beckman designs
Personal Projects
Shown below are all the personal projects that I've documented (roughly half of them). Most include links to CAD files, code, and supplemental details. If you would like any files that are not posted, don't hesitate to reach out! Most of my projects are open source.
Click on any of the images to enlarge.
Micro Mecanum Robot (wii remote controlled!)
Summer 2020
Mecanum wheels are a special type of omnidirectional wheel, with free spinning rollers at 45 degrees to the wheel's rotation. This allows normal driving motion, along with "strafing" left and right, and everything in between!
To make things fun, it's controlled with a Wii remote and nunchuck! The Wiimote sends control data through bluetooth to an ESP32, which converts joystick data into 4 pulsed digital motor signals.
This is one of my favorite projects, because it's so fun to drive around! The entire thing, even the mecanum wheels, are custom design.
Check out the design files on GrabCAD, and reach out with any questions if you want to build a similar one! The math for mecanum kinematics is simple, even for someone who avoids code like me.
Pilot G2-07 Pen
Spring 2023
I modeled every surface of this pen and rendered it (render and cross-section shown below). I don't really know why.
Design files are available on GrabCAD.
"Pilot" and "G2" are trademarks of Pilot Corporation.
Giant Airpod (a working bluetooth speaker)
Fall 2019
A giant ~250x scaled (volumetric) functional AirPod! I modeled the AirPod following a YouTube video, as I'd never done surface modeling like this before. There is a torn apart bluetooth speaker inside, with the battery and buttons near the base by the "L" for easy control. After 3D printing, I sanded, primed, and painted it for the cool glossy surface.
NOTE: shortly after posting this on Reddit, the YouTuber "Unnecessary Inventions" asked if he could make one. His video has over 150,000 views (woah!) and references my Reddit account in the description.
Check out the article on Business Insider!
Design files are released on GrabCAD.
Giant TI-83 Plus
(fully functional calculator & PC)
Spring 2022
Who doesn't like calculators! As an engineering student, I've gotten quite used to using my ABS brick that is the Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus.
After copying the design in Creo Parametric (a program that excels in surface modeling), I 3D printed the massive frame components in black PLA. Buttons were printed in PLA as well, and painted over for a realistic look.
The electronics inside consist of a Raspberry Pi running Linux, with a TI emulator (thanks, TilEm devs!) and an Arduino Mega to process inputs from the 50 silicone membrane buttons that I arranged with yet another 3D print. After some tricky code (for me...) and a lot of painting, I finished it with a sticker going around the display that I designed to mimic the real thing.
Apart from the fully featured calculator part, it can browse the web, play internet games using the arrow keys, and of course, run DOOM as well.
I haven't released files, because I don't want TI to sue me. If you're interested in more details, reach out!
Miniature "Starship" Delivery Robots
Fall 2021
"Starship" food delivery robots are very popular at US colleges as well as in Europe. At my school, students love them for their funny behavior navigating around the winding campus sidewalks to deliver to their customers. I spent about 20 hours copying their complex shape to 3D print them at 9% scale.
This is the most complicated surface modeling project I've taken on. There are only a few flat surfaces on the entire robot, and mimicking curvature is extremely difficult with few measurements. These are SLS 3D printed in nylon, and painted with acrylic paints. The inside lining is printed on one of my printers in white PLA. It also has a magnetic lid, with magnets embedded in the 3D print for a streamlined look.
16mm Test Tube Racks for Covid Testing
Summer 2020
These custom design test tube racks allowed large test tubes (15-17mm dia.) to be used in 96-well format, which helped increase efficiency doing PCR-based Covid-19 tests. Hundreds of racks were made by several labs.
The design files are provided free of charge, with instructions on how to assemble them. See more about the process in the article. Design files, instruction manuals, and contact information are in the GitHub repository linked at the end of the article!
Featured in an article here!
Design files and instructions are on GitHub.
Custom 3D Printer
2021 - 2022
After making numerous 3D printer designs in CAD, I decided to build one of them. This is the second iteration that was built, with the goal of being contained in the frame for ease of enclosing. It used old electronics from a past printer, with MGN-12 series linear rails, and a bowden extruder for fast printing.
It was used with a larger nozzle to print hundreds of components for my internship at a small company, as they only had one 3D printer. I am in the process of redesigning it to use silent stepper drivers, lighter linear rails, and a direct drive ultralight extruder.
This bowden-drive effector design proved to be very reliable. By mounting the limit switch on the moving head, I removed the need for any wires on the X axis rail assembly, meaning there are only two wire bundles that move: the printhead bundle and the heatbed bundle. The part cooling fan is mounted above the hotend to make the printhead very skinny, maximizing XY build space.
The belt clamp provided adjustable tension to both belts simultaneously. While this is efficient from a design standpoint, it requires both belts to be in equal tension before adjustment. The next iteration will allow the motors to move to tension belts individually.
Almost all CoreXY designs require pulleys on either the X rail assembly OR the frame (opposite the motors) to be "out of alignment". By choosing to keep frame pulleys out of alignment, I concentrated the moment generated by those pulleys on the (rigid) frame, rather than the X rail assembly. This reduces the torque across the X rail, and allowed me to make a less rigid but lighter and simple X rail assembly.
Sound-Responsive LED Light
Winter 2019
This sound responsive LED light was made as a present several years ago. It flickers in response to noise with a microphone mounted in the base (PCB is mounted vertically on the right side of the upper left photo), and also has a magnetic encoder built from the massive bearing that sits on top of the base 3D print.
To build the custom magnetic encoder, I attached a ring of magnets onto the bearing with a 3D print to space them evenly. Two eccentrically mounted hall effect sensors measure relative location and spin direction, while allowing the bearing "knob" to rotate smoothly, giving it a nice feel.
Inside the device, an atmega 32u4 controls a ring of WS2812B LEDs (with one in the center), and changes modes depending on the rotation of the bearing "knob" and the microphone.
The selenite crystal rests on top. It is not attached to the device with any adhesive.
