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Eli Lewis

Portfolio · 2026

Eli Lewis

Manufacturing & Design Engineering student, Northwestern ’29

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Studying
B.S. Manufacturing & Design Engineering (MaDE), Northwestern · Expected 2029
Now
Shop Trainer, Northwestern University — Segal Prototyping & Fabrication Lab
Also
Continuous improvement intern, Ely Tool (summer 2026) · Sole inventor, US 2025/0368466 A1

Range · 10 projects

05 projects

Selected work

Full index
  1. Close-ups, wheelchair to switch: rubber-lined clamp, ball-joint stack, foam clamp assembly, foam pad
    01

    Engineering · 2026 · Team

    PressAble: an adjustable, shock-absorbing switch mount

    A low-cost highly-adjustable upgrade for a school's existing gooseneck switch mounts: quick, fine adjustment from two ball joints, and a foam buffer that absorbs hits from any direction.

    Result0 mm platform movement in a 60-second tapping test, final design about $36 in parts per mount

    View project
  2. Final plan for the main floor, modeled to scale in SketchUp. I discussed with the lead engineer to establish large moves and location for the new CNC machine (large upper left profile). I worked out everything in between--exact orientation, storage cabinets, worktables, manual machines. Colors: green = in final position, orange = planned, not yet moved, red = remove, purple = review, brown = work surface, yellow = keep contents. Large shaded margins = space needed to service a machine; white circles = 12, 8 and 5 ft gauges for checking the new hallway widths.
    02

    Manufacturing & shop · 2026 · Team

    Shop floor relayout without a shutdown

    Ely Tool: 5S layout planned in SketchUp and sequenced so a working custom-tooling shop never closed

    Result~$5,000 estimated shutdown labor avoided, 400+ square feet of floor space made available

    View project
  3. The finished plane
    03

    Design & craft · 2025 · Solo

    Wooden Krenov-style hand plane

    Krenov-style oak smoothing plane, sole flat to ±0.001 in, built under a professional woodworker's guidance

    ResultConsistent shavings of ~.001 - .003 in

    View project
  4. Fig. 2 — isometric, roll side
    04

    Engineering · 2024 · Solo

    Handheld tape dispenser, patent pending

    A 3D-printed, one-piece dispenser that tears tape on a downward pull, with no metal blade.

    ResultAbout $0.20 in material per dispenser

    View project
  5. Finished handheld: GameCube-style controls around the built-in screen
    05

    Electronics · 2023 · Solo

    Wii Console to Portable Handheld Conversion

    Micro-soldering, motherboard trimming and 3D-printed enclosure assembly, built to the open-source Ashida design

    Result0.1 mm wire hand-soldered to the motherboard

    View project

About

I'm a manufacturing and design engineering student who has spent the last few years in shops: restoring machines, teaching kids to build, and most recently re-planning a custom-tooling shop floor and training students on mills and lathes. I like problems where the answer has to survive contact with real users, real tolerances and a real budget.

More about me