Growing up with my identical twin brother, we were constantly building projects, and learning as we went. We built a wood boat by ourselves at age 10, and it actually worked.  We were constantly working on a go-kart together, starting with a 5hp one and upgrading motors for more speed and power. The final motor was a 440cc snowmobile motor.

During high school, while taking as many math and science classes, I also took the vocational level welding and automotive shop classes. This started my working knowledge of welding, acetylene gas welding, brazing, arc welding, and MIG welding, thanks Mr. Haaland! Later I picked up the skills for TIG welding. The automotive class dug into the details of rebuilding an engine from start to finish, thanks Mr. Sabel! and I have rebuilt multiple engines since.

After completing high school, I enrolled in college. During college, I got involved with the Formula SAE series which is a competition to build a mini-formula car to compete in a college-only competition for static events and dynamic events. I also completed several summer internships at a company to gain design experience, as well as a co-op experience for a summer and semester. It was during this that I received my first patent for work at that company.

After completing college and graduating with a Bachelor Science and a minor in Business and Math, I started work at another company. During my time with this company, the college I attended asked me to work part-time for them teaching an Intro to Mechanical Design class and also advise their Formula SAE team. I did that for 3.5 years, which at that point my company recruited me to move overseas to their China office (Feb 2011) to lead their Mechanical Design efforts in their Shanghai office. I spent 5.5 years in China, and re-patriated in Aug 2016.  I regularly travel to China on followup visits as well as surrounding countries.

I have a wealth of experience in Design, Manufacturing and Sourcing along with unique experiences of getting things done in Asia.

Kent

Enjoy the site, and contact me at kent@kustomsbykent.com if you have any questions.

I also participate on many forums:

www.shopfloortalk.com/forum I’m user kent_323is

www.allmetalshaping.com I’m user kent_323is

www.garagejournal.com/forum I’m user kent_323is

www.heavyequipmentforums.com I’m user kent_323is

As some further background, here’s where it get it from: My Dad!  I wrote this section up as a tribute to him, and also to document his mini-dozer:

Dad’s Dozer (me running it in the picture)

Personal Projects

Here is where I track projects that may be of interest, but are not the focus of Kustoms by Kent:

Vehicles

A variety of vehicles that I own and enjoy working on, as well as some that I have bought and sold.

Travel

When we have some downtime as a family, we’ve done some traveling around the world, and have seen some pretty cool stuff.  Check it out here:

Solar Information

Information on Air to Air Solar Panel for shop heating.

Resources

I’ve compiled a list of websites that I reference regularly that I find helpful.  Everything from design, to material specs, welding, vehicle info and more.

Click here to jump to a wealth of information!