LOOKING FOR PROJECT SUGGESTIONS

[riversidedan]

BEEN PLAYING WITH this metal hobby for around 18 months and made some pretty nice useful stuff with the lathe, ever since I got a mill have gone blank thinking up projects, prolly cuzz all Ive done is lathe work all this time..... looked on youtube several times still cant find much re lathe / mill projects however did run across a site that involved "class room ed. projects that seemed to fit my style and were useful, so copied plans and made the part. If anyone here has ran across more of those "Class Room Ed. projects go ahead and post it here..........am mostly interested with small 6061 12L14 and 1018 project exersizes........

 

[Jim F]

http://www.thatlazymachinist.com/

 

[Friendly non murdering Sword]

How about a Bonnell tool and cutter grinder?

This project involes many different aspects of machining and will not only keep you busy for at least a half to one year, it will also push your machining capabilities to the next level.

 

[FOMOGO]

Come on over to my place. Could keep you busy for years. Mike

Quote:

LOOKING FOR PROJECT SUGGESTIONS​

 

[Chewy]

MAKE TOOLS!!!
If you have a lathe, you need a couple of drill/ tap,attachments for the tail stock. You also need different types of live centers, big centers, pressure centers, and spring loaded center finders for offsets. Then there are ball turners. Knurling tools come to mind. Make a tool holder dial indicator holder for both face and side indicating. I use mine every day. Took about 30 minutes to make it. I also did dial indicators that clamp onto the ways, using a 2" indicator. Currently building an indicator holder to measure cross slide. Far beats using a mag base. Precision carriage stops.

Mill: Top of vise stop. Back of vise stop. Table mounted stops. Make keys for vise and rotary table. Make a tee-bar plate that drops into table slots. Mine is 12" long and around 1-1/2" wide, shade less thae 3/8" high. Held down into slots with 3 SHCS. Gives you a prefect fast X reference for aligning on table. Spring loaded tap follower with different points. Make large size angle plates with removable stop pins. Clickspring and Blondiehacks have cross drilling jigs. Jo Pi has a octagon jig that clamps or sticks to an object to get angle cuts. If you really want to torture yourself. spring $13 and get Lautards' Octopus. 4" chunk of cast iron bench block. You will really need a lot of above tools to make it. Different size vee blocks for round stock.

I am building Harold Halls sharpening jig in place of the one mentioned above, Look at Pinterest and home made tool sites for ideas. Pick out some fancy idea that you like. Start collecting and building tools to make it. I haven't even scratched the list of stuff to make in order to make what you want. You can easily spend the next year making tools before you ever do a steam engine or some widget or a Honey-do request. next time you watch You Tube look at the background. Those tool boxes are full of tools.

I have hundreds of plans for most everything. Been collecting books for years. Pick something that looks interesting and I will see if I can point you in the right direction or send a copy.

 

[C-Bag]

Come on over to my place. Could keep you busy for years. Mike

Ain’t it the truth. I don’t know if I’m discouraged I seem to be so inefficient or impressed they have cleared their todo list.

 

[FOMOGO]

I'm afraid the staggering backlog of projects that I'm confronting is totally self-inflicted. Comes a time ( 71now) That you begin to realize that there is no way in hell you are ever going to complete them all before you shuffle off this mortal coil. Just keeping up with the maintenance of what I have up and running, along with property and buildings I still own, can be daunting. After many a sleepless night worrying about it, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to do some serious thinning of the herd. When you have spent most of your life putting in long hours, and acquiring all the things you think you need, you finally come to the realization that you are not going to live forever, and that it might be nice to have the occasional day off. Not that I will ever be good at just sitting around, but the body is definitely starting to say, whoa up there son. Mike

Ain’t it the truth. I don’t know if I’m discouraged I seem to be so inefficient or impressed they have cleared their todo list.

 

[Chewy]

I'm right there with you, FOMOGO. Same age. Same backlog of things to do. Add in pinched nerves in my back screwing up my left leg. I'm in the process of seeing what can be done for that. Right now, I am slowly accepting the fact that it takes two days to do a half days work. The last several years at the factory I took two Saturdays a month off along with Christmas (forced too, plant shutdown, and worked overtime the rest of the days. I also started cutting way back on helping the kids, Ages 26 & 31. Sounds mean, but the more you do to help them, the less they do themselves.

 

[Doug Gray]

Hey River

Check out this great project for the mill and lathe.
And because you a member here if you enter the word "ten" at checkout you get 10% off your entire order.

Toolmaker's Clamp Kit

Part of our Heirloom Series, this is a fantastic kit for the mill and lathe. Now Available in Inch or Metric! Complete materials, hardware and drawings to create a valuable tool for your Shop. This project requires a mill and a lathe. Even the smallest of lathes...

d-gray-drafting-and-design.myshopify.com

Regards D. G.

 

[C-Bag]

I'm afraid the staggering backlog of projects that I'm confronting is totally self-inflicted.

I don’t know for sure but this might be the difference. I got machine tools because I needed to make some things for my biz and thought I could always get rid of them if I don’t need them anymore after I got done. So I didn’t get them because I wanted a hobby. So technically I was already behind the 8 ball before I even got them. And never had access to them was not trained or sure beyond what I needed to make some things I’d enjoy it. Once I started getting the hang of it I realized I could have used them all of my working life. And had been doing it the hard way forever. Another case of I didn’t have a clue and now can’t get by without them. I am always needing something I can’t get off the shelf somewhere(or I’d buy it) so in order to solve the problem I have to make it. And for the first time in my life I can make something properly.