This is it....

B

Batmanacw

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This is why I have a shop, machine tools, and acquired the skills to use them....

20240703_144252.jpg

Apparently the Chinese on ebay do not know the difference between 3mm and 1/8". I needed a 3mm pilot for my $20 flea market Japanese fine feed micro drill chuck.

It took me 15 minutes to dial it in on the mill in my vice and cut the outside diameter with a boring head.....

...and there I was, smiling like an idiot. :grin:


I'm so pleased that I am not powerless in the face of the ignorance of others. Having tools and the ability to use them is freakin amazing. This tiny drill chuck key is a great symbol of the joy that it brings.

Post up stupid simple stuff you modified or fixed that would be beyond an average person but was just another day in the shop.
 
Batmanacw said:
This is why I have a shop, machine tools, and acquired the skills to use them....

View attachment 495715

Apparently the Chinese on ebay do not know the difference between 3mm and 1/8". I needed a 3mm pilot for my $20 flea market Japanese fine feed micro drill chuck.

It took me 15 minutes to dial it in on the mill in my vice and cut the outside diameter with a boring head.....

...and there I was, smiling like an idiot. :grin:


I'm so pleased that I am not powerless in the face of the ignorance of others. Having tools and the ability to use them is freakin amazing. This tiny drill chuck key is a great symbol of the joy that it brings.

Post up stupid simple stuff you modified or fixed that would be beyond an average person but was just another day in the shop.
Click to expand...
Amen on that brother. I recently had to do a gear swap on my rear differential in my truck. Ran into an issue with the way the pinion was cut and was able to chuck it up in the lathe and machine off a couple shoulders. Made my day when everything slid together perfectly
 
Pevehouse said:
Amen on that brother. I recently had to do a gear swap on my rear differential in my truck. Ran into an issue with the way the pinion was cut and was able to chuck it up in the lathe and machine off a couple shoulders. Made my day when everything slid together perfectly
Click to expand...
I'd be there smiling like an idiot! Lol!
 
Don’t have a picture cause I didn’t think it was that important.

The other day I was installing a new water filter, the kind with a tap on the counter behind the sink. I got it all hooked up and tightened everything including the little press fit water fitting between the hose and the dispenser head. Well, once I put pressure on it she let loose and sprayed water all over. A little investigation showed that the plastic bushing with a U shaped cutout was too thick to work with my counter. A little aluminum, step drill, band saw and file and I was in business. Don’t know what someone without tools would do, send it all back maybe?

Joh
 
Things that come to mind:

A kitchen sink soap dispenser broke off the spout. I bored out the snapped off stub, turned the end of a brass rod slightly for a press fit and drilled a hole through the rod. Pressed that in as the new spout. The first push on the dispenser it shot soap clear across the sink and hit me in the belly. I guess that's success.

A pot lid, clear plastic, kind of nice, had the handle come off. It was a bit complicated because there was a molded plastic thermal break to prevent the metal handle from heating too much. I had some Delrin, and made a stainless rivet like thing to poke up from inside, used the delrin as a shoulder washer/thermal break and pressed another Delrin piece onto the metal stub. Did this on both ends of the handle. It looks pretty cool and works better than original.

I removed an old Franklin Stove from the kitchen, and this left a big hole in the brick chimney. I looked through my inventory, and found a perfect 6" disk of Titanium and turned that for an exact fit into the hole with a flange big enough to cover slight irregularities in the brick. The patina was a perfect match for the "ambience", looks like a piece of wall art.

And others I can't recall under pressure.
 
I love this kind of stuff.

I found a latch for my new shed sliding barn door. Only problem was the tube that the latch latches too has nothing to retain the latch so when the wind blows the door bounces over the end of the tube and the door rolls open. I happened to have a piece of 1” black Delrin and the OD of the tube was 3/4”. Turned the Delrin to .005 press fit and drove that puppy home. Looks like it was part of the latch assembly, which really it should have been.
 
What still amazes me and puts a smile on my face every time is to just go in and make something like for that latch. For 50yrs I had tons of tools but never any machine tools. I never knew about the hobby class of benchtop lathe and mill so not until I truly had to get into machining did I investigate. If I would have known how useful and relatively inexpensive they were I would have invested decades ago.

But then again this last 15yrs has been the longest by 10yrs I’ve lived in one place since I left home. And more than 3/4 of those places didn’t have a garage and the very thought of moving the Tetris Garage makes me cringe.
 
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