The workshop side of the work: smaller builds that keep the hands-on skills sharp between the big projects.
A manual benchtop mill retrofitted end-to-end: ballscrews in place of the original leadscrews to kill backlash, stepper motors on all three axes, and a controller running closed-loop motion. It's the workhorse behind most of the metal parts in the other builds on this site: the plotter's tool-changer components and several of the wheel-module prototype parts for VARK were both cut on this machine.
A discrete-event simulation model of a warehouse's material flow, built in FlexSim to test layout and throughput changes cheaply before committing to a physical fit-out. Photos and a full write-up are on the list; for now this is a placeholder entry so the build is on the record.
Before robotics was a job it was a bedroom (and workshop) full of 3D printers. The first build was a SmartRap Mini, which did the job right up until printing upgrade parts for the very machine that printed them proved too tempting. Along came the others. After buying a Shapeoko CNC router I designed and cut every bracket in house from plywood, then moved on to aluminium parts and extrusion for the fully enclosed final build, complete with internal lighting and its own extraction ducting. Each machine made the parts for the next. This is where the motion control, firmware tuning, and thermal debugging habits started.