About Me

Since I was a baby, moving and rotating things gets me excited. From that point onwards, I knew I had a fascination for mechanics and how the world works. From the dawn of my “knowledge” I have always wanted to see the world differently. I started to see the world through a mechanical standpoint; a perspective that relates one thing to another like gearing complexes. I have always had a fascination for fast moving objects, explosions, lift, and energy transmutation and even took the opportunity to try out the many questions I had in my mind. I also have interests in a lot of things most people would not even relate to physics or science as a whole, like piano and photography (harmonics and chemistry (film)). These fascinations are things that a majority of people find uncanny.

I have a huge interest in cars and their engines, both electric and combustion. I am a car enthusiast and studied the basics of engines, energy densities in storage (fuel vs li-ion), efficiency and losses. I am currently leading a team of 8 students to dissect a 1995 Toyota 4A-FE engine.

My hobbies include radio controlled planes and cars, taking apart mechanical complexes, archery and weapon mechanics, music, and photography. What got me serious about mechanics was my first gas-powered BB gun that I took apart the first day I bought it. I tried to come up with trigger mechanisms for crossbows and many others, relating it to torque and leverage. Then, I tried modifying a 4-stroke engine at school which failed and broke, but from this failure, I learned the importance of compression ratio and octane levels. Me and several friends worked on creating RC planes based on the concept of lift and CoG. After going through many failures, we finally had 2 flying planes and we are currently working on two more.

Achievements

• 4 model RC planes (2 failed 2 successful), working on 2 more
• Ducted Fan Hovercraft project
• Built 2 handheld rocket launchers (water rocket and pvc pipe projectile)
• Assembled 100W led flashlight with air cooling (36V)
• Experimented with various trigger release mechanisms
• Metal Working, fabricated a stainless steel rose

Professional Affiliations

• Founder and President of Engineer’s Society, Present
• Advisor of Photography Club, 2015 - Present
• Speaker for EIS Week of Prayer, March 2017
• Former member of Broadcasting Club, 2016
• Musician, Guest Speaker and Photographer for EIS Ministry Department’s trip to Macau Sam Yuk School, Macau, December 2015

 

 

PROJECTS

 

Hummingbird Experimental Plane

Initially, the Hummingbird was to be a VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft that bear similarities to the F35 and Yak38, but it was scaled down to a straight wing ducted fan plane. In two months, the plane was completed without any specific calculations other than leverage and balance. Due to our lack of experience in building projects of this proportion, the plane was not perfect. On our test flight day, everything worked except for the ailerons which failed to move, causing the plane to veer left into a fence. We tried again with the damaged plane and still failed to the point where the project was beyond repair.  So we retired the plane and worked on another plane the next day: the Genesis.

Genesis

The plans for the Genesis were more simplified than the Hummingbird. The wings were solid foam cutouts of airfoils with carbon fiber reinforcements. This plane was assembled faster than the last one, but it crashed on the testing day. We repaired the front end and tried again until it took off, but due to the limited flying space, we landed it before pulling it up to altitude.

 

The Bat

This plane was to be built as a training plane and a smaller brother to the Hummingbird, but after a few discussions, it was agreed that we try twin boom designs. This was the most successful plane since it was able to fly as intended. The plane was constructed without any metallic or carbon fiber material as the structure. It was made solely from foam and wood instead. The Bat is a more well-built and designed plane compared to our older models but experienced vandalism and had to be decommissioned like its older brothers.

 

 

 

First crash due to CoG error, battery shifted mid-flight. Fixed with battery cage.

 

Hovercraft

The hovercraft was a physics project with the instruction of using air pressure to eliminate friction like a hockey puck. It was constructed from foam due to the limited amount of time the teacher gave the students to do the project. The lift fan was salvaged from the Hummingbird’s 64mm ducted fan. The forward thrust was provided by a 5-inch propeller and the power source was two 1.5A 12V lithium polymer batteries (the power source can vary depending on preference).

 

Metal Rose

The metal rose was a Valentine’s day project and my first attempt at metalworking. To start the project, I cut stainless steel petals and then folded them into a rose using heat and pliers. The temperature of the metal was raised to about 900°C using a blowtorch. The metal becomes incandescent and emits visible light. The rose was welded to a stem with an arc welder. It received final heat treatment to bring out a blue tint on the flower through exposure to mild heat at 300°C while the stem was heated to a bright gold with 200°C and spots of blue with 350°C. This project gave me knowledge on the basics of metallurgy, how metal reacts to different temperatures of heat, and how to use the color of steel as a measurement of heat.

 

 

 

Rocket Launcher

The rocket launcher is another physics project where students had to come up with a design and build a rocket launcher and rocket which would deploy a parachute. There were no specifications on the kind of rocket launcher so I went with a handheld design that resembled the shape of a rifle. The mechanism uses cable ties and a holding ring made from PVC and operates like a quick release hose connector. The launcher is able to fire both water bottle rockets and PVC pipe projectiles, and houses up to 220 psi of pressure. When using a camera and computer software, the estimated average velocity is about 70m/s and with a weight of the projectile being 60 grams. Using mv2/2, we get 147 Joules of kinetic energy.

 

 

Other Activities

• Cessna model build as training plane
• Simple carbon reinforced wing experiment

 

• Hummingbird after crash

 

• Dissecting airsoft gun (Makarov)
• Engine Rebuild for basic understanding (Toyota 4A-FE)