Dumb things you own, and never use

[pontiac428]

Here's a tool that I thought I had to have but never used once- Atlas lathe milling attachment. Might be a good idea if I was on a deserted island with only items that could be ordered from the 1940 Atlas Tool catalog or some such craziness and had to build a boat to survive. That hasn't happened either.

 

[WobblyHand]

Mine too, and with only 300 sq ft of floor space I just can't afford to have stuff I don't use.

I know exactly how you feel. Have a similar small area. It's a challenge to use it efficiently. If things don't go back to where they belong it's hard to work there. Really enforces a tidying influence. If ignored, total chaos ensues.

 

[WobblyHand]

When I got it, this has to be more than 10-15 years ago... I did not know about gibs, backslash, etc... nor how to get rid of the play... I was as green as they come... Kid you not... it wasn't until this January that I ran into it when moving stuff around in the garage...

Adjusted everything, changed a few bolts... do not get me wrong, it is still carp, but it is working carp... I have been using it regularly now... I would not try to make a slot with it, but for just drilling stuff, sure, works fine.

I tried some of the improvements that I found online, but the vise remained subpar. Best hope I have for it now is to repurpose the raw material. Of course, I now have to go dumpster diving to get it out of the trash bin. Wished I had thought of the reuse BEFORE I tossed it in the bottom of the bin! Today's task is to retrieve it.

At least it's not raining. We had 3-1/2" of rain in the past two days.

 

[RJSakowski]

I object to the adjective "dumb". There may have been a few minor things in the past that looked like a good idea but didn't work out. They most likely got used once or twice though. There are things that I "inherited" from my ex that I have never used. Mostly stuff from a blacksmith shop. A set of swage blocks comes to mind.

I did buy a 30 ton punch press that I intended to make some progressive dies for to make punched parts for a product that I made. The problem is that there is a lot of effort that goes into making a set of progressive dies and at the volume of production I had, I couldn't justify that amount of effort. So the press sits behind one of my buildings. I did make a rotary phase converter for running the 3 hp motor on it. Sadly, that has never been used either. However, neither are dumb things.

 

[tq60]

We have many, shop is cluttered but when you get rid of it you need it.

One example is we picked up somewhere some time ago a little box shaped thing, a small chassis with a cut board containing 10 small 4P2P relays and thought it could be handy.

Many years go by and cleaning and removing clutter we found it, decided to toss it as we likely had no use for it.

An hour later dug it out and put it on a shelf.

A couple months pass and we stumble on a pump for another project that we needed to control via some relays...ta-da grab the thing.

Removed the logic chips and built an interface to convert 24 vac signals to the transistor input and good to go...

Clutter can be handy but local thrift stores get a box every couple weeks...

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[Janderso]

E-Torx sockets, and power steering pully puller kit

Yeah my auto repair days are over.
I remember that kit.

 

[C-Bag]

This…

View attachment 419450

Funny how one man’s useless is another’s can’t do without. I had literally hundreds of holes to thread and this was my lifesaver. Never broke a tap again. But after I got my UniDrill with its fantastic Z I could do the tapping in the DP so the tapping machine has been idle but it had a good 5yr run.

While I don’t use my big surface plate all the time, I do use my small one every week. And I would never be able to get rid of the 18x24. Gauge blocks are tempting but I know they would probably never get used. While not exactly a precision setup, the HF XY vice was very handy for the DP until the UniDrill came in and I mounted my XY rotary table to it as it could handle the size and Z no problem. Luckily I was able to pass on the HF xy to a fellow H-M member and it’s found a home on one of his 3 DP’s.

 

[ChazzC]

My swivel base has never been used. It is kind of redundant on a CNC mill. Mine isn't sitting on plastic though.

Inside a ZipLock Baggie, lightly oiled and with a ZeRust tab.

 

[WobblyHand]

While not exactly a precision setup, the HF XY vice was very handy for the DP until the UniDrill came in and I mounted my XY rotary table to it as it could handle the size and Z no problem. Luckily I was able to pass on the HF xy to a fellow H-M member and it’s found a home on one of his 3 DP’s.

My HF xy vise was a bit too large for my small DP. It sort of worked, but precision is not one of its attributes. Honestly, it was better than nothing, but not that much better than nothing. The quality and construction is awful. It really is a waste of raw material. Regret wasting my money on it.

Retrieved the sucker from the trash can and felt like the albatross was back. I'll have to cut it up, it just takes up too much room in my small work space. With some luck, I can repurpose the cast iron. If the iron's full of hard crap, going to have to scrap the whole thing. Life is too short to carry this junk around forever.

 

[BGHansen]

Too many things to list. If I started going through stuff in my shop I'd have a more comprehensive list. Here are a few off the top of my head. Naturally, usefulness or uselessness depends on your type of projects:

1) 5" sine bar. I used it once to set an angle for a project in a vise on the mill. The gauge blocks and sine bar are pretty much dust collectors now; I use a protractor or angle gauge blocks.

2) Centering scope. I don't recall the brand of mine, it is not a Skoal. Mine has one line, not a crosshair. For set up, you bring the scope down to 1" from the target and rotate the scope to the left. Move the table so the crosshair line is on the mark. Then turn the spindle so the scope is to the right. If the line is on your mark, you're good side to side. If not, adjust the scope so the crosshair moves half-way and repeat. Once you're dialed-in in X, rotate the scope to the front, and move the table to get your work mark on the crosshair. I typically use a mechanical edge finder with a point to find a center-punched hole. Or, use an SDA laser center edge finder.

3) Indi-Cal DTI attachment for measuring groove depth. I haven't cut any internal snap ring grooves, so haven't used it.

4) I have a quillmaster attachment and the QRA attachment for my BP. They're both still on the same shelf they were in 2019 when I bought them.

5) A set of thread triangles purchased just so I could say I have them. I have digital thread pitch mics which are my "go to's". The triangles and wires will probably never get used. I have 0-1" & 1-2" digitals at each lathe and a vernier-type 2-3" "just in case".

6) Two sets of interchangeable anvil 0-6" mics and a set of 6-12" interchangeable anvil mics. All three are Fowler QLR digitals. I just haven't had a project where a Vernier caliper wasn't "good enough".

Bruce

p.s. Just because I don't use them doesn't mean I'm ready to sell them!