DJD Labs is more than just a lab, My day job is as a Mechatronics engineer for a local Science Center. I design, build and program, all the interactive parts to amazing interactive exhibits every day. This section will feature my day to day exploits and behind the scenes of what it is like doing science at a museum.
Science Museum?
The science in learning.
This section will feature my day to day exploits and behind the scenes of what it is like doing science at a museum.
Laser Cut Electronic mounts
As part of my day job, I am often designing and building custom electonics. With those electronics it is nice…
Self Center Train wheel Exhibit
Have you ever wondered how trains stay on the tracks and navigate curves so effortlessly? At first glance, you might…
New Traveling Energy Exhibit
My team was tasked recently to develop and build interactive demos to be used by our Science on the Road…
3D Model to reality!
Love taking a concept modeling it in Fusion 360 and than doing a full photorealistic render, to than see how…
Robot Panel mounts
When Quasi the robot needed new clear cover mounts, I came up with this tab system to have them hang,…
Button Case Project
I was tasked recently with take the very popular 200 button sound wall I built a few years back, and…
Historic Carnegie Science Center Video
This was a promo Video made about the Carnegie Science center shortly after opening in October 1991, showcasing all the…
Leo Rover Custom Wheels
This is a prototype wheel design I am working on for the Leo Rover. The current tires work great on…
3D Model of an Exhibit
Had to reverse engineer an old exhibit at work recently for reproduction, I made a full 3D model from scratch…
Vintage Laser Metallica 3D
This is an old video that was digitized of the one hour long laser show that was conducted at the…
Control box for an Exhibit
This was a control box I designed and wired up for a Fountain Exhibit for a Children’s museum. Was able…
Cryo Dewar Holder model
More from the ‘Teaching myself Fusion’ process, I made this model from memory ( I have no drawings, or the…
Fusion 360 Test
Working on learning a new platform, Fusion 360, a free ( for makers ) powerful tool that will allow me…
Historic roboworld Photos
360 photos taken the last day the Exhibit was open to the public. The Exhibit is now gone. This page…
Laser interferometer
New Exhibit in development, a Michelson interferometer. We partnered with a local professor who developed this test platform. It will…
Mini Tesla coil
Built a mini tesla coil for our High voltage demo in the science demo theater. It can light up a…
Big Power
How much power does a science center consume? Here is a photo of the main power meter, this is real…
Pro tip
If you work with Zip ties often, and work on a lift.. find yourself an old welding rod belt holster,…
Behind the scenes
Little clip into a random #DayJob task of converting over 30 light factures from pipe mount to track mount and…
Quasi the robot
My day job has me working at a Science Center, this leads me to interesting projects as well.This robot is…
POMPEII Exhibit Install
I worked as part of the crew as an electrician installing over 400 lights in the gallery. Here are some…
How theater lights work
Ever see a spot light project a square light beam? how does that work? well old school slide project tech…
Weather Cases
Worked on a team to develop these mobile road case based exhibits. They each feature a different aspect of weather…
Motion Sensor Exhibit
Got to work on our oldest electronic exhibit at CSC. Had the honor of recreating the function, with all new…
Soldering
As part of my day job I tend to wire up a ton of electronics, here is a peak into…
R2D2
When you have a droid with a bad motivator unit, you have to get drastic. One of the perks of…
Cloud in a bottle.
This rig I designed will generate a cloud on demand inside a chamber!
Mystery science theater robots
I got to build the MTST robots into an exhibit! I even animated them, and they trigger from a motion…
MOBOTS
I was tasked with bringing back from the dead a set of mobile robots ( Mobots ) from around the…
1.2 Million Volt Tesla coil
our Huge 100+ year old 1.2 million volt 45,000 watt tesla coil at the science center. Here it is in…
Power Generator Exhibit
Designing and building a Power generator exhibit for a local museum.
Roof Thermal cam fix
Fixed a $16k thermal camera today ( no user serviceable parts inside per mfg. ) had a stuck focus track.…
Pinball Falls
The entire Exhibit design process that follow a single exhibit from the design stage to completion. https://youtu.be/tHgq_qxyptg https://youtu.be/tqQfR5pGlYY https://youtu.be/Gkqv1lZplmA https://youtu.be/rl-3HKFxsFI…
Behind the dome
A behind the scenes look of what it looks like behind the dome of a planetarium in operation!
Epidemic software
An old exhibit I built on the spread of viruses, figured it is relevant in today’s atmosphere. We partnered with…
DIY Analog volt meter
When you need a big one, you make one!
Punxsutawney Phil
Yes that groundhog! My day job has some fun days, like the time I got to travel out of town…
Vintage TV Project
The project goal was to convert an old tube TV into an Apollo ara exhibit.
360 Cam drone style shot
A 360 camera on a 24′ stick makes for some epic shots!
3D Printer custom cover
Prints kept warping, so dusted off my foam core skills and built a quick shield with door!
Drag race Exhibit
Built this for a LEGO exhibit we had on site, uses an Arduino Uno and some Adafruit displays via I2C…
DJD Labs at IAPPA
Got to spend a day in florida down at IAPPA, the largest convention for amusement technology!
Lego Color sensing Exhibit
Designed and built a Lego music Exhibit, using a CMU Cam Pixie cam to read the colors, and a Arduino…
AR Sandbox
I setup one of the best renditions of the old Augmented Reality sandbox’s It uses an Xbox Kinect to read…
Edge of space
We took a balloon and a stuffed parrot to the edge of space!
Amatrol Pegasus Robot
https://youtu.be/814UKr1wiO4 Get the Software
