About

I’ve always been interested in all things mechanical - I was just as happy as a kid sitting quietly in my room by myself for hours with my erector sets, building blocks, and imagination as I was playing outside with balls or riding bikes.  I liked taking things apart to see how they work...sometimes I’d put them back together...sometimes I wanted the parts more than the original item...imagination always running wild...always thinking and creating in my mind.

After figuring out (the expensive University way) that Mechanical Engineering wasn’t for me, I have spent my professional career learning for my own knowledge while amazingly still earning paychecks (they’ll PAY you to play with this stuff?!) - welding(not formally trained but I can stick a couple of pieces of metal together), machining (manual and CNC), computer aided drafting packages (3D solid modeling on the computer is another passion of mine), plasma cutting...anything and everything I could about metals and building things made of metal...properties (committing things like densities and tensile strengths to memory)...drill and tap sizes...rules for press fitting components together, just to name a few.  When I felt my jobs were not adding to my knowledge base or skillset any longer, I moved on.  Over time I came to realize that I wasnt enamored with the idea of prescribed work...doing what others wanted to make a dollar...I had my own ideas...I still do.
   
 For a good five years after my wife and I got together during my early 20s, she would have to buy me bulk packs of cheap calculators (because invariably I’d lose them or they’d end up in the wash in my pocket)...I always carried one to plug some numbers in...gear reduction ratios...horsepower and torque outputs...you name it...on the way to the grocery store...at night in bed. 

Fast forward a decade or so, and I’ve built up a small (but to me, nearly complete for my purposes) array of metalworking tools and equipment in my own little shop in the woods near Hyndman, PA.  My wife and I, our four dogs, and three cats found our little piece of heaven last year, and are loving it!

Now my goal is to do what I know and love as close to full time as possible...I wake up sometimes with new ideas for sculptures, new fastening methods to try, or techniques...I go to sleep thinking of new ideas...some have come to me in dreams.  I would continue to build whether or not I could sell my creations...the creative spigot has to stay on...the outlet must remain wide open...it’s my passion and my years of science and knowledge gained all rolled into one...my engineered, interactive metalworking gizmos, creatures, and robots...I build them because I want to see them manifested.  I’m calling my style what I feel it is...Dream Clunk...a bit of a tongue-in-cheek play on Steam Punk, but it also happens to aptly and honestly describe my work.   

I am always open to personalized requests and commissions...if you want something similar to what you’ve seen from me, or something new altogether, let me know and we'll see if we can work something out!

I hope anyone that sees my contraptions...or better yet, gets to play with them...enjoys them even half as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Thanks for reading and welcome to my world.

-Eli (A Few Skroos Loose)