How it Started

 Northeast Dynamics started during my freshman year of college as a half-joke between me and my friend (and now business partner), Michael Benjamin. 

We both own BMWs and spend way too much time modifying them. One day Michael bought a set of carbon fiber paddle shifters from a well-known aftermarket company. The paddles looked good — until the 3D printed plastic adapters snapped. What followed was months of some of the worst customer service I’ve ever seen. 

At some point we joked: “We could probably do this better.” 

Unfortunately, I took that seriously. 

After watching a few Easy Composites videos online, I became wildly overconfident and decided I would simply… manufacture high-quality carbon fiber paddle shifters myself. Compression molding. With resin molds. Made using SLA 3D printing. 

I knew absolutely nothing. But that didn’t stop me. 

CAD, Resin Printers, and Extremely Bad Ideas 
 
I started designing paddle geometries that didn’t exist on the market — fully curved paddles that followed the natural shape of your hand on the steering wheel and flowed visually with the interior. 

Night after night, I iterated designs and printed mold revisions at the Rochester Makerspace (thankfully open 24/7). I learned very quickly that SLA printers are amazing at surface detail and absolutely terrible at dimensional stability. 

Flat surfaces weren’t flat. Compression faces warped. Mold halves didn’t seal. I filled gaps with filleting wax and convinced myself this was normal. 

At one point I made a carbon fiber emblem disc that actually came out of the mold and looked incredible — until I realized I had to break the mold to remove it. 

I was thrilled anyway. It felt like progress. 

Pinholes, Reality, and Learning Manufacturing Principles
 
Once I started producing real paddle parts, reality hit hard. 

No matter what I tried — different epoxies, degassing, clear coats, post-processing — I could not eliminate surface pinholes. I learned (the hard way) that perfect cosmetic carbon parts require: 

In other words: not a Connecticut garage in the summer.
 
By this point, I had built a deep understanding of composite processing and mold design, but also realized that my original “simple compression molding” plan was fundamentally flawed for cosmetic-grade parts.
 

Delrin Molds, CNC, and One Week of Insanity 
 
When RIT finished building the SHED makerspace, I finally had access to real machining equipment — but the Haas CNC mill wouldn’t be operational for another four months. 

So I improvised. 

Right after finals ended, I spent about a week working 14–16 hour days designing molds, learning CAM, and machining compression molds out of Delrin on a large CNC router. I barely slept. I barely ate. I was racing the summer dorm shutdown deadline. 

Delrin seemed perfect: low friction, machinable, decent thermal stability. 

I made dozens of mold sets, packed them into my car, drove home to Connecticut, and immediately started producing parts. 

Thousands of Dollars Later: The Honest Pivot 
 
After another month of testing, I accepted the truth: 

To produce truly sellable curved forged carbon paddles, I would need: 

At that point, the investment required exceeded what made sense for an early-stage student startup.
 
So we pivoted.
 
Instead of trying to brute-force perfect curved paddles, we shifted to flat carbon paddle designs that could be CNC machined by a high-quality supplier in Canada.
 
This allowed us to:
 

 

Adapters, Suppliers, and Actually Shipping Products 
 
While all of this was happening, I was also designing paddle adapter systems. 

BMW paddle geometry varies wildly across generations, so I designed custom adapters for F/G series and E9x platforms. I prototyped them using resin printing, refined tolerances and feel, and eventually had them manufactured in SLS nylon through PCBWay. 

I also sourced magnetic adapter hardware from multiple Chinese suppliers and negotiated pricing and specifications to get the tactile “click” feel we wanted. 

Michael built a professional Shopify storefront, product catalog, and brand identity. We launched with live products and began taking orders. 

For a brief moment, everything was working. 

Tariffs: When Economics Beats Engineering 
 
Then tariffs happened. 

Shortly after our launch, new import tariffs on Chinese components jumped to over 100% for certain categories. Overnight, our cost structure collapsed. 

As a small startup, we didn’t have the capital buffer to: 

So we made the hard decision to pause operations rather than ship compromised products or inflate prices beyond reason.
 
As of January 2026, tariffs have dropped to around 30%. We’re monitoring closely and plan to relaunch once conditions become viable again.
 

What Northeast Dynamics Really Gave Me 
 
Even though Northeast Dynamics is currently paused, it taught me more about real-world engineering and manufacturing than almost any class ever could. 

I learned: 

Most importantly, I learned that building hardware businesses is brutal, humbling, and incredibly rewarding.
 
And I’d do it again without hesitation.
 

Status Note:
 
Northeast Dynamics LLC remains legally active and operationally paused pending improved import conditions. Product relaunch planning is ongoing.