Hello, I'm Evan Laschinger

Mechanical Engineering Student at Binghamton University

I am a mechanical engineering student with experience in CAD modeling, PCB and circuit design, soldering, 3D printing, and fabrication with both wood and metal. I have hands-on experience building functional prototypes with Ardiuno and ESP32 platforms.

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About Me

Hello! I'm Evan Laschinger, an engineer with a deep passion for design. Inspired by a family legacy and a fascination with creation, my engineering journey took root through early hands-on projects, including a wooden bike ramp, a DIY metal kiln, and custom computers. These builds sparked my lifelong drive to design and create.

When I'm not working, I enjoy lifting, skiing and playing volleyball.

Portfolio

Click on a project to view details

The Lawn Clipper

Boost and fuzz guitar pedal

PCB Design Analogue Circuit Design Soldering Enclosure Fabrication

Blood Pressure Monitor Reverse Engineering

Reverse Engineering of a Blood Pressure Monitor

SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS Visualize

Fish tank Transport Device

A device for safely transporting fish with their tanks

Fusion

Blackjack

An Arduino-based Blackjack game with speakers and addressable LEDs

PCB Design Soldering Fusion C++ 3D Printing

32x32 LED Display

A customizable wall piece using 32x32 LED matrix

SOLIDWORKS 3D Printing Soldering WLED

S.U.L. - Secure Under-Bed Lighting

A under-bed lighting solution with removalable magnetic lights and key switch

PCB Design Soldering Fusion C++ 3D Printing

Volca Rack

A 3D printed rack that holds two Korg Volcas and a line mixer.

SOLIDWORKS 3D Printing

Let's Connect

The best way to reach me is by email.

evanlaschinger2@gmail.com

You can also connect with me on LinkedIn

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Blackjack

An Arduino based Blackjack game with speakers and addressable LEDs

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About this project

Project Overview: This project served as my Engineering Design Division (EDD) capstone, where I led the modification of an Arduino-based text adventure game. My key technical contributions include:

Hardware Engineering: Designed the program's first-ever custom PCB using KiCad and created a blackjack-style enclosure, modeled in Fusion 360 and 3D printed.
Circuit Design: Engineered a custom Arduino Shield featuring an RC low-pass filter with a minimum cutoff frequency of 159 Hz to smooth PWM square waves and eliminate harsh harmonic noise. The design includes optimized power distribution to drive the LEDs, speaker, and screen while maintaining temperatures within safe limits.
Software Development: Led a complete overhaul of the source code in C++, rewriting the game engine from the ground up using a state machine. Integrated the FastLED library for LED lighting effects and music with gameplay, while retaining only the core button input logic.

The biggest challenge was learning to use KiCad to design an effective board layout without prior experience. I specifically focused on isolating the audio signal from the LED power traces to minimize noise. The budget was also a major constraint, given the extensive modifications required, including the arcade-style buttons, speaker, amplifier, larger screen, and LED strip.

Technologies Used

Fusion 360
KiCad PCB
3D Printing
C++
Soldering
Arduino

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S.U.L. - Secure Under-Bed Lighting

A under-bed lighting solution with removable magnetic lights and key switch

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About this project

Project Overview: This independent engineering project focused on designing and fabricating a custom lighting system for my dorm's lofted bed. I completed the PCB design, component soldering, enclosure fabrication, and final installation.

Hardware Engineering: The enclosure was modeled in CAD and 3D printed; I added a laser-cut acrylic window and heat-set inserts to create a housing that is both serviceable and durable. I also created a simple magnetic mounting system to ensure the bed would be undamaged by the LED strip. The mounting system also allows the strip to be reused.
Circuit Design: I adapted a multi-purpose PCB (I originally designed in KiCad for a Blackjack project) by adding a rotary encoder and switches. The power distribution was already robust and capable of driving the 345 LEDs. The system is powered by a 5A 5V barrel power supply.
Software Development: I developed firmware utilizing the FastLED library to manage lighting effects. Implemented logic where a "long press" on the rotary encoder shifts the system into a color temperature control mode, allowing for adjustment between warm and cool lighting temperatures.

