View Full Version : Things to make


MBG
06-17-2005, 09:32 AM
I got some extra time at school. What are some things I can make so I can sell.

ToyMaker
06-17-2005, 09:53 AM
A few minutes thinking about it produced this list of things to make with a CNC Router/Mill

1. Aircraft parts
a. Airfoil patterns
b. Ribs
c. Spars
d. Panels
e. Firewalls
2. Belt buckles
3. Branding Irons
4. Clock parts
a. Dials
b. Escapements
c. Escutcheons
d. Hands
e. Pendulums
f. Weight shells
g. Wheels (gears)
5. Cutout Letters (foam, MDF, aluminum)
a. Block
b. Cursive
c. Gothic
6. Custom car & truck parts
a. Door handles (interior)
b. Door lock knobs
c. Fill caps
i. Brake fluid
ii. Coolant
iii. Oil
iv. Transmission fluid
v. Windshield washer
d. Hood ornaments
e. Keyhole plates
f. Peddles
g. Radio knobs
7. Decoys, Hunting
8. Engraving
a. Bracelets
b. Fobs
c. Nail trimmers
9. Gun parts
a. Grips
b. Trigger guards
c. Sights
10. Instrument panels
11. Jigsaw puzzles
12. Key fobs
13. Laminate inlays for trashcans
14. Motorboat windshields
15. Picture Frames
16. Plaques
a. Memorial
b. Name (desk, wall)
c. Trophy mounting
17. Rotation, injection, & blow mold inserts
18. Stamps & dies for clay work
19. Stamps for scrap books
20. Stencils
21. Switch plates, electrical
22. Tool wall racks & holders
23. Vinyl floor tile inlays
24. Weather vanes
25. Wood toys
a. Automobiles
b. Planes
c. Trains
26. Wood washroom symbols for outhouses

This is the the short list!
Take a walk through a hardware store or gift shop. Anything that will fit in the working envelope of your machine can be personalized.

robotic regards,

Tom
= = = = =
"The obsessive-compulsive Casanova writes a love poem: 'How shall I count thee? Let me love the ways.'"
- - Dennis R. Ridley

MBG
06-17-2005, 09:59 AM
thanks. anymore?

Sporqster
06-17-2005, 10:06 AM
Actually, if the price is right, I got a couple things I need made for the right price- I'll send you a PM!

Mcgyver
06-17-2005, 10:29 AM
tooling. isn't that what a young buck machinist is supposed to be doing with his free school/apprenticeship time?

MBG
06-17-2005, 11:24 AM
tooling. isn't that what a young buck machinist is supposed to be doing with his free school/apprenticeship time?


already made it all, machinist vise, parrallel set, arbor press, boring bar, fly cutter. You name it I made it.

ViperTX
06-17-2005, 12:25 PM
Well you really need to focus on stuff that someone wants, you don't want to create a bunch of stuff and have it sit around. Did you mention what equipment you have or have access to?

MBG
06-17-2005, 12:54 PM
Well you really need to focus on stuff that someone wants, you don't want to create a bunch of stuff and have it sit around. Did you mention what equipment you have or have access to?


mill, lathe , and surface grinder. Also have access to cnc lathe and mill (really small ones)

MBG
06-17-2005, 12:56 PM
Well you really need to focus on stuff that someone wants, you don't want to create a bunch of stuff and have it sit around. Did you mention what equipment you have or have access to?

also. What parts do people want?

ViperTX
06-17-2005, 03:54 PM
around here it's stuff like bearing blocks, ends of ballscrews turned....pieces of gantry style routers, etc.

Sporqster
06-17-2005, 03:59 PM
also. What parts do people want?

Hey- after you're done with the parts I sent you ;-) build a beer bot. Who wouldn't want that? I'm thinking an R2-D2 like droid made from a keg. Heck, if I weren't so broke, I'd buy one!

ghyman
06-17-2005, 11:30 PM
chess pieces.

Years ago, I started a set out of a bar of ø1.25 brass that had been "laying around" for 6+ years.
I wrote the code long hand, and keyed it in to a bar-fed Warner & Swasey 2SC with a GE-1050 control (no way to back it up... just a tape reader).
This was my lunch-time project for 2 months... normal production during normal hours, but from 7:00 to 8:00pm, I was a chess-piece making fool.

The other set was made from remnants of dura-bar.

I never finished the set; they made me a programmer after one of my pieces was found by day shift in the parts catcher, and I never went back to running a machine.

But that was 15 years ago, and I only have four or five of the pieces left. So please, MBG... make an old machinist happy, and make a nice, unique, awesome chess set!

MBG
06-18-2005, 12:05 AM
chess pieces.

Years ago, I started a set out of a bar of ø1.25 brass that had been "laying around" for 6+ years.
I wrote the code long hand, and keyed it in to a bar-fed Warner & Swasey 2SC with a GE-1050 control (no way to back it up... just a tape reader).
This was my lunch-time project for 2 months... normal production during normal hours, but from 7:00 to 8:00pm, I was a chess-piece making fool.

The other set was made from remnants of dura-bar.

I never finished the set; they made me a programmer after one of my pieces was found by day shift in the parts catcher, and I never went back to running a machine.

But that was 15 years ago, and I only have four or five of the pieces left. So please, MBG... make an old machinist happy, and make a nice, unique, awesome chess set!

cool story. But I already made a set. Anodized one side black and the other side is clean coated.

RotarySMP
06-18-2005, 03:57 PM
No offense, but if you didn't actually need to make anything, why did you get a lathe, mill and surface grinder?

For me (apart from the fact that a lathe is basic hand tool everyone should own), I have the plans to build an RV-4 aircraft, but live in an inner city apartment, and can't get started yet. So I started getting ideas to buy a bunch of cheap VDO guages, and integrate them into a single multi dial instrument. To make the case I started to design a CNC router, decided I can't make a router without a lathe, so now I have a CNC lathe on the balcony.

What do I make..... parts for the CNC lathe, and now some parts for the CNC mill. One day I might start the gage thing, or even the plane.

Visit your local model helicopter club. These things have lots of intricate expensive little parts which die instantly when the guy crashes. They love machinists.

MBG
06-18-2005, 08:12 PM
No offense, but if you didn't actually need to make anything, why did you get a lathe, mill and surface grinder?

For me (apart from the fact that a lathe is basic hand tool everyone should own), I have the plans to build an RV-4 aircraft, but live in an inner city apartment, and can't get started yet. So I started getting ideas to buy a bunch of cheap VDO guages, and integrate them into a single multi dial instrument. To make the case I started to design a CNC router, decided I can't make a router without a lathe, so now I have a CNC lathe on the balcony.

What do I make..... parts for the CNC lathe, and now some parts for the CNC mill. One day I might start the gage thing, or even the plane.

Visit your local model helicopter club. These things have lots of intricate expensive little parts which die instantly when the guy crashes. They love machinists.

I am in school that is how I have these machines