About Michael Kafarowski

Hi! I’m Michael Kafarowski. I have a passion for exploring new skills and ideas. I love taking things apart, learning how things work, and building and sharing new things. I strive to always improve my technical, non-technical and interpersonal skills.

In June 2023 I joined the New Product Engineering department of Crystal Fountains Inc. Crystal Fountains is an international leader in the innovation, design, and manufacturing of architectural water features. In my role as an embedded electronics and firmware developer I focus primarily on show sequencing products, such as LED lights, motors, and DMX equipment. My typical day includes circuit and PCB design with Altium Designer, writing firmware for Atmel and PIC platforms in C/C++ and Assembly, and working closely with other departments to support development and production. I’ve also had the opportunity to travel on-site to Finland, Spain and the U.S.A. to provide electrical and electronics support during the commissioning of new fountains.

Between 2019 and 2023 I worked as an embedded electronics and software designer at World Star Technologies, a laser solutions company in Markham Ontario. Here I helped develop next-generation laser systems. I had the opportunity to explore many different aspects of product design. My day-to-day activities included electronics design and PCB layout with KiCAD, embedded development in C/C++ for the STM32 and MSP430 platforms, and design of mechanical prototypes with Fusion 360. My activities also extended beyond engineering into areas such as advertisement copywriting, video editing, web development, and more. I’m proud of the team leadership that I expressed through the development and implementation of processes that made our engineering operations more smooth and scalable. Working at World Star Tech challenged me to always be agile, organized and versatile in order to quickly learn and adapt to new tasks, technologies and approaches.

In 2019, I graduated from the Mechatronics Engineering program at the University of Waterloo. While at Waterloo I worked on projects such as an underwater ROV with a telemetry-link controller, a precision LVDT instrument, and a modular smart granola snack making machine. I also had the pleasure of interning at Metrolinx in Signals, Toronto Transit Commission in Automatic Train Control, Agfa-Gevaert in Hardware Design, and as a new product designer at Metalumen Manufacturing.

I am a licensed radio amateur, callsign VA3FMK. You can sometimes find me on 70cm and 2m repeaters in the GTA. I also regularly monitor 446.000 MHz or 146.520 MHz FM simplex calling frequencies. I use a Yaesu VX-6R 5W handheld with either a dual-band Signal Stick antenna or a “slim jim” roll-up antenna made from balanced ladder line.

Recently I’ve reignited my old hobby of racing slot cars! I’m developing an intelligent lighting control circuit for slot cars called LumiRace - read more about it here. I also recently painted my first car model, which was a great experience that will soon be captured in article form here.

Coffee is more than just a source of caffeine to me. I love experimenting with different brewing methods and dialing in my espresso machine. I use a Gaggia Classic Evo Pro paired with a 1ZPresso JX-Pro S grinder. My favorite beans are Steampunk Espresso and MC Decaf from my local coffee roaster Velvet Sunrise. Although I mainly enjoy italian-style coffee, I still enjoy a good Double-Double every now and then, eh!