Challenges & Constraints: The primary design constraints were physical footprint and cable management; the system needed to be easily accessible and mounted non-destructively while keeping wires hidden. A major technical hurdle was solving the voltage drop across the extended LED strip, which I successfully solved through wiring modifications.

Technologies Used

PCB Design Soldering Fusion C++ 3D Printing

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Reverse Engineering

Analysis and CAD reconstruction of a Blood Pressure Monitor.

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About this project

Project Overview: Collaborated with a team of engineering students to perform a complete reverse engineering analysis of a commercial blood pressure monitor. The project included disassembly, component modeling, functional analysis, and identifying design improvements.

CAD Modeling: Measured and modeled 12 distinct components using SOLIDWORKS.
Simulation & Animation: Utilized SOLIDWORKS Visualize to create a 3D animation demonstrating the pressure measurement system.
Technical Report: Co-authored a 44-page engineering report detailing the system’s operation. The report concluded with a set of proposed design modifications to enhance the device.

Technologies Used

SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS Visualize

Reverse Engineering Report

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Fishtank Transport Device

A dolly-style system designed to safely move aquariums while keeping fish healthy during transport

About this project

Project Problem: College students living in dorms are typically only allowed to keep fish as pets, but there's no practical way to bring a fish tank home for the holidays. No commercial product existed to transport fish tanks safely from indoors to outdoors to a car

Solution: A dolly-style transport device that works similarly to a hand truck — the fish tank is drained, strapped to the base, while the fish ride in a separate heated holding tank.
Operation: Operates with a single adult user and meets principles of Universal Design. Accommodates any off-the-shelf tank up to 10 gallons and folds flat for easy storage in a dorm room or car trunk.
Key design components:
- Aluminum frame: Foldable and adjustable to fit various tank sizes with padded back brace to protect tank during transport
- Heated holding tank: 1.5-gallon acrylic tank with a battery-powered heater, thermistor, LCD display, and pendulum mechanism to stay level on stairs
- Stair-climber wheels: Triple-wheel rear casters made of solid rubber on stainless steel — rotate to climb steps and curbs without lifting
- Adjustable handle: Hollow aluminum bar adjustable from 35 to 44 inches with knerled grip and two-button safety lock; folds inward for storage
- Tank straps: Waterproof synthetic rubber ladder-lock straps — two over the top, one around the side with no tools needed to adjust
- EPDM foam pad: 1/8-inch closed-cell foam base absorbs vibrations and grips the tank securing it

By the numbers

Total weight: 38.2 lbs
Push force on a ramp: 5.5 lbs
Battery life (extreme cold): 4+ hrs
Max tank size: 10 gal

Strengths & limitations

Strengths
- Folds flat — no tools needed
- Works on stairs and ramps
- 10+ hour battery in normal tempatures
- Fits through any standard door
- Adapts to any tank up to 10 gal
Limitations
- High upfront cost (~$140+ for holding tank alone)
- Moisture risk near electronics
- Draining the tank is extra work
- Holding tank is relatively small (1.5 gal)

Fishtank Report

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32x32 LED Wallart display

A custom wall-mounted LED matrix built around WLED software.

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About this project

Project goal: Create a customizable LED display that could serve as a room decoration with physical controls.

Design: The display uses a four 16x16 matrices arranged in a 32x32 grid, with a custom 3D-printed enclosure and a control box. The control box contains the ESP32 microcontroller, 128x64 OLED display, and rotary encoder. The LEDs are shelded from each other by a 3d printed grid that gives the display its pixelated look. The enclosure is held together with M3 screws and heated inserts sandwiching the components together as seen in the second main slide.
Software: WLED is the brain of the display. It allows the ESP32 to control all the LEDs with hundreds of pre-built animations and effects, and a web interface for configuration.

