Joseph Taylor - Portfolio
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PoE Powered NAS
To expand my off-site backup strategy, I situated a NAS in a location where only Ethernet is accessible (no mains power). I built a box that incorporates a 12V 65W PoE extractor and PoE switch, that allows me to power a Synology NAS and other PoE devices such as CCTV and LED lights.
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Quiet Backup Server
A good friend of mine offered for me to host a PC at his to act as an off-site backup. I 3D printed a chassis to hold a small PC, PiKVM and HDD suspended in bungee cords to keep the noise to a minimum. I'm able to connect to the PC and PiKVM via Tailscale, which means my friend doesn't need to configure anything on his network. I also have a VPS I use with firewall rules setup to forward traffic through Tailscale, essentially giving the PC a static IP I have full control over.
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Slim Apple AirTag
3D printed case for a disassembled Apple AirTag, using an off-the-shelf speaker. Initially made for myself, I listed it on Etsy as an experiment and I'm now at over 1,200 orders. I have made the 3D models free for anyone to download and modify.
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Custom Electronics Kit
Dissatisfied with the electronics soldering kits available online, I designed a circuit for beginners to learn about basic electronic components and soldering, much like the Maplin soldering kits I built when I was younger. I plan to make the kit available for sale, with easy to understand documentation. I aim to design more soldering kits.
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SFF Sleeper Gaming PC
I took an HP ProDesk small form factor (SFF) PC, designed and 3D printed a mount for an Nvidea GTX 1060 GPU to fit (just) inside. I also upgraded the CPU cooler, chassis fans and power supply. I did modify the PSU to upgrade the fan and remove unused cables and connectors.
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BMW Retrofit Cruise Control
After successfully installing cruise control in my car, my brother challenged me with adding it to his car. It was more involved and required removing the steering wheel, but I was successful.
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AM Radio
For one of my university assignments, I designed an AM radio, selecting suitable components and winding the ferrite core with a calculated number of turns. I achieved 100% for this assignment.
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Arduino Stepper Motor Controller
This assignment taught me the different types and operating principles of stepper motors. I designed a circuit that interfaced with an Arduino to switch between wave, full-step and half-step drive mode. The speed could also be controlled with a potentiometer.
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Retrofit Cruise Control
Frequently travelling between East Sussex and Essex, I decided to add cruise control to my Vauxhall Corsa. It involved replacing the indictor stalk and programming the ECU via the OBD II port.
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Robot Wars
In 2018, I worked in a group to compete in the University of Brighton's Robot Wars challenge. I adopted the role as leader and achieved a 100% mark on the assignment.
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Old School TTL Frequency Counter
Partnered with my friend Justin, we designed and built a frequency counter using mostly transistor-transistor logic (TTL) components.
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Obstacle Avoiding Robot
Partnered with my friend Justin, we programmed an Arduino to interface with a custom-built dual stepper motor driver board. For extra marks, we added environmental sensors and a display. We both achieved a 100% mark for this project.
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DIY UPS USB Cable
To save some money, I created my own USB cable for an APC UPS. I used an RJ50 to D-sub 9 cable, then a D-sub breakout board to expose the USB pins. I achieved this for less than the cost of an official APC cable.
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Variable Bench Power Supply
This assignment demonstrated the principles behind an AC to DC Power Supply, including different rectifier circuits, the relationship between different circuit components and load performance of the regulator circuit.
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