Scrap to useful.

[C-Bag]

From scrap to useful, one man's junk, another man's treasure. Words I've always lived by. I scan CL tools and materials several times a day. My shop is around 40-50% scrap derived. My best score was a 4x8 DIY CNC router frame made out of 80/20 that got saved from the scrap recycler and put on CL. Some of my best stuff has been made out of it.

 

[rgray]

That is creative use of some unusual material. I would have never thought of a piece of a crankshaft.

It's definitely not the easy way. I bandsawed pieces originally but after ruining a blade I switched to abrasive cut off saw.
So after that it's milled to try and make some flats to work with and then ground if I decide to get fancier.
It's the nicest cast iron I've ever machined. I would imagine it's high quality. And maybe the years of being in oil make it pretty much dust free to machine. Still making the very small chips but never seeing the dust in the air thing associated with cast iron machining.

I just can't let them go to scrap. Eventually I want to be able to melt some of it down and recast into ???whatever I need.
If only for a crucible that would swallow a crankshaft, so the cutting wasn't required. A guy can dream but that's not gonna happen at my place.

One of my first uses was the cast iron bearings in my version of the Harold Hall dividing head. The base on that is the DH2 grader bit also.
The worm drive is from a honda window motor.
I know I have more round (lathe worked) crankshaft pieces in use but can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

[rgray]

I thought this thread would be way more popular. I guess I'm in the minority when I build stuff out of scrape.
I built a few of these die holders over the years from a few different materials. Used 1144sp originally, and have made a couple from O-1 and hardened them.
I ended up with a chevy duramax transfer case that was junked out and thought the output shaft would make a cool die holder.
I almost started a thread on this make called "Don't try this at home" as if had it's difficulties.
Drilling the center was pretty straight forward, but drilling the surface was really hard. I tried spot annealing with a torch with no luck almost seemed to make it harder.
Eventually it went into the heat treat oven for annealing. That made it workable and the final finish is glass beaded.
Holds 1" round dies center alignment rod is 9/16 and turned down to 1/2" on the end. The handles clear the lathe ways on my 12x36.
The splines make a good grip for using it without handles on small threads, and alum or brass.

 

[jdedmon91]

I thought this thread would be way more popular. I guess I'm in the minority when I build stuff out of scrape.
I built a few of these die holders over the years from a few different materials. Used 1144sp originally, and have made a couple from O-1 and hardened them.
I ended up with a chevy duramax transfer case that was junked out and thought the output shaft would make a cool die holder.
I almost started a thread on this make called "Don't try this at home" as if had it's difficulties.
Drilling the center was pretty straight forward, but drilling the surface was really hard. I tried spot annealing with a torch with no luck almost seemed to make it harder.
Eventually it went into the heat treat oven for annealing. That made it workable and the final finish is glass beaded.
Holds 1" round dies center alignment rod is 9/16 and turned down to 1/2" on the end. The handles clear the lathe ways on my 12x36.
The splines make a good grip for using it without handles on small threads, and alum or brass.

View attachment 282530View attachment 282531

First of all great job on the tap wrench. I think some of the members of the forum have looked at the title an took the title of this thread literally. In my material stash I have some scrap parts that came from my former employer. Also we make frequent visits to the scrap bins at Metal Supermarket in Charlotte for stock that I can use. Below in the video is some clamps for my mini pallet I made from some brackets that I picked up from a local company.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[MarkM]

Made some alignment pins from some 8 inch bolts from another pump station in demise. Made them for 1/2-13 threads but will work with most anything. Fatter one starts under .250" taper to .400 before before tap drill size then 1/2 inch. All with plenty clearance. Thinner one with the same taper but starts under .200 " then the same from there.

 

[jdedmon91]

I forgot about this project, I have some aluminum rectangle stock that my BIL that was used in some type of electrical work. It was powder coated. This is a R8 collet bracket that I mounted on the wall behind the mill.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[rust rescue]

Retired now but when working had a sign on my toolbox that said: I RECYCLE, ASK FOR DETAILS. Also the title clipped from a magazine article on recycling that read THINGS ARE NEVER THROWN AWAY, JUST PUT IN OTHER PLACES. I am not at all opposed to buying new stock if needed but most of my home projects are "recycled" from scrap material. Keep on repurposing!

 

[jdedmon91]

Retired now but when working had a sign on my toolbox that said: I RECYCLE, ASK FOR DETAILS. Also the title clipped from a magazine article on recycling that read THINGS ARE NEVER THROWN AWAY, JUST PUT IN OTHER PLACES. I am not at all opposed to buying new stock if needed but most of my home projects are "recycled" from scrap material. Keep on repurposing!

I need that sign for the shop


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MarkM]

Some Delrin that came off a Zamboni Conditioner. About three feet long before cut up. A home for my vise and column handles and a place to put my mic and caliper with tooling for the job on the mill without rolling off.

 

[epanzella]

Junkyard scrap to collet closer.