Projects
Not case studies, not capability statements — projects. Each one taught me something I now use on client work. Where you see a placeholder, a real photo is coming.
When the Cybertruck was announced I couldn't stop thinking about how its geometry was almost purpose-built for a wedge camper. Nobody else would chase it, so I did. I designed the camper down to the last bolt in SolidWorks — working from a scan and a full-scale wooden trailer built to the truck's exact dimensions, because Tesla doesn't hand out CAD files.
The prototype came out of nine months in my old mentor's machine shop: 12-foot molds broken into sections and cut on a 4x8 CNC router, assembled like a 3D puzzle, fiberglass pulled from MDF forms. Later came The Cap — a composite truck topper we took to production. Twenty units delivered to happy owners, two design patents, utility patents on the latching system, and a launch press release that hit millions of views in its first week.
The company is winding down in 2026 — the product worked, the manufacturing economics didn't, and I'll be honest about both. The full website is preserved below exactly as it ran, because it's the best portfolio piece I have: every render, every photo, every word of copy came out of this shop.
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The wooden Cybertruck trailer with the prototype Wedge installed — the "how it was really done" shot.
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Mold sections on the CNC router, or the Bondo/finishing stage of the Cap plug.
We started with an empty space and a culture in a jar. I handled the physical company: finding the facility, building the production equipment, running plumbing and 3-phase power, installing a 20-ton glycol chiller and CO2 distribution, and managing fermentation operations with weekly lab QC.
The discovery I'm proudest of: oxygen exposure controlled through tank geometry. Our shallow, flat "coolship" style tanks held the brew naturally under 0.5% ABV — no heat, no filtration, no de-alcoholization step. Just the right ratio of air exposure to liquid depth. We kept a master seed culture running in parallel with every experiment and abandoned any line that drifted by generation three or four.
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Tank room or brewing floor photo. A taproom or community event shot would also work — the concerts and Knowledge Nights were half the brand.
WISErg built autonomous units that sat behind grocery stores and turned food waste into fertilizer. I designed the bioreactors — anaerobic systems that had to digest whatever unpredictable mix came down the chute that day, which meant developing a generalist culture instead of a pampered one. My main contribution: redesigning the gen-2 prototype from over $300k in build cost down to about $70k. The company still uses the design and ships fertilizer by railcar.
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The harvester unit at a grocery site, or any internal photo/render of the bioreactor design.
I took this job on purpose: I could design parts but I wanted to understand what happens to them after the drawing leaves my hands. I ran a five-person team building press tools, pneumatic saws for precision aluminum cutting, and one-off tooling across CNC mills, waterjet, laser, and sheet metal. Andries Breedt — a genuine master craftsman — taught me that mastery comes from sustained contact with materials, not instruction. It's still how I calibrate when "done is better than perfect" and when precision is non-negotiable.
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Any shop-floor photo from this era — a press tool, a fixture, or you at a machine.
Production engineering in an FDA-adjacent world: knifecoater systems laying precision silicone over substrates, new tooling design, and the daily detective work of production problems — gel inclusions, improper cure, substrate adhesion. It's where I learned change control, audit procedure, and clean room discipline, which turns out to matter when clients ask whether their product can survive a regulated environment.
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Knifecoater line or silicone product photo if available — otherwise this entry can run without an image.
Off the clock I converted a warehouse into my home, with the former Space Campers shop next door becoming a personal engineering shop. There's also an old van with a new roof, a new interior, and an engine that runs again. I'm including these because they're the honest answer to "what do you do for fun" — if something is old and can be improved, I'm interested.
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Warehouse conversion — a before/after pair would be ideal.
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The van — mid-restoration or finished, either works.
Email me what you're working on and we'll figure out if it's a fit.