# Little one day projects



## BMW Rider (Apr 30, 2021)

A lot of the things I use my lathe and mill for are quick little jobs to make something that I need or want. Not usually worthy of a full thread so I thought it would be good to have a thread to drop these project in from time to time as they are done.

With that, the first post being my most recent task to make some special fasteners for one of my motorcycles. I have a tank bag that uses an attachment base that fastens onto the filler cap using longer bolts with spacers under the ring. The issue is, the plastic tank cover panel that should be an easy job to remove for servicing the air filter now requires removal of the base ring as the panel will not come off over it. That leaves the fuel tank open while servicing the bike and my concern is things such as those little spacers could wind up in the tank. 

My solution was to make some new screws with a tapped head style that the ring can be fastened to and removed leaving the fuel cap secure. I started with some 8mm stainless hex bar and made the four required screws. I reused the original supplied screws by threading them to the head and cutting them shorter to suit. It also serves to raise the base ring, and thus the tank bag, up a bit higher which is good since the whole reason for this design is to keep it off the painted parts.


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## YotaBota (Apr 30, 2021)

Tidy solution.


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## combustable herbage (May 2, 2021)

Here is one I was working on yesterday, a little starter project which turned into a lesson learned I was getting so close to finishing and getting so excited  so worried about a nice finish I didn't tighten down the tool post and well it dug in and seconds later it was all over such a stupid mistake.
I was seething yesterday but I am better now I'm keeping it in my shop coat for a while to remind me every day  to make sure everything is tight.
The bottom one was my first attempt it was better but I took down too much and the threads were starting to show on the outside but they have been great learning experiences.


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## BMW Rider (May 28, 2021)

This project was for my Mustang. I changed the drive pulleys on the engine and wanted to change the belt tension from the old style slide to a turnbuckle type for easier tensioning. Since nothing is standard on this car, I chose to make it myself. I bought the two end links and had to get a left hand thread tap. The center barrel is the shop made part. Pretty simple machining on the lathe mostly, used the rotary table on the mill to do the hex. 

Hardest part was getting the Canadian Tire parts guy to find the new size belt.


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## turner (May 28, 2021)

Worth every moment, the best part will be when the car guys ask were you bought it.
One of a kind, the little things is what makes it yours.
I get it, Todd T.


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## ShawnR (Jun 21, 2021)

Finished a little project this morning. Would have been a one day project if I stayed with it...

Joe P did a small tap holder that I thought would be handy to have. My main Tap and Die set is just a Mastercraft set, although I did end up with another tap holder somewhere. The M/C one leaves a bit to be desired but has gotten  me by for years.

Material is stainless, .480" for some reason. Joe made his from 3/8 stock and I think I started going there, starting with 1/2" stock, then decided to upsize a bit. I don't use #4-#6 taps much but do use 1/4-5/16 lots so this should be ok for that. 

As usual, it was an exercise in basic skill development for me..... The piece was so narrow that to drill the center to the final dimension, I would have drilled into my parallels so after drilling a small diameter pilot hole, I used the parallels at either end (looking precariously perched in the photo) to support the piece while I drilled the final dimension. My fixed jaw does not have a groove to support round pieces. That would be another good project, or use a machined sacrificial piece of aluminum or probably any number of other ways to do it but this worked out this time.

For scale, that is an M5 tap in the photo. I used it to tap the threads for the lock screw.


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## BMW Rider (Aug 12, 2021)

Pretty much zero machining content in this project. This was my Dad's fishing knife that he used from the earliest I can recall. Its a Premier Life Time H79 made in Solingen Germany, just 5 3/4" long overall with a 2 3/4" blade. It was always in his tackle box and when Mom sold the house and moved I found it and kept it. The leather handle had deteriorated badly and the blade was rusted. It sat on a shelf like that since. I recently became motivated to pick it up again and decided to clean it up and repair the handle. I disassembled the handle layer by layer and saved the hard phenolic and brass pieces to reuse. I had a piece of leather on hand and cut the new stacked layers and fitted them to the cleaned and polished blade. Once it was all assembled and the epoxy set, I shaped the new leather discs to form. Having the original layers book-ending the leather gave me a reference to determine the profile. I quick bit of sharpening put a very keen edge on it.

