What did you machine today?

[Mcgyver]

a few days ago....valve part for my Cincinnati 300 ton brake press out of PH 4140. Likely unobtainable and faster/cheaper than hiring a machine shop.....plus I like getting to show the floor I'm not just another one of the office people who DO NOTHING! (its a bit amusing actually, the mindset is because they make everything, they're the only ones doing anything or adding value...so its occasionally good show them I'm not entirely useless). Machining on this was to two tenths with blocks and indicator mic and dropped right in and the press is running.

For a change of pace I serviced and repaired a 1961 Bulova 11AFC. Broken main spring and inappropriate hands. Those small screws are 0.5 mm....to give a sense of it I stuck a 1/4" socket head screw in the photo. Its high risk working with those parts, hold them just slightly too firmly with the tweezers and pingggg. You don't want that! I just got a couple of pairs of new brass tweezers that are really nice - they are the right tool for the job as they won't scratch parts

[mattthemuppet]

That's some cool contrast in scales! I find making small stuff waaay harder than big stuff.

[Dave C]

I probably should have put this in the jokes thread, since you will probably be laughing at me for this mistake. It's a simple part. definitely not in a league with those in the above posts. It's the stopper for my 1 gallon gas can that I use for 2 cycle fuel. The stopper screws into the vinyl fill tube that's a mod I made to the original spout. The ID of the tube accepts a 3/8 nc bolt, and that is what I have been using, but it is hard to get it started with gloves on. The fix was this:

It screws in with no trouble at all. So what's funny? This was the second one I had to make. The first one looks a lot like this one, but somehow when searching the bolt stash, I grabbed a 5/16 instead of a 3/8, and never realized that I had the wrong size until it was finished and it slid right past the threads in the spout. In all fairness, I had several interruptions between having the idea and making the part. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

[90LX_Notch]

I just finished the oil pan for my current build, George Britnell’s 4 cylinder overhead valve engine. The pan measures 4.5 x 2.125 x 1.0. It was machined manually.

[Tim Clarke]

I gave this a thumbs up, but it deserves more than that! This is proof positive it's more about the man than the machine. Thanks for the photos, and keep them coming!

[Tom S]

a few days ago....valve part for my Cincinnati 300 ton brake press out of PH 4140. Likely unobtainable and faster/cheaper than hiring a machine shop.....plus I like getting to show the floor I'm not just another one of the office people who DO NOTHING! (its a bit amusing actually, the mindset is because they make everything, they're the only ones doing anything or adding value...so its occasionally good show them I'm not entirely useless). Machining on this was to two tenths with blocks and indicator mic and dropped right in and the press is running.

For a change of pace I serviced and repaired a 1961 Bulova 11AFC. Broken main spring and inappropriate hands. Those small screws are 0.5 mm....to give a sense of it I stuck a 1/4" socket head screw in the photo. Its high risk working with those parts, hold them just slightly too firmly with the tweezers and pingggg. You don't want that! I just got a couple of pairs of new brass tweezers that are really nice - they are the right tool for the job as they won't scratch parts

Dude, you have got to get a new forum name. I don't see a single piece of duct tape, twine, or bubblegum in anything you build. You are not living up to the Mcgyver name.

[Mcgyver]

Dude, you have got to get a new forum name. I don't see a single piece of duct tape, twine, or bubblegum in anything you build. You are not living up to the Mcgyver name.

lol...I do regret the forum name choice a bit. It was a nickname from a few buddies but of course anyone reading it associates it with the cheesy TV show. Spelling came from a painting in my kids room...McGyvers bait & tackle

[Bented]

Some kind of quick clamp water fittings, fortunately they are 303 SS because there is a lot of metal removal.
The largest OD is 4.822" and the smallest bore is 3.068" through.

[Tim The Grim]

Modified a set of handlebar risers. I’ve had these on a shelf for years after getting a great price on a closeout. Turns out they didn’t really fit 7/8” or 1” bars.
Now they fit the 1” drag bars I plan on using.

[nc5a]

Finished rebuilding the table lifting winch to my hydraulic press. It needed a new worm wheel welded on the drum. Then built 6 lathe leveling feet for a friends 13 X 40 Grizzly lathe. Two of the grade 8 bolts were single pointed and the other 4 I used a new 7/16 X 24 die. The bolt heads were concaved so the 7/8" steel balls would set nicely when they were tig welded. The bases are 2" X 1/4" and concaved in the center so the ball has a pocket to set in.

[Arcane]

A friend needed a short piece of 2" square tubing reduced down to 1.968" for a snug sliding fit inside another piece of square tubing so I dug out my small face mill and had at it. I didn't like the finish the face mill gave it plus I had to do two passes per side so I switched to my fly cutter which eliminated both issues.

I also found a couple of short piece of 2" square tubing which he needed to finish a project so that made him happy he didn't have to go to a local metal supplier that caters to such needs but charges accordingly.

[MattiJ]

Some ptfe bushings.. nice to have DRO on a repeat job like this

[mattthemuppet]

3/8-24 to 1/8-27npt adapter for a friend's '64 Falcon. He needed to fit a brake pressure sensor (which activates the brake lights, go figure) to a 3 way T that was threaded 3/8-24. The 3/8-24 male thread was the easy part, but boy do I hate tapping npt threads. sounds like I'm killing the cat and I always feel like I'm about to break something.

he got the brakes hooked up ok, so he's happy. As long as I don't have to do another one, I'll be happy

[Arcane]

I wanted to cut off the top of a large peanut butter jar, one of those clear plastic things but how to do it so it's neat? Simple! Use the mill. I put a piece of large pipe in it so I could press it down and clamp the bottom to the table, then I simply used a small metal cutting saw to make the cut where I wanted it. Of course I had to reclamp three times to reach everything but NBD.

What was harder was finding a bar to go over the top of it that would take my hold down studs. Then as I was looking I saw an old three foot long Jack-all multi hole beam I had salvaged (very cheap). It was perfect for the job even though very little clamping force was needed but it also occurred to me that if I ever needed to clamp something down very firmly by the same method, all the holes in it were perfect to get the hold down studs as close as possible to whatever I was clamping down (less bending force) , or as far away as was necessary and everything in between. It's one of those things you may only need a few times but it's perfect for that particular use.

[danlb]

I bought a new flashlight that has a rechargeable battery. Works great. It's bright, light and has very low as well as very high outputs. It only has one little fault. The charging port is a small gold plated disk recessed into the side of the flashlight with a contact right in the middle, isolated by a plastic collar. Both surfaces are electrically "hot" as long as a battery is installed. As you can see in the picture, the center contact is really small and close to the outer contact. There's a magnet under the gold disk to hold the charging cable in place.

I've smoked batteries before, so the uncovered port bothers me. Don't get me wrong, the magnetic coupler works really well, and it's neat to see the plug jump an inch to eagerly feed power to the little beast. I just don't want it to short out against a key in my pocket.

It only took a few minutes to find a steel 5/16 washer and a 1 inch bar of Delrin to fashion into a cap to fit in the depression. The washer is there so that the magnet in the light will hold the cap in place. The first version took 15 minutes to make. Once I had all the dimensions the second version took 10 minutes. When I remembered that glue was not going to stick well to the Delrin, I made version 3 with a slight undercut to trap the washer.

It works great!

This is how the cord attaches.

Then we have the exposed connector.

And the cap in place.




Dan