Project Highlights

Display size: 32x32 LED Matrix
Software: WLED-based animation control
Hardware: ESP32 microcontroller, 5V - 5A power supply, 4 - 16x16 LED Matrix WS2812B with 1048 LEDs total, 128x64 OLED display

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The Lawn Clipper

A Boost and Fuzz guitar pedal.

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Audio Demo Selector

Pick a mode and listen to the Lawn Clipper demo tones.

Currently playing: Clean

About this project

Project Overview: The Lawn Clipper is the combination of an Electro Harmonix LPB-1 Boost and Electro Harmonix Muff Fuzz, Transistor Version with some notable changes.

Circuit Changes: The LPB-1 circuit was modified with a 1kΩ Potentiometer to change the gain, and the Muff Fuzz circuit was modified to alow the selection of 3 types of diodes for clipping hence the name "The Lawn Clipper" These being Red LEDs (chosen for their lower forward voltage than green or blue), 1N4007, and BAT46 diodes. Along with a switch to turn off the diodes entirely. Both circuits were found on beavisaudio.com/schematics. For a more detailed explanations, see bottom of page.
Enclosure: The enclosure is a 1590BB sized box from stompboxparts.com powder coated white. The graphics and text are printed vinyl stickers.
Build Process: The PCB was designed by me using KiCad and produced by PCBway with 2 layers and black silkscreen printing. The board was hand-soldered using through-hole components. The enclosure was also drilled by me.

Pedal settings in demo audio

Scope view for the selected tone (440hz 200mV)

Technologies Used

PCB Design
Analogue Circuit Design
Soldering
Enclosure Fabrication

Cost Breakdown

Part / Category	Cost
Custom PCB Fabrication	$2.25
Enclosure & Hardware	$18.50
Potentiometers & Switches	$17.75
Audio Jacks & Power Connector	$8.00
Circuit Components (Resistors, Caps, Diodes, Transistors)	$5.00
Total Cost	$56.50

Fuzz Circuit

The circuit runs on +9V DC power, as most guitar pedals do. C4 filters any noise from the power supply, making sure it runs quietly. On the input at J2, there is a pull-down resistor, R6, to prevent a popping sound when pressing the foot switch to activate the Fuzz. C5 is a coupling capacitor and blocks any DC voltage from entering the pedal, while allowing the AC signal from the guitar to enter. The signal then runs into the base of Q2, a 1N5088, chosen for its high current gain with low noise. This is the first stage of amplification. R7 and R8 set the operating voltage for Q2, also known as the bias. The signal then runs into the base of Q3, the second stage of amplification, with feedback. R9 creates the feedback loop between Q2 and Q3. The fuzz gain is set through a B1K potentiometer; as the potentiometer is turned, the amount of signal sent to ground increases, causing the current from the base to the emitter to increase. C7 makes sure there is no scratching sound when moving the potentiometer. The fuzz bias allows the user to change the voltage going to Q3 to change the fuzz's character. Next is the clipping section. The Diode Switch (SW1) allows the user to turn the clipping diodes on and off completely. The Diode Selector (SW2) selects between the 3 sets of diodes (LED, 4007, BAT41, later changed to BAT46). These diodes create the fuzz sound by clipping the top and bottom of the signal. As the signal passes through a set of diodes, the diode will only let the signal pass once it reaches the forward voltage of that specific diode; when it reaches this voltage, the signal is dumped to ground, making the top of the wave flat and causing the fuzzy sound. The final potentiometer controls the volume.

Boost Circuit Details

The boost works in a very similar way to the first stage of amplification in the fuzz. R1 is a pull-down resistor that prevents a popping sound when the foot switch is pressed to activate the circuit. C1 serves the same purpose as in the fuzz (preventing DC current from damaging the components). The signal enters the base of Q1, is amplified, and is sent to the output through a volume control potentiometer.

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Volca Rack

A simple 3D printed rack for two Korg Volcas and a line mixer

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About this project

Designed in SolidWorks, the rack holds two Korg Volcas and a line mixer. The line mixer is attached with 2-M3 screws. The side cutout alows the cables running to and from the mixer to be hidden.

Technologies Used

SOLIDWORKS
3D Printing