Now I need to fashion a sheath for it and put it back to work as my own fishing knife.


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## DPittman (Aug 12, 2021)

Good project.  Man I think my father had the same knife!


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## 6.5 Fan (Aug 12, 2021)

I have one of those as well out in the shop. spent most of it's life in the barn cutting twine.


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## Tom O (Aug 12, 2021)

I think we all had one or at least Dad did I was more the Bowie knife type.


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## BMW Rider (Sep 15, 2021)

This one ended up being a bit more than one day due to some re-engineering required of the ratchet strap. Its a lifting device to help pick up a toppled motorcycle, specifically my BMW F850GSA. Sometimes road conditions lead to the bike taking a nap and lifting it back up can be a bit of an effort. Basically, the strap gets looped under the bike and hooked on somewhere secure like the foot peg, then the ratchet strap is cranked up lifting the bike back to vertical or close enough to it to be easily finished manually. There are some ready made versions available to purchase, but cost far more than what it did to make my own, and even so, why buy what I can build.


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## Tom O (Sep 15, 2021)

I thought that was why the crash bars were put on them to get the rocking action to get it back up.


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## BMW Rider (Sep 15, 2021)

The crash bars protect the vulnerable bits and do offer some lifting points, but a 500Lb bike is a lot to lift alone.


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## Tom O (Sep 15, 2021)

I was told that by rocking it on the crash bars protecting the opposed cyl heads it made it easier to get it upright not like the Harleys that lay flat and is a dead lift I still sport the resulting vertebrae protruding from mid back.


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## BMW Rider (Sep 16, 2021)

The R1250GSA has the boxer engine but it's a vertical twin engine in the F850GSA. It lays down pretty flat. I can lift it in ideal conditions, but it's never ideal conditions when it naps. There are techniques that can make the dead lift easier, but again, in ideal conditions. My last trip to BC I ended up dropping it in a drainage ditch across a deactivated road. I could get the bike up about 3/4 to vertical, but would run out of lift range as I was standing in a low spot. I couldn't get a low enough grip to get it all the way up. with this device I would be able to get it most of the way up and get the lower grip to finish the job. I was pretty tired and my back was sore by the time I finally managed to get the bike righted.


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## kevin.decelles (Sep 16, 2021)

Great idea! I’ll be throwing a ratchet strap into my hard bags for sure. Lifting a downed bike is easy — when it is flat ground, you are 25 and you have 6’ of clearance around the bike on all sides.... I’ve yet to have all those conditions met


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## BMW Rider (Nov 5, 2021)

Todays job was one of necessity. I was wrapping up a valve clearance check on my F850GSA and was reinstalling the crankshaft access plug when I discovered it was made of cheap plastic and could withstand almost no effort to tighten it in place. The flange broke off completely. A replacement would probably be weeks away and cost more than any piece of crappy plastic could be worth, so I made a new one myself. It was a bit tricky doing the threads, M24-1.5. They are only about four full threads on the shallow plug so I just ended up turning the lathe manually to cut them in. Took a bit of time but it all worked out. I used a piece of allen key to broach the socket in the cap for tightening it in place.


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## YYCHM (Nov 5, 2021)

Sounds like a good 3D Printer project.  What material did you use?


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## DPittman (Nov 5, 2021)

Looks good.  Do you have a rotary broach?


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## BMW Rider (Nov 5, 2021)

DPittman said:


> Looks good.  Do you have a rotary broach?


 No, I just ground the end of a piece of 12mm alley key to have sharp edges and used my press to broach it. Took a couple runs to get it loose enough for a slip fit of the key. Not ideal, but also not a high use part, just once every 20,000 kms for valve checks. I hardly have ever needed to do any broaching, but a rotary broach would be nice to have someday.


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## BMW Rider (Nov 5, 2021)

YYCHM said:


> Sounds like a good 3D Printer project.  What material did you use?


I'm not sure what sort of 3D printing would work for this. I used a piece of 6061 aluminum. Should not ever be a problem again.


