Nam Le
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PORTFOLIO
About me
I'm a mechanical engineer with a background in manufacturing. I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in early 2021 with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration on manufacturing. My work experience is heavily involved in product design and R&D at fast-paced startups. I have worked on large industrial machines as well as small electro-mechanical assemblies. Because of my passion for mechanical engineering, I also spend some times on my own projects where I do rapid prototyping with shop tools and 3D printers.
Essentium - R&D Engineer
Essentium is startup designing high speed industrial FFF 3D printers. As a mechanical engineer at Essentium I did research and development as well as product design on several projects involved with their HSE (High Speed Extrusion) 280 and 240 product lines.
Due to the private nature of this company under NDA, all content shown is publicly available or given permission from Essentium.
HSE 240 Door and Camera
Objective
Design door to match industrial design and fitment of machine
Ensure safety of the door by complying to ISO 13849 standard
Reduce heat dissipation from build volume and keep internal camera and other electronics cool
Process
Gained DFM experience through communication with overseas manufacturers of glass, sheet metal, gaskets, and surface coatings
Applied tolerance stack-up analysis for top level assembly
Used SolidWorks Simulations to verify thermals door
Results
Reduced assembly time of door by 30%
Significantly reduced outside door temperature by 35%
Ensured door met machine safety standard
Door successfully fit on machine with outer body panels without sagging from hinge
HSE 280 Filament Buffer
Objective
Address brittle filament breaking issue reported from customers
Simplify assembly and ease of use of filament loader
Process
Validated hand calculated optimal feed rate through testing on HSE 280 system
Updated firmware code for optimal feed rate
Designed tube fittings to prevent filament catching and unsuccessful loading
Results
Expanded material compatibility for brittle and soft materials
Reduced filament loading failure rate and machine down time
HSE 240 Automatic Filament Feeder
Objective
Design automatic filament sensing to determine absence of filament and automatically load new spool during print
Process
Researched sensors for automatic filament detection
Developed algorithm to control for filament feed and machine state logic along with firmware engineers
Gained experience with servo motors and gear assemblies
Results
Brought automatic filament feeding functionality to HSE 240 printer for show machine
Improved print quality by reducing load on print head
Mantle - Mechanical Engineering Internship
Mantle is a startup developing metal 3D printers with machined finish targeted toward the injection molding industry. As an intern I was introduced to working with senior engineers and cross-functional teams. I became familiar with sourcing parts from vendors and working in a machine shop.
Due to the private nature of this company under NDA, all content shown is publicly available or given permission from Mantle.
Objective
Learn about Mantle’s metal 3D printing technology
Support senior engineers in designing tool holders and fixtures
Process
Fabricated parts in machine shop using manual mill
Documented pneumatic diagrams and cable assemblies on machine
Took measurements for modeling parts in SolidWorks
Results
Gained experience using SolidWorks and PDM
Successfully modeled entire outer body of furnace in CAD
N64 Controller Projects
As a hobby, I like to play Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo 64 competitively. However, I was never satisfied with the flaws of the original controller so I worked on several projects to improve the original design. This included redesigning the joystick and some supporting projects that helped with the design.
Joystick Redesign
Objective
Restore performance of joystick of N64 controller
Make joystick last longer than OEM parts
Joystick must be compatible with original controller
Process
Reverse engineer and redesign original injection molded joystick in SolidWorks
Practiced quality control of SLA printer to manufacture consistent parts
Gained feedback after play-testing with professional players
Results
Significantly reduced wear rate of joystick by over 300%
Joystick sold to professional players and have won tournaments
Gained experience with DOE using JMP and Minitab
N64 Joystick Improvements
Original Design:
Joystick contacts bottom spherical surface to fix its Z-position that wears down over time
X position determined by embossed feature on gate as well as slotted shaft that also wears resulting in clearance/deadzone on joystick
Compression spring pushes down on cam shaft that rotates geared optical encoders
Redesign:
Steel pin constrains joystick Z-position with much less wear due to lower load across larger area
X-direction is only constrained by slotted shaft
U-joint design reduces tolerance stack-up of parts so there is less deadzone and is more consistent for gameplay
Fundamentally works the same with spring-loaded cam so it feels identical to the OEM joystick
Joystick Signal Reader
Objective
Create a tool that would be able to read the signal output of a joystick module to create a benchmark for joystick
Process
Programmed Arduino to read quadrature encoder signal of joystick
Soldered female connector to Arduino and designed enclosure to easily transport tool
Results
Signal reader used to help verify the dynamics joystick
Tool used to reduce time checking the quality of redesigned joysticks after assembly
Created a database with benchmarks of other 3rd party joysticks
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Machining Fixture
Objective
Design a fixture to locate and hold a cast part for 2 machining operations of a Geneva wheel
Process
Programmed CAM operation for fixture and cast part
Performed FEA to make sure cast parts were not permanently deformed
Result
Assembled full fixture with off the shelf parts
Geneva wheel successfully machined after using fixture
Senior Project - Solar Tracker for Boat
Objective
Work in a team of 5 to create a solar tracker for existing solar race boat to increase its efficiency
Process
Used SolidWorks to model solar tracker frame
Calculated the loads experienced by the frame
Results
Built working prototype for solar boat
Increased efficiency of solar boat by 20%