Benchoff Design Portfolio

Hardware, Embedded Systems & Strange Projects

I design, build, and reverse-engineer hardware, embedded systems, and unconventional tech. My work spans low-level firmware, PCB design, industrial design, and creative problem-solving—whether that’s modernizing a 1970s electric car, designing a $15 Linux handheld, or reverse-engineering legacy consumer electronics.

🛠 What I Do Best:
✔ Embedded Systems (RP2040, STM32, AVR, Linux SBCs)
✔ Hardware & PCB Design (High-Speed, CAN Bus, DAQ, Power Systems)
✔ Industrial Design & Manufacturing (3D Printing, CNC, Injection Molding)
✔ Reverse Engineering & Hacking (Legacy Hardware, Retrocomputing, UI/UX)

🆕 Latest Work

Babelscope

Bablescope: Finding algorithms in random data with CUDA

Last updated on July 07, 2025
Finite Atari Machine

Discovering Atari Games in Randomly Generated Data

Last updated on June 09, 2025
Reverse Engineering the NVIDIA SXM2 Socket

Detailed guide on reverse engineering NVIDIA's SXM2 socket, including complete pinout, schematics, and PCB design for a PCIe adapter

Last updated on June 03, 2025

📌 Featured Projects

🕵️ Reverse Engineering

🔹Reverse Engineering Nvidia’s SXM2 Socket – Because I had to do it for another project
🔹Copying 20 year old USB devices – When you can only find one on eBay

💻 Coding Projects

🔹Babelscope – A massively parallel emulation framework that found absolutely nothing
🔹Finding Atari Games in Randomly Generated Data – 30 billion ROM files and only one broken game
🔹A port of Mbed-TLS for the Classic Macintosh OS 7/8/9 – SSL/TLS for something that was never meant to have it
🔹Embedded SSL and GZIP – Because you don’t need to run everything in Linux

🚗 Restoring & Modernizing a 1970s EV

🔹 The Citicar Restoration – Bringing a vintage electric car back to life
🔹 Car CAN Bus Conversion – Replacing all relays & analog systems with a CAN-based network

💻 Embedded & Open Hardware

🔹 The $15 Linux Machine – A fully functional Linux handheld for under $15
🔹 Isolated Thermocouple Reader – A low-cost alternative to a $2,000 industrial module

🔬 Reverse Engineering & Retro Tech

🔹 BaudBox: A 256-Key ASCII Keyboard – A serial input device for manual debugging & obscure ASCII characters
🔹 Rebuilding a Zip Drive Tower – Stacking fifteen ATAPI Zip-100 drives into a USB RAID array

🎨 Industrial & UI/UX Design

🔹 Custom Silicone Keyboards – Designing low-cost, high-durability keyboards
🔹 Full-Color Circuit Boards – Experimental multi-color PCBs beyond standard manufacturing
🔹 Portable Dumb Terminal – A VT100-style ANSI terminal in a pocket-sized form factor

📄 About Me & Work

I specialize in building functional, practical, and sometimes ridiculous hardware. My goal is to design great products, solve difficult engineering challenges, and push the boundaries of low-cost, hackable, and open-source hardware.

📝 Download My Resume

🔗 GitHub

✉ Email Me

🥑 Linkedin

⚡ Want to Work Together?

I’m open to collaborations, consulting, and full-time roles in:
🔹 Embedded Systems & Hardware Engineering
🔹 Industrial Design & Product Development
🔹 Automotive and EV

💬 Let’s Talk → Email Me