Carl Edwardson

Objective

Design and build a food-safe spray dryer converting liquid slurries into powder on a tight budget — built to process enzymatically converted oat slurry into water-soluble protein powder.

Outcome so far

50-gallon drum main chamber with rockwool/welding-blanket insulation jacket. Custom hand-fabricated cyclone separator and funnel assembly with a four-handle strap sealing system for easy disassembly and cleaning.

Key challenges

• Maintaining food-safe finish on fabricated parts
• Ensuring all components are quickly removable for regular cleaning
• Achieving sufficient particle air time for complete drying
• Holding close tolerance so everything seals together

Remaining

Heater installation, slurry feed system, and food-safe TIG weld on funnel assembly.

Objective

Build a low-cost autonomous environmental control system for a grow space — with intentional mechanical design rather than off-the-shelf electronics.

Outcome

Geneva gear mechanism (rather than a standard gear) creates a sudden motion impulse that reliably triggers a spray bottle atomizer. Fan and humidifier share a single smart outlet; gear ratios and app thresholds regulate humidity and CO₂ levels without additional microcontrollers.

Key challenges

• Selecting the correct gear type — standard gear would fail to atomize reliably
• Integrating fan and humidifier on one outlet while keeping both independently adjustable
• Designing the Geneva mechanism from scratch in SolidWorks

Process Design

Designed chairs around standardized pallet dimensions to eliminate material waste and reduce cut complexity. Custom jigs enable repeatable angles and joints without measuring each piece individually.

Efficiency

Each chair uses 4 pallet stringers and 7 decking boards (~2 hr build time). Not a single piece longer than 3 inches is wasted in cutting.

Inventory management

Pallet wood sorted into 2 quality tiers at intake — prevents quality issues mid-build and allows fast material selection.

Objective

Design and independently build a shed using tenoned dead logs and custom joinery — planned for prefab off-site and single-day on-site assembly.

Outcome

Shed successfully built and assembled. Custom drilling jigs fabricated to cut mortise holes at correct angles on irregular round timber. All components prefabricated and assembled on-site in one day.

Key challenges

• Natural timber irregularities required real-time design adaptation
• Custom jigs needed to drill accurate holes on uneven curved surfaces
• Managing part inventory across many non-interchangeable tenoned members

Articulating Arm — Complete

Manually adjustable arm with ~4 ft of reach. Custom joints and locking mechanisms fabricated entirely from shop materials. Currently configured as the mounting platform for the TIG welding fixture.

TIG Welding Fixture — Prototype

Ensures linear weld travel with zero lateral wobble. Motor or hand-crank drive maintains consistent travel speed — operator controls only amperage and deposition rate. Removes two of the hardest variables for a beginner welder: straight-line travel and consistent arc length.

Objective

Design a low-cost, repeatable light fixture with a professional appearance using inexpensive materials.

Outcome

Particle board base cut with a jig, aluminum siding folded at regular intervals, cloth diffuser stretched over the frame. 3 units made, focused on precise layout and fabrication to hit a clean, finished look.

Update — turning it into a small product line

Revisited the design and got total material cost down to ~$20 for a 17.5" diameter fixture, with build time down to 2.5 hours per unit on the most recent build. Currently building units to sell, with 2 in progress — lights and dimmers on order before they're ready to ship.

Objective

Build a modular, velcro-layered personal cooling system for off-grid or outdoor use.

Outcome

Tube doubles back on itself to fill the coverage area and reduce sharp bends. Straps to a solid surface to protect the pipe system during sleep. Compatible with water refrigeration or geothermal supply.