Jake Bilyk
Digital greetings! Thank you for visiting my personal website. Here I wish to share my skillset, passions, goals, and ways I live my life.
Resume
Projects: Professional and Personal
3D Printing
I started on a Creality Ender-3 Pro alongside Fusion360 back in 2021. I have created some useful inventions for around the house and in the laboratory. Then, I had the honor to design and print for hundreds of hours on a Bambu X1 Carbon at my previous job. I am a big fan of open-source equipment but I have to admit that it was a pleasure to be able to walk away after starting a print knowing success was near guaranteed. Now I run an Ender-6 at home and design in SolidWorks.
Programming
I believe all formal STEM Education should have a stronger focus on programming. My journey past Excel began with making small adjustments to MATLAB control scripts in 2018 and then writing scripts in MATLAB and Python for my Materials Engineering coursework and personal research. I have compiled my own Marlin firmware for my 3D printer and have written a few small programs in C and Python. Now, I definitely use AI services to speed up my work but I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to code some solid projects before the birth of consumer AI. My literacy in programming allowed me to implempent some serious IoT full-stack projects at NELHA that reduced labor and permitted GMP alerts / tracking. Go see my GitHub for more and future contributions!
DIY Auto
With help from friends I have cared for all my vehicles during their lifetimes. I can only hope my first car (Chelsea) is still running great somewhere in California after intermediate repairs such as a new thermostat housing, fresh calipers, and throttle body. I also brought an old 1996 convertible (The Hot Tamale) back to a legal functioning life by replacing the valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, rear drums, front brakes, and faulty electrical. Someone is still enjoying this during the Minnesota summers. Now I drive a beastly little Ford Focus (Lil Blue) approaching a quarter million miles here in Hawaii. I also ride motorcycle, a Kawasaki KLX 300 named Rambi.
Examples of Facilities Work
Old School Autoclaves
It was an honor keeping this stubborn piece of Polish manufacturing alive so that my coworkers could keep their lab supplies sterile. Turns out procuring commerical equipment from eBay can work out if you're not afraid of diving into old technical documents and in-situ troubleshooting with the proper PPE.
Centrifuges
Processing algae down at NELHA called for new afforadable adventures. Even if the installation instructions aren't available and the application isn't straight forward, giving up is not an option!
Custom Plumbing and Printing
When older inventions get baked in the sun, sometimes you have to work the extra hours and come up with a new solution. This was my rapid response to a dewatering issue our team faced. Not perfect by any means, but it worked in a pinch! Some threaded rods, gaskets, CAD and ABS filament leads to desired water levels. That Bambu printed FPT threads!
Compressed Gas
When the boss says affordability comes with scale, you scale. Here is an example of an upgraded compressed gas system we installed to cut the cost of our supply. I really enjoy solving problems at my desk but not afraid to dig trenches in lava rock either.
Motor Controllers & VFDs
Under the guidance of our lead engineer I was able to install, troubleshoot, and program some serious hardware for up to 10HP regenerative blowers.
Heliostat Array
This was a novel project i consulted on down at NELHA. Solar-thermal-rotomolding
Optics
This project is what really started my engineering journey. As an optics technician I was able to help our team repair the best ground telescope in the world.
Connect with me
I have been off all forms of social media for a couple years now including LinkedIn more recently. I will be developing my website incrementally to make sure my online presence stays relevant. If you need to reach me please email me at LastnameFirstname@gmail.com (wink wink). Social timeline page coming soon!