Dominic Panzino

Hello! I use this simple website to showcase some of my projects.
Almost all projects shown here are purely personal projects, done for fun and self-improvement. The few projects done for school or employment are clearly noted.
For more information on any of these projects, or any other reason, I can be contacted at panzinodominic@gmail.com

Last Updated: March, 2024

Larger-Scale Projects

AUV Buoyancy-Control System: (Fall 2021-Spring 2022)* I developed a buoyancy-control system while serving as the Project Manager of the DOUG LE-1000 autonomous underwater vehicle project at MIT.	Barn/Warehouse Construction: (Fall 2020-Spring 2021) Construction of a barn for storage.	Sawmill Shelter Construction: (Summer 2020) Construction of a shelter over the sawmill to protect it from the elements.
Player Piano MIDI Upgrade: (Fall & Winter 2019) Modifying an 1910s-era pnumatic player piano to be able to also be played by a computer via MIDI file.	Refurbishing a 1948 Farquhar Sawmill: (2016-2017) A 60" circular sawmill. Salvaged after being abandoned in a collapsed building and rebuilt.	Babbage (Summer 2022) A secret project
High Vacuum Shenanigans (Spring 2024) Putting together a chamber and doing my own vapor deposition, etc.

Tools and Machines

Abrasive Ejector Pin Saw: (Fall 2021)* Made a miniature abrasive cutoff saw with a simple jig for trimming ejector pins to exact lengths	Building a Touch Probe: (Summer 2020) Making my own contact probe for a CMM or for our CNC machine.	Turbomolecular Pump: (Spring 2020) Designing and making a turbomolecular pump to obtain extremely low vaccuums for future projects.
Manual Tool Setter: (Winter 2019-2020) Building a setup to hold a dial test indicator for setting Z-offsets on old CNC machines.	Turbo Spindle MkI: (Summer 2018) A small air turbine designed for high-RPM tools like carbide burs.	Peerless Watchmaking Lathe Rebuild: (Winter 2016-2017) I add a carriage, cross-slide, toolpost, leadscrews, and dials to an old watchmaking lathe.
Autocollimator: (Fall 2022) Attempting to build a high-precision instrument with 3D-printing.	Floating Tap Holder: (Summer 2020) I machined a floating tap holder so I could run tapping cycles on our Hermle CNC Milling Machine	High-Speed Camera Sound Trigger: (Spring 2024) Developing a streamlined tool that triggers my high-speed camera with a loud noise.
Sawdust Pellet Press: (Winter 2021-2022) I built a machine that compresses sawdust into pellets that can be burned.	Hermle/Heidenhain DNC System: (2020) One of the only software projects here: I made a program to improve usability of our CNC machine, and make getting programs on the machine much easier.	(Wire) EDM Machine: (2022-2023) I did some work starting to develop my own wire EDM machine.
Building a Rotary Broach holder: (Winter 2019-2020) Building a rotary broach holder and broaches.	Insert Endmill (Summer 2020) Making my own endmill that uses carbide inserts.

Firearms

Flapper-locked Pistol: (Summer 2021) An attempted flapper-locked pistol in 9mm Luger, modeled on the Mauser 06/08.	BF-762: (Spring 2020-WIP) A belt-fed, toggle-locked, gas-operated, semi-auto LMG in 7.62x39mm.	TC45: (Summer 2019) A toggle-delayed blowback .45ACP carbine modeled on the Thompson submachine gun.
C32: (Fall 2018) A .32ACP, blowback-operated, semi-automatic pistol modeled on the Mauser C96.	The Rolling Block: (Summer 2017) A multi-caliber weapon platform, using the eponymous Remington Rolling Block action.	W22: (Spring 2017) A .22LR single-action 6-shot top-break revolver modeled on the Webley Mk VI.
Z1: (Fall 2016) My first firearm, a 12ga. O/U double-barrel, tilting-block shotgun.	"Antique" 3x Rifle Scope: (Spring 2017) A 3x magnification rifle scope designed to mimic early designs' appearence.	Parkerizing Tank: (Summer 2019) A stainless steel tank and heaters for phosphate conversion coating of steel parts.

Small projects

Hermle CAT-40 and NMTB-40 Pull Studs (Summer 2020) Making my own pull studs for our Hermle to use with CAT-40 and NMTB-40 tool holders	Hermle Monitor Conversion Circuit (Spring 2020) Making a circuit to convert Hermle's proprietary CRT signals into standard VGA signals for use with a standard computer monitor.	Hard-piped Keurig Coffee Maker (c. 2016?) I got sick of refilling the water for our coffee machine, so I tap into the house water supply.
Mead Brewing: (Fall 2019) Making wine from honey in the comfort of my dorm room.	Gyroscope and Gimbals: (Fall 2016) A cute gyroscope and gimbal set built as fun toy.

*Project was done for an employer
**Project was done as part of coursework at MIT