Z 000.0 mm · LAYER 001
Drawn byDavid Kolšek CheckedDK Scale1 : 1 Sheet1 / 1 Rev2026-B TitlePORTFOLIO — GENERAL ARRANGEMENT · PRINT COMPLETE ✓
Contact

Let's build something real

Open to research collaboration, fabrication projects, and conversations about making composite printing cheap enough to matter.

dk11573@student.uni-lj.si
Toolchain

What I work with

01

Mechanical engineering

CAD · FEM analysis · mechanics of materials · technical documentation (LaTeX)

02

Additive manufacturing

FDM · resin · LDF composites · clay extrusion · direct G-code · slicer profiling

03

Subtractive manufacturing

CNC milling · manual milling · lathe · CO2 laser cutting

04

Programming

Python · JavaScript/TypeScript · embedded C++ · G-code

05

Web & graphics

Vanilla JS · Three.js · Astro · WebXR · Canvas · WebRTC

06

Embedded & vision

Raspberry Pi · Seeed XIAO · OpenCV · ArUco tracking · segmentation

SECTION D–D · TOOLCHAIN
Workshop

Atoms, not just bits

Beyond the software, there are hundreds of hands-on engineering projects — repairing and remanufacturing functional parts for fun and for the challenge of it. A broken bracket becomes a CAD model, then a machined or printed replacement that outlives the original.

100sparts repaired & remade
5fabrication processes
24board games remade
8live websites

CNC · mill · lathe

Functional metal and plastic parts: repairs, replacements and one-offs machined to fit — CNC milling, manual milling and turning.

FDM & resin printing

Daily driver for prototypes, board game remakes, research specimens and end-use parts — from stock PLA to carbon-fiber LDF feedstock.

Clay / paste extrusion

Delta WASP 40100 workflows with custom parametric G-code — vessels designed in code, not in a slicer.

CO2 laser cutting

Wood and acrylic game boards, enclosures, and engraved QR codes that link physical objects to their documentation.

Electronics

Custom PCBs, embedded firmware, sensors — from a capacitive synth keyboard to a Raspberry Pi vision system on a sailboat.

SECTION C–C · FABRICATION
Projects

Built, shipped, and running — live previews below

P-01

Clay Studio

PARAMETRIC G-CODE · DELTA WASP 40100

Browser-based direct G-code generator for clay 3D printing. Design vases from stacked cross-sections, add weaves, twists and corrugation, preview the toolpath live, export print-ready G-code.

Vanilla JSG-codeCeramicsJupyter
P-02

TileGroove

TANGIBLE INSTRUMENT · CAMERA-TRACKED

Open-source take on the Mash Machine: a phone under a transparent surface watches 3D-printed ArUco tiles; placing, sliding and twisting them plays and shapes beat-synced loops.

ArUco CVTone.jsWeb Workers3D printing
P-03

ScalePrint AR

AUGMENTED REALITY · 3D PRINT PREVIEW

Local-first, true-scale AR preview of 3D-print files. Load STL/OBJ/3MF/GLB, fix units, and place the part on your desk at real size via marker or markerless WebXR — before you burn ten hours of printer time.

WebXRAR.jsmodel-viewerThree.js
P-04

DK Board Game Rules

BILINGUAL ARCHIVE · QR-LINKED

I remake classic board games with 3D printing, laser cutting and CNC milling — each one carries a permanent QR code to its rules page. 24 games, original SVG diagrams, Slovenian and English.

AstroSVGi18nFabrication
P-05

Nightona US&A

3D GAME · THREE.JS

An original lightweight 3D arcade stock-car racer. Sampled closed-loop centerline drives road generation, banking, AI movement and race progress. Runs anywhere a static host runs.

TypeScriptThree.jsViteGame AI
P-06

Ljubljana Tourist Bulletin

AUTOMATED PIPELINE · DAILY

A daily self-generating tourist bulletin for Ljubljana: scrapes events and weather, composes practical visitor notices, and publishes a static page with a QR link for mobile — no hands required.

PythonScrapingAutomationStatic gen
P-07

DK Lab

TOOL COLLECTION · 8 APPS

Eight self-contained browser projects: a mobile sensor toolkit, WebRTC chess and Battleships, Cyrillic and Slavic-language learning aids, an audio-reactive strobe, a clay printing reference, and a choir score archive.

Vanilla JSWebRTCPWANo build step
P-08

Triviador

QUIZ PLATFORM · STATIC

A trivia quiz platform with a scripted question-bank build pipeline and synced sub-quizzes — fully static, so a whole pub quiz runs off a free static host.

JavaScriptStatic genQuiz
P-09

XIANO

HARDWARE SYNTH · PCB + FIRMWARE

A stylophone-style synthesizer built around the Seeed XIAO: custom capacitive-keyboard PCB, firmware, and a fabricated enclosure. Electronics, code and mechanical design under one roof.

PCB designEmbedded C++Seeed XIAOAudio
P-10

Marine Aid

COMPUTER VISION · SAFETY AID

Low-cost daytime obstacle alarm for an 11 m cruiser sailboat. A single forward camera on a Raspberry Pi runs maritime segmentation, tracks obstacle blobs, scores threats in the image plane, and raises the alarm.

PythonRaspberry PiSegmentationEdge ML
SECTION B–B · PROJECTS
Research

Long-fiber composites, printed on machines everyone can afford

My doctoral research (2025–2028) tackles long discontinuous fiber (LDF) composites for fused filament fabrication — getting a meaningful share of continuous-fiber mechanical performance out of standard FFF hardware and carbon-fiber/PLA feedstock, instead of the proprietary machines that dominate the field.

The economics are the point: LDF feedstock is 15–25× cheaper than commercial composite filament and up to 60× cheaper on the matrix side. That cost gap turns composite printing from a per-part luxury into something you can run large experimental campaigns — and eventually real production — on.

The work spans fiber preparation and wet sieving, filament compounding, large-nozzle extrusion (ø1.0–1.5 mm), critical fiber length modelling, and mechanical characterisation of printed specimens.

// research_spec

PROGRAM
PhD, Mech. Eng.
INSTITUTION
University of Ljubljana
TIMELINE
2025 → 2028
PROCESS
LDF-FFF
MATERIAL
CF/PLA, 5–20 wt.%
NOZZLE
ø1.0–1.5 mm
COST EDGE
15–60× vs. commercial
SECTION A–A · RESEARCH
Ljubljana, Slovenia · 46.05° N, 14.51° E

David Kolšek

Mechanical engineer & digital fabricator.
I print composites that shouldn't be printable.

NOW · PhD candidate, UL Faculty of Mechanical Engineering FIELD · Fiber-reinforced additive manufacturing
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