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## thriller007 (Nov 6, 2021)

BMW Rider said:


> This one ended up being a bit more than one day due to some re-engineering required of the ratchet strap. Its a lifting device to help pick up a toppled motorcycle, specifically my BMW F850GSA. Sometimes road conditions lead to the bike taking a nap and lifting it back up can be a bit of an effort. Basically, the strap gets looped under the bike and hooked on somewhere secure like the foot peg, then the ratchet strap is cranked up lifting the bike back to vertical or close enough to it to be easily finished manually. There are some ready made versions available to purchase, but cost far more than what it did to make my own, and even so, why buy what I can build.View attachment 17121View attachment 17122View attachment 17123


I love it. You don’t by chance have a set of plans or some dimensions do you? I would not mind making one of these


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## DPittman (Nov 6, 2021)

BMW Rider said:


> No, I just ground the end of a piece of 12mm alley key to have sharp edges and used my press to broach it. Took a couple runs to get it loose enough for a slip fit of the key. Not ideal, but also not a high use part, just once every 20,000 kms for valve checks. I hardly have ever needed to do any broaching, but a rotary broach would be nice to have someday.


Yes I can't say I would ever be able to justify a rotary broach myself but I think they would be cool and handy for projects exactly like yours.


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## BMW Rider (Nov 6, 2021)

thriller007 said:


> I love it. You don’t by chance have a set of plans or some dimensions do you? I would not mind making one of these



No plans, which is often how I work just figuring it out in my head and adapting on the fly. There are several cottage industry makers producing these sorts of lifting devices, I just looked at pictures of a variety of them and came up with my design.


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## combustable herbage (Jan 20, 2022)

Here is a project I have been wanting to do for a while a longer handle for the lathe chuck.
I have been doing practice runs of parts of projects I am unsure of the method or not confident especially if I have special chunk of material for project in this case I felt milling the square would be my challenge. 
This is my practice run I put it in my square collet holder vertically and got a nice cut at the base of the square but the square was out a bit nevertheless good for the drill for doing jaw changes.



 
Its all salvage material the handle was not machined by me just cut to size, the rest I turned and milled the square in my mill 
On this one I put the piece in the square collet holder and in the vice horizontally and used the end to take off the material which gave me better control using the quill dro .062 was what had to come of each side and in the end the square is off by .010 so I am happy with that it fits great.  I could have done a better job on milling the base of the square but c'est la vie.  I drilled and tapped a 8/32 set screw for the handle and am pretty happy with the final result.


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## ShawnR (Jan 21, 2022)

combustable herbage said:


> Here is a project I have been wanting to do for a while a longer handle for the lathe chuck.
> I have been doing practice runs of parts of projects I am unsure of the method or not confident especially if I have special chunk of material for project in this case I felt milling the square would be my challenge.
> This is my practice run I put it in my square collet holder vertically and got a nice cut at the base of the square but the square was out a bit nevertheless good for the drill for doing jaw changes.
> Its all salvage material the handle was not machined by me just cut to size, the rest I turned and milled the square in my mill
> On this one I put the piece in the square collet holder and in the vice horizontally and used the end to take off the material which gave me better control using the quill dro .062 was what had to come of each side and in the end the square is off by .010 so I am happy with that it fits great.  I could have done a better job on milling the base of the square but c'est la vie.  I drilled and tapped a 8/32 set screw for the handle and am pretty happy with the final resu



Nice. I need to do something similar for chuck changes. My lathe did not come with one and although a 3/8" socket extension works fine, not as nice as what you have there. I have been hesitating mostly cause not too sure about cutting the flats but I think you may have inspired me! 
Thanks
Cheers,


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## YYCHM (Jan 21, 2022)

ShawnR said:


> Nice. I need to do something similar for chuck changes. My lathe did not come with one and although a 3/8" socket extension works fine, not as nice as what you have there. I have been hesitating mostly cause not too sure about cutting the flats but I think you may have inspired me!
> Thanks
> Cheers,



Flats are pretty easy to do, all's you need is a machinist square and simple trig tells you out how much to mill off.  You can use a large nut as a guide for milling hex head things.  I use on-line calculators to do the trig for me.  If you do a lot of flats, hex, or oct a jig is pretty easy to make. https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/project-for-the-day.3956/#post-52121


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## combustable herbage (Jan 22, 2022)

Todays project was to upgrade the legs on the mill if you call bolts legs, the new ones are 1/2 inch fit great I lifted up the mill with my engine hoist just above the minimum needed blocked it up once everything was secure installed the new legs, no adjusting just on and secure and back down on the floor check level then brought the lift back up just to enough to allow easy coarse adjustment then back down on the floor for final adjustments and leveling.  Once I got the mill home and in the basement I just wanted to use it so I have been learning and playing for the last few weeks and one thing I noticed was some noise and rattles so hoping to quiet things down a bit step one here.   




