Here is a collage of some of the various ways I spend my time outside of school. Mostly personal projects involving Arduino and woodworking.

Figure 1: My infrared motion-activated Arduino shelf. This shelf works simply where whenever you place your hand over it the LEDs change color.
  • Figure 2: Small bamboo shelf for holding small belongings
  • Figure 3: Large cherry tree shelf. Build path is listed below

Cherry Tree Build Process

While beginning to find some resources to create a new shelf, I found a cherry tree in the backyard. Without the use of a sufficient bandsaw, chiseling was the only attainable way for me to work the wood in a reliable way. Below is a quick gallery of the process.

  • Figure 4: Initial trunk and cutting
  • Figure 5: Chiseling of the wood
  • Figure 6: Sanding and touching up any grooves

An interesting component of woodworking is it becomes possible to create FEA simulations. Not only would it give me peace of mind knowing that the shelf will hold under any weight but also test my skills by applying CAD simulations.

Figure 7: Bolt Selection for brackets
Figure 8: Displacement results

Here it shows that at most there is a change in around half of a millimeter with a 25kg load applied. This load is far over what I would ever place on this shelf but considering the maximum displacement is 0.69mm the worry for any issues is highly improbable.