Printing the Dream
This story by Patricia Koning originally appeared in the July 2024 edition of SpotLight, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory publication.
When Jeremy Dixon decided his jet ski needed a sponson, a feature to add stability, he didn’t look for it in a store. Instead, he performed a 3D scan of his watercraft, then designed and 3D printed the part at home. Then, he made more for his friends.
Dixon, a NIF Controls Engineering & Maintenance group leader, is passionate about power sports, engineering, and learning. Every year, he takes on a new hobby or challenging project, like building a hovercraft, a dirt bike, a four-wheel vehicle, or embroidery. But delving into 3D printing a few years ago opened a gateway for this self-made maker.
“I design and produce the things I need,” he says. “I see a need and solve it.”
When he camps, which often involves jet skiing or dirt biking, Dixon brings a laptop and portable 3D printer so he can produce replacement parts, upgrades, or tools on the fly.
He’s currently designing a gauge cluster for his jet ski—a component that can’t be purchased. This involves integrating a microcontroller, touchscreen, and GPS receiver to display speed and location data, as well as adding sensors to monitor the engine’s health and 3D printing housings for the electronics.
“The cool thing about controls engineering is that we touch just about every corner and system in the National Ignition Facility. This is regarded as one of the largest and most complex control systems in the world. The scale is mind-boggling and an amazing engineering achievement.”—Jeremy Dixon, NIF Controls Engineering & Maintenance group leader
Born to Engineer
As a child, Dixon disassembled his toys rather than playing with them.
“My friend’s parents always knew I’d been at their house because I’d leave a trail of parts,” Dixon says. “I wanted to understand how the thing worked.”
His formal introduction to engineering came in high school, when his school started a new computer-integrated manufacturing lab. He could often be found in the lab after hours or during summer breaks. By the time he graduated, Dixon was maintaining the lab’s equipment, helping to create curriculum and mentoring other students.
He also rode his first jet ski around this time and was instantly hooked. Five years later, he was winning competitions. Jet ski racing is similar to supercross or snowboard cross—a challenging course with sharp turns and tightly packed competitors jockeying for space and position.
“You start with upwards of 18 racers standing next to their skis on the shore,” Dixon says. “At the start, everyone jumps on and heads for the first turn. It’s a jumble. Racers are often thrown off their skis in rough water and occasionally collide. It can get pretty rough. You’re on these machines that are producing more than 200 horsepower, accelerate from 0 to 60 in under three seconds, reach speeds of 75 miles per hour, and don’t have brakes.”
Dixon eventually won the Northern California regional title and finished 12th at the 2008 International Jet Ski Boating Association World Finals. An injury and the pandemic paused his competitions, but he’s recently returned to the sport.
While he was racing up the ranks of competitive jet skiing, Dixon was also mastering the craft of engineering. After high school, he worked as an engineer for a company that built and designed ancillary devices for printing presses. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from California State University, Sacramento.
Passion for Controls Engineering
In 2014, Dixon joined LLNL as a controls hardware engineer in the NIF&PS Directorate. He’s now the NIF Controls Engineering & Maintenance group leader.
When LLNL achieved fusion ignition on NIF in December 2022, a new goal emerged. As an engineer both on and off the job, with his keen personal passion of developing technologies, especially 3D printing, Dixon challenged himself to 3D print a 10-inch-wide model of the NIF Target Chamber, including beamlines, the target positioner, and diagnostics, to display the current fusion record. This project kept the print farm in his small kitchen going nonstop for weeks.
This was more than just another technical challenge—it also stemmed from Dixon’s pride in working at NIF.
“Achieving and then repeating ignition—a Wright Brothers moment that redefines what the future of our world will look like—it’s just incredible,” he says. “I plan to support the mission until, and probably after, I retire.”
NIF’s controls engineering team manages more than 60,000 control points responsible for operating the laser system. With more than 2 million operations needed to execute a single shot, most of these systems are automated.
This includes alignment of the 192 laser beams, target and diagnostic positioners, thousands of sensors and diagnostics, generation and amplification of the laser, safety systems, and utilities to support the environment necessary for ignition, among many other systems.
“The cool thing about controls engineering is that we touch just about every corner and system in the facility,” Dixon says. “This is regarded as one of the largest and most complex control systems in the world. The scale is mind-boggling and an amazing engineering achievement.”
As for his 2024 project, he’s set his sights on a 20-inch-wide scale model of the NIF Target Chamber with moveable positioners and diagnostics. He plans to demonstrate an automated shot cycle in the model—controls engineering on a small scale.
“Having the ability to use my passions to highlight our amazing achievements and bring excitement to our facility while building upon and expanding my skill sets is my greatest sense of fulfillment,” Dixon says.
—Patricia Koning