Here is my new 5 inch vevor vise was able to tram it in and start cutting!!





Had to go between the joists but room to spare.


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## ShawnR (Jan 23, 2022)

This thread seems like a good place to post those quick projects that we all do, something to chat about.

After knocking my "Tuna can" of cutting oil off the bench (usually by snagging the flux brush which stuck out) for about the 5th time this week, and reasoning that at my age, I am not about to get less clumsy, I decided to make something more substantial.  A chunk of rusty pipe, more rusty 1/8" sheet and some welding, lathe, and painting, I hope to have a more stable can to have around the lathe or mill. And the flux brush won't stick out so much. I suppose a taller soup can would have been better but not as "weighty". Good chance to practice some welding too. I put paint thinner in it to test it before applying paint and found one tiny hole so was able to grind and reweld that area. Hopefully, it is oil proof now. 

Now if it gets knocked over, I will just have more oil to clean up!


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## Tom O (Jan 23, 2022)

Cap it with a 1/2” hole in the center if it tips it won’t spill.


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## DPittman (Jan 23, 2022)

Tom O said:


> Cap it with a 1/2” hole in the center if it tips it won’t spill.


Ya I believe Mr Pete/Tubalcain has a video of making a non spillable tuna oil can.   Your fix works tho, that should be very stable and not likely to spill.


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## ShawnR (Jan 23, 2022)

Tom O said:


> Cap it with a 1/2” hole in the center if it tips it won’t spill.



Damn, that is a good solution. I did it for the way oil can but never thought of it for this. But I have already painted it to match the lathe.....

First time I knock it over, I will do that. That will be revision 1. I am going to test run this version first.

Thanks


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## ShawnR (Jan 23, 2022)

Tubal Cain's looks good! Might be something to incorporate into this one, but then it will be a 2 day project....

Thanks @DPittman


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## combustable herbage (Jan 24, 2022)

ShawnR said:


> This thread seems like a good place to post those quick projects that we all do, something to chat about.
> 
> After knocking my "Tuna can" of cutting oil off the bench (usually by snagging the flux brush which stuck out) for about the 5th time this week, and reasoning that at my age, I am not about to get less clumsy, I decided to make something more substantial.  A chunk of rusty pipe, more rusty 1/8" sheet and some welding, lathe, and painting, I hope to have a more stable can to have around the lathe or mill. And the flux brush won't stick out so much. I suppose a taller soup can would have been better but not as "weighty". Good chance to practice some welding too. I put paint thinner in it to test it before applying paint and found one tiny hole so was able to grind and reweld that area. Hopefully, it is oil proof now.
> 
> Now if it gets knocked over, I will just have more oil to clean up!


We must be on the same path I've tipped mine over too many times lately, the last time I didn't even take one dip out.
This is a small one I put together this morning,  the tube is an old battery sleeve from a flashlight its a good size some hot glue and we are ready.   I like your metal idea though I might do something similar but maybe with square tubing maybe easier to sit flush against something or attach with a magnet.   I had to laugh at the video that he notched out the bottom of the tube, its oil no matter how tight you make it to the bottom its gonna leak through faster than you can brush it on. 



   This is probably how I will normally find it


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## ShawnR (Jan 24, 2022)

combustable herbage said:


> We must be on the same path I've tipped mine over too many times lately, the last time I didn't even take one dip out.
> 
> I laughed at this. I think one of my spills was exactly that, fill it, turn around, snag it, ......crap!


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## Six O Two (Feb 3, 2022)

I have a small workshop that I try to fit a lot of machines into. Which means I often end up bumping into various machine handles as I try to maneuver around the shop. I've actually started taking the handles off my cross-slide while the lathe is not in use owing to a few too many bruises. Anyways, yesterday, I bumped my table saw fence handle and cracked it (which itself was a quick and dirty bodge job to fix a phenolic one I busted a while ago).





