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?

Here is a pump start gravity siphon that I designed and made for a few homebrewers (including myself). It is a means to transfer hot wort without the need for chilling it in the kettle first. 304SSS and PTFE.

Multiple pictures in this album.
https://imgur.com/a/hgqSo
 
cjtoombs said:
It's a hobby, you shouldn't have to worry about making useful things. As long as you enjoy it, that's what matters.
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ack, who worries about it? It just gives us a sense of 'cost-justification' when one makes something useful. :grin:
 
You know, I've seen a lot of things in this thread that aren't jigs or fixtures or tools for machining. but despite that not many which would qualify as the originally poster said of being interesting/useful to "normal people".

I think there was a thread awhile back about gift ideas which had some good ones. Darts, pens, hairpins, chess/checker pieces can all be made with the lathe. For the mill maybe, I dunno, phone cases, stash boxes, dice. We got the puzzles covered though.

One of the first projects I did for someone else was a knurled handle for a safety razor, out of 3/4" stainless. A friend was displeased with how delicate and light the handle on his semi-expensive razor was.
 
Don't forget 'Door Handles' also!

ThinWoodsman said:
You know, I've seen a lot of things in this thread that aren't jigs or fixtures or tools for machining. but despite that not many which would qualify as the originally poster said of being interesting/useful to "normal people".

I think there was a thread awhile back about gift ideas which had some good ones. Darts, pens, hairpins, chess/checker pieces can all be made with the lathe. For the mill maybe, I dunno, phone cases, stash boxes, dice. We got the puzzles covered though.

One of the first projects I did for someone else was a knurled handle for a safety razor, out of 3/4" stainless. A friend was displeased with how delicate and light the handle on his semi-expensive razor was.
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I am just starting my journey into machining, and most of my workpieces only serve to build skills. I consider a skill set to be more valuable than most tangible items.

If that answer doesn’t suffice, I have made about a half dozen cups (which end up serving duty as pencil holders) for family and friends. This has made for some very happy family & friends. I start with 2” diameter round stock and then drill & bore out the inside. Curiously, once you gift somebody a really nice handcrafted item, they are super nice to you after that.
 
keeena said:
Made a replacement handle for a crock pot lid the other day. Forgot to consider how hot it would get when in use though...haha. It's coming off. "A" for effort though!

Just dip in some plasti-cote, or machine some o-ring groves in it. Mike
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hman said:
Over the years, I've used my mini-mill several times to make soap dishes out of Corian offcuts. Here's a typical example.

The rest of the story: Making rectangular ones is easy on a manual mill. But the sinks in my latest house are all curvy. Curves are difficult on a manual. So part of my justification for buying a small CNC mill (DynaMyte DM2400) was to make curved soap dishes (another reason was just to learn CNC programming). I've not yet gotten there - still evaluating CAD and CAM software packages (looking for inexpensive, user friendly, powerful, etc. - but that's a whole 'nother thread).

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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!
 
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