What do you make with your lathe and mill that's not tooling, a jig or fixture, but something that is useful to the average person?

[ThinWoodsman]

Whatchu tryin to say bout us? We aint normal?

Last year, I caught up with a childhood friend out west, and was explaining my new hobby. He asked what a lathe is for, so I said "well, an example of something you could easily make with a lathe is a washer, ..."

I was going to continue with how the washer is made from a steel rod using the lathe, but stopped when I saw the look of confusion on his face.

He said, "The only thing I know that's called a washer is what you put clothes in."

 

[pontiac428]

Asking what a lathe is for is the wrong question. He should have asked why the lathe is called the king of production!

 

[hman]

Love the soap dish idea!!
What a great one1
Just so happens my Son has a Corian sink cutout from a vanity top he just installed in his home that needs to find a use and I think it may just have happened!!
What kind/size of cutter did you use and where can I find one!!
Great gift idea!!
Thanks for the inspiration!

Thanks for your kind words!

The nice thing about using the cutout is that the soap dish will match the color of the rest of the countertop.

The cutters I use:
(1) Ball nose, either ½" or ⅜" diameter, for the matrix of grooves - usually ⅜" deep.
(2) I flatten the tops of the posts with a regular end mill. ½" diameter is a handy size, but just about anything will work. The tops of the posts are cut down to something like 3/16" below the border of the soap dish.
(3) The final step is to soften the edges and corners of the posts with sandpaper. Once I get things going with the CNC, I'll probably try to do this step with a bevel end mill.

Corian is pretty easy and straightforward to cut. I check that I'm using sharp cutters. So far, I've not had any problems with overheating/melting. I can't recall exactly where I got these cutters. Possibly Enco/MSC or someplace on eBay.

 

[finsruskw]

Thank You, Thank You!!
This will make a great gift for my Daughter-in-law when the bathroom is finished!!
I have plenty of scraps to practice on as they are not going to use the 4" cut off for a backsplash but opted for tile instead.
Corian is great stuff.
The one in our bathroom I installed 40 years ago when I built the place and it still looks like new.

 

[ACHiPo]

This has been a great thread. I was once accused by a former spouse of only making tools but when I pointed out that the tools I've made have allowed me to do X, Y or Z task around the house, yard, vehicle the conversation was pretty much over.

Note that the above is in the past tense. My partner recently asked if I needed/wanted a TIG welder. She's the best. And she doesn't buy expensive clothes, jewellery or the like.

Isn't it nice when the "learner wife" investment pays off in the "keeper wife"? The education is not cheap, but it never is!

 

[DavidR8]

Isn't it nice when the "learner wife" investment pays off in the "keeper wife"? The education is not cheap, but it never is!

Darn straight it is. She’s a total keeper!


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[homebrewed]

I made a knife sharpener:


The wife likes it, but only because she gets sharp knives on demand. I guess I just made myself another honey-do item...

I got to do some single-point threading along with some other bits of lathe work, plus some milling machine time on it so I did have some fun making the thing. But the big payoff was when I showed her how much a commercial version cost. A little PR never hurts, eh?

 

[savarin]

How is it used please, I've never seen one like that.

 

[Hawkeye]

My stock answer to "What do you make with all those tools?" is "usually tools for the tools". That serves two purposes. It gives me something to work on until I need to fix or make something specific. And it gives me new tools so that, when I do need to make something, I can do it better or more easily.

This week, I used the 3D printer to make a gimbal for my new FPV camera, and I'm making a rotary broach, just because I can. Sometimes, it's parts for motorcycles, gear for hiking, gold panning or camping, or whatever.

Any time someone still can't see why you need all those tools, ask them if they have a washer and dryer. When they say they do, ask them what they plan to wash with them. They could make a lot of trips to a laundromat for what they paid for the appliances, but they like being able to do it themselves whenever they want to.

 

[Tozguy]

How is it used please, I've never seen one like that.

It looks like a larger version of my Lansky sharpener. The stone is underneath the center part. The knife is held at the right edge of the board. The long rod sticking out the left of the center part rides in the u clamp on the vertical post. The height of the u clamp on the post sets the angle of the grind on the knife edge. The short vertical post on the right of the center part is a handle. This set up gives excellent angle control so there is a minimum of wasted grinding. Really fun to use this tool.
This very inspiring for me. My Lansky tools are too small to really sharpen long kitchen knives. Homebrew's jig is a perfect solution for long knives. It is amazing how many people use dull knives in the kitchen. When I offer to sharpen neighbours and relatives knives they look at me funny. But once they are back to using sharp knives they are so happy.