So, I build a new one. Knurled up a section from an old bicycle seatpost and turned a few pressfit 6061 endcaps. Pretty happy with how the knurling and pressfit tolerance ended up.


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## DPittman (Feb 3, 2022)

Very nice knurling job. 

Sometimes my knurling turns out and other times it's a wreck. I have to admit tho I've never taken into consideration the beginning od of the workpiece.  

I'd be a bit nervous of a big knurling job like that as it's the last operation that could go wrong on a perfect  and otherwise complete part.


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## Six O Two (Feb 3, 2022)

Thanks! Luckily in this case, the knurling is a seperate job on its own piece, so if I messed it up, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. Although thankfully it went ok first try. I'm starting to get a feel for how much pressure is required on my adjustable knurling tool.


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## LenVW (Feb 3, 2022)

Looks Good !!
Good example of the 3Rs “Rebound, Re-Use, Re-New”
Knurling can help you get a grip on it !!


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## BMW Rider (Feb 8, 2022)

Getting ready for a motorcycle trip later this month down south and needed a luggage plate to secure a soft bag on the back. Not running the aluminum boxes for this trip, but still need them for future use. This plate just clamps to the existing rear rack. The plate is 3/16" aluminum. Managed to churn it out yesterday afternoon, but didn't do the cleaning up until today.


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## LenVW (Feb 9, 2022)

Have you looked at Anodizing that plate ?
Aluminum does not rust like carbon steel, but, I have sent numerous machine parts for this process to make the finish durable and it protects against oxidation over time. Embrittlement in aluminum will surprise you with micro cracks especially when ‘road‘ vibrations are evident.

Check with a local metal plater in your area.
I think medium sized parts are anodized rather inexpensively if you can get them done with some other plates in process.


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## BMW Rider (Feb 9, 2022)

I have considered anodizing parts in the past but have not yet done so. I don't have time to do this now, but might get a few other pieces done along with it later. The one nice thing with anodizing is that it stops the black oxide rubbing off on whatever is secured onto it. I will probably do a little more work on this plate later on to add some more lashing slots and cutouts, so that needs to be finished before it's anodized.


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## BMW Rider (Nov 8, 2022)

Quick little job this afternoon. I have an oil can for the way oil on my lathe but the tip was too big to fit the ball oilers without always ending up with as much or more oil around the port as in it. The tip is epoxied onto the flex spout, so I could not just replace it but I did make a new brass tip that pressed onto the original. Just an easy push fit with a bit of Loctite to secure it. This new tip tapers down to a smaller point to fit in the ball opening better. Tested it out by giving everything a good shot of fresh oil.


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## Proxule (Nov 9, 2022)

BMW Rider said:


> Quick little job this afternoon. I have an oil can for the way oil on my lathe but the tip was too big to fit the ball oilers without always ending up with as much or more oil around the port as in it. The tip is epoxied onto the flex spout, so I could not just replace it but I did make a new brass tip that pressed onto the original. Just an easy push fit with a bit of Loctite to secure it. This new tip tapers down to a smaller point to fit in the ball opening better. Tested it out by giving everything a good shot of fresh oil.
> 
> View attachment 27780View attachment 27781


I REALLY LIKE THIS!


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## PeterT (Nov 9, 2022)

I did much the same thing on my oiler. It worked fine for regular low pressure squirting but on my lathe the oilers need a bit more pressure & the JB adhesive eventually let go under hydraulic pressure. So I think the trick is to have a mechanical lock kind of like a thread & the adhesive just provides seal. Or maybe silver solder like I did on my offshore brass stemmed oiler,


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## BMW Rider (Nov 9, 2022)

The original tip is some sort of pot metal aluminum, so no good to to silver solder. 

I used Loctite 648 which is a retaining compound, oil resistant and good for over 180C. I doubt it's going to come off easily. I had it for a generator rotor replacement job on a motorcycle some time ago. The original rotor and retainer bolt had to be heated to well over 100C and was still difficult to break loose. Probably way overkill to hold this little tip together, but I had it on hand.


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