades of analog, digital and embedded design — paired with a SolidWorks workflow dating back to 1995, in-house additive prototyping, and a Myford Super 7 lathe for the moments when nothing but turned metal will do. Concept to working hardware with no external dependencies.

01

Schematic & PCB

Analog, digital, mixed-signal. Power-path, protection, peripheral buses.

02

Embedded firmware

ESP32 family, Arduino, ESPHome. Sensors, displays, persistent state.

03

Mechanical CAD

SolidWorks since 1995. Enclosures, brackets, full assembly intent.

04

Additive prototyping

In-house FDM and SLA. Same-day iteration in engineering polymers.

05

Precision machining

Myford Super 7 lathe. Turning, shaft work, bespoke metal parts.

Featured project

Doughbox

A purpose-built fermentation controller for sourdough.

Doughbox proofing controller

A custom fridge-based fermentation controller built around the XIAO ESP32-C3. Three mains relays drive heating, cooling and a dedicated Peltier dehumidifier with closed-loop NTC feedback — a tightly integrated instrument, not a stack of off-the-shelf parts.

MCU XIAO ESP32-C3
Sensing 2× BME280, NTC
Switching 3× mains relay, IRLZ44N PWM
Interface OLED + capacitive touch
Firmware ESPHome + Preferences
Power USB-C, Schottky protected
Read the case study →
Engineering note

Initial bench testing exposed a USB power-path back-feed risk between the host and the C3's onboard regulator. Resolved with an inline Schottky diode on VUSB — a small change that turned a fragile prototype into a unit safe to leave running unattended overnight.

Selected projects

Other recent work

Pizza oven controller
In progress

Pizza oven monitor

High-temperature thermocouple instrumentation for a wood-fired oven. MAX6675 front-end, ESP32, real-time deck and dome readings.
SCARA robot arm
Build log

SCARA robot arm

A multi-axis SCARA build combining printed structural parts with bespoke turned components — including 5mm brass shafts machined to bearing fit on the Myford.

Got an awkward problem?

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