I designed and built a flamethrower from the chassis of a Nerf gun. I used butane as a fuel source, and developed a mechanism that expels fuel from an off the shelf canister. The ignition system consists of a voltage step-up module that sparks at the barrel, and I included a saftey kill switch next to the trigger so that the user can safely and comfortably operate the flame thrower. The whole system is powered by interchangeable USB battery banks. I painted the Nerf Gun in a bright colored palette to give it an appealing design that doubles as a safety cap to show that it is not a firearm. I made sure to make the flamethrower legally compliant (in the state of California) by designing it to be gas powered rather than liquid propelled.

I have been obsessed with hobby grade RC cars since I was in middle school. But, it is a pricer hobby than it seems, and I have never been able to justify the price (hopefully that won't always be the case). Another hobby I found fascinating was scale model cars, specifically those cool kits you could find at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. The kind where you pop out body panels and engine parts from a sprue, paint the shell and build your favorite cars. I wanted to merge the two interests, by buying a 1/24th scale chassis, however none on the market existed that were as complex or budget friendly as I needed. So I decided to design one of my own.

The goals of this project was to be budget friendly, easily 3D printed, independant front and rear suspension, compatability with cheap electronics and an adjustable wheelbase to accomodate as many shells as possible. 

Most other chassis of this size start at $150 and are much less feature packed, so I hope to pioneer new territory. 

This is a project I am especially passionate about as I am learning a lot about a hobby I've never before delved deep in. I am really excited to not only develop this platform from scratch, but also hopefully give other newbies a fun and easy way to break into this hobby, and inspire others to make their own refined, diverse or specialized chassis designs.

I am already planning ideas for V2, such as differnet materials, compatability with standard hardware for compatibility with more parts, and potential expansion to larger vehicles, such as offroaders and semi-trucks. I'd like to shoutout MakeItRC, my biggest inspiration.

One of my biggest dreams as a 14 year old was to build my own PC. I grew up playing on an Xbox 360 (and later an Xbox One), and while those brought so many beautiful memories, they didn't scratch the itch I knew a dedicated gaming computer would. After months of badgering and begging, I finally convinced my dad to let me build a computer, and by the end of my freshman year summer, I finally built my own PC. 

I wanted to come back to that experience, of building a computer, but I thought, why not make it interesting? I had 2 goals for this new computer. Keep it on a budget (sub $300), and use an Xbox 360 as a chassis. These two constraints on their own may seem relatively simple, but together, they provede an interesting challenge that requires lots of problem solving and compromises.

So far, I have focused on fitting the motherboard and GPU inside the case by hollowing the case and slimming the PC. I 3D modeled and printed fan mounts to delete the shroud on the RTX 2060 GPU being used in this build, overall slimming down the part's whole profile.

The biggest challenge has been the PSU. I have a few options I am ironing out at the moment, all with their own pros and cons. 

The first option is to use the Apevia 500W Flex PSU, which will most likely need to be deshrouded. It would allow for a streamlined, clean brickless design, while providing ample power. However working with naked PSUs can be dangerous, and working with cheap PSU's can also be dangerous. The size of the Apevia unit may also force us to sacrafice some I/O as well. 

The second option is to use an external desktop powersupply. The way this would work is to route extension cables from each part to the back of the console shell, and have the PSU plug in from there, as sort of an oversized power brick. But this method is heavy, ugly and risks damaging components if any intense force is applied from dropping or yanking. 

The third option, that I am most leaning towards, is to use a Meanwell PSU/Pico PSU combo. The Meanwell PSU is a medical grade powersupply with the ability to power computer components as well. The biggest drawback of this setup is the $100 price tag, however, it is more than worth it considering that there is virtually no other disadvantages. While this option will most likely push the budget over to $100, it is the safest and cleanest option. 

For a future version 2, I hope to increase the budget, but also increase the challenge by using a smaller, 360 slim as the shell. This second version would include more robust hardware as well, to make this the ultimate gaming console. This larger budget would allow for hardware such as a proper ITX board, HDPlex 500W PSU and an RTX 5070.