TOMMY HAAKE

For a couple of years I was the CTO of CXC Simulations, a racing and flight simulator manufacturer. I designed products, wrote processes for installation and quality control, and provided product photography and graphic design. Some of what I designed at CXC I can't share, but here are some of the smaller projects I worked on that aren't proprietary.

If you'd like to see more of what I worked on at CXC in detail, check out their How It's Made segment.

I fashioned a one-off wrench for a customer with a custom simulator who was having difficulty centering the steering shaft for the installation of the quick-release steering wheel. Besides ensuring this wrench would fit on in multiple directions, the most challenging aspect of this project was learning the ID tolerances of the 3D printer.

A computer 3.5" drive bay cover with provisions for ethernet and 3 DVI cables. The problem of finding a way to eliminate constant failures of DVI cables used for the visuals on the simulator was posed to me. This solution eliminated the continual flexing of the rather bulky and fragile DVI cables in a very inexpensive and simple metal bracket. I also angled the connectors to give the technicians a little extra finger room. They were happy about that!

The protective screen for the LED package on the dashboard was being hand cut by dremel and template and tying up valuable technician time. I quickly designed a laser cut pattern that friction-fits and clears all obstacles. 

Upon receipt of a new wiring harness, quick disconnect provisions needed to be added for speedier service and support. This steel shell provided a protective exit for the circular connector .

I found some interesting ratios online one day that described the spar lengths of an articulating wing, It looked particularly exciting and I wondered if I could make a set of wings that could fit on a backpack and actuate with the raising and lowering on one's arms. After a cardboard model and some tweaking of those ratios, I settled on this design. The lowest most spar would be attached at the forearm or wrist and would double or more the wearer's wingspan when extended. I can't wait to have an excuse to make a full size version.

A fun little lunch project for Halloween turned in to a commission for three under-shirt arc reactors a couple of years ago.

It's a simple four piece 3D print with 26 LEDs packed in a diffusion section. Neodymium magnets hold the unit together with a drop of CA glue on each one. The CA bonds only slightly to the magnet's polished surface so you get a semi permanent clasp that can still be easily pried apart for service.  

I designed a simple battery box that held two Li-ion laptop cells, a charge protection circuit and a switch. The large number of LEDs paired with the right batteries meant no current limiting was needed and a smaller easier package to carry around. 

All in all I was very please with the illusion of depth even though the unit is only around 0.5" thick.

This is a fun little side project that I work on when I need a break from work. 

A friend of mine gifted me a Picard teacup (thanks Jordan!) as he knows my true desire to be a member of the Entrprise D. I proudly set it on a self next to my desk and over the next few months realized it deserved a more significant display. I had some SMD LEDs to recycle anyway.

The SMDs were attached to two concentric copper rings made from Cat5 solid core wire. That assembly was lowered into a recycled Rex ear, and diffused through some R216 that I had laying around. The shelf holding the teacup was cut from perfboard (used for prototyping simple circuits) and painted flat black. The rest of the electrical system is a very simple Lithium ion battery, a constant current driver and a switch. 

As you walk around the piece the holes in the perfboard distort and wrap around the glass surfaces and look like it's materializing. The final step will be to put together a proper wooden box for permanent display.

As all nerd children dream of doing, I purchased and finished the build on an FX stormtrooper costume. The vacu-forming was already done for me but some of the painting and all of the joining was left to be done. This was the first major project I did in the way of prop replicas (though not screen accurate at all).

This project was especially memorable because this was the first time I took something brand new and expensive right out of the box and began modifying it. The combination of fear and excitement when you cut into something you can't afford to screw up really took me to a new level of craftsmanship and focus. The mouth holes were cut and the "smile" was painted on instead of using the included decals. A Hasbro blaster was modified to have appropriate weight and look. A large amount of plastic was trimmed for fitment issues and the whole costume was modified to fit my body type properly though I am a little tall to be a stormtrooper. 

In the end the costume looked good and was very uncomfortable to wear but was always a huge hit. This won't be the last stormtrooper that I own.

Ahh, the 914. This is by far my longest running continuous project and I have my dad to thank for it.

Ol' 47 is what we call her. She started out as a stock 1971 2.0L 914  and has grown and changed with us as we've learned how to be better race drivers. We have done 15 years of work to this car and I almost don't know where to start. 

The interior was stripped down to the basics. Carpet removed, sound deadening tar gunk scraped, interior sheet metal painted, custom dash fabricated. Mechanically anything that wasn't necessary to run the car was removed. A rollcage was installed, brakes, suspension, bushings all updated. A custom oil system for the eventual 6 cylinder upgrade was designed and installed.

We started out with autocross (cones in a parking lot) which is a good, low risk way of learning performance driving. Once we were confident around cones we moved up to race tracks with real walls and long straights and the 2.0L engine wasn't quite cutting it anymore. So in went a 2.4L. The hydraulic timing chain tensioners gave way one day and the 2.4L came back from the shop as a 2.7L 911RS spec high compression engine. That engine is still in the car today and with a 1:10 power:weight ratio, can give you quite the kick in the pants.

I have learned so much about this car and in this car that it was a very hard day when it was sold. I was working and I couldn't be there to send the car off and I had this terrible attachment to it even though it was really just the object that all of that learning and bonding with my dad happened around. Much to my excitement, the new owner called us up a few months later needing a transmission rebuild and liked our previous work so much that he wanted us to continue to work on it and extended the invitation that we could continue to drive it as well. Ol' 47 isn't ours anymore (and is #57 now) but she's not lost, which is a special sense of relief.  

These are the projects I either completed very quickly (under deadline) or wasn't smart enough to take many pictures of. Enjoy!