I wanted to create a thread for people to share the first thing they make in the space (preferably outside of an induction)
Sometimes these things feel too small to share, but I at least love seeing what people get up to, I also find it acts as a motivation to make similar things. I can confirm Inductors love seeing your hard won tool control being put to good use
There’s no obligation to put things in a thread here, you’re welcome to submit them as a standalone post, or not share them at all
For me, the first thing I have a record of making was this little stanley knife blade holder (which I think has long since been replaced with a better alternative):
When I first joined in 2015, my project was to build my own bass guitar! I still have the body somewhere in storage… Never actually got around to even start it!
Looking back, probably 99% of the things I’ve done at the space have somehow been related to the space itself, rather than being personal projects. So I’m going to share a few of those
Almost none of them were solo projects either — there have been so many people involved in building, fixing, improving and generally making things happen over the years. So I hope you don’t mind me sharing things I’ve worked on with others. I think that’s actually quite fitting for what the space is all about!
I made this watertight container out of aluminium on the lathe, including an o ring.
This quickly made me realise that tapping threads would be much easier with a tap follower, so i put a design together in fusion and this was my next project:
would you be happy for the images you’ve submitted here to be used on an (internal) poster to encourage members to interact more with this post and add their own?
also, if its not to much of an ask- please could you also indicate if you would be happy for the image and a sentence about your project (either taken from what you’ve written here, sent to me via DM or added as an edit in brackets to your post) to be used in (1) the Tv window display (2) Sofa area Tv and/or (3) SLMS Social Media pages at some point in the future.
Anyone posting after this I would also be grateful if you could answer the above!
also- to avoid sidetracking a beautiful thread- please get in touch if you have any questions about the what, wheres or whys (I think I’ve covered it in the post, but happy to discuss further if anyone would like. I’ll be posting updates about the window display as soon as I’m able and I would ask further permission should anything change)
Thank you for posting- I’ll be putting a post out at some point for projects like these as I think they are a great way of demonstrating to member-to-be the diversity and inclusivity within our space
The first project I did at makers was to use the Lathe. Not scary at all.
I’ve been customising an old BMW K100 and I decided to fit the front forks and triple clamps from a 2014 Suzuki GSXR to the old BMW K100. Luckily the diameter of the axel is right - but the spacing is all wrong, for the axel, and the custom brake disk mounts.
First I did the brake disk spacers. This was done on the lathe, and I had to make a 1.5mm spacer for each side. I was lucky enough to have @stefanoromano around and he suggested I use some 1.5 sheet metal and we simply size it. It was a challange, as my first project turned out to use a lot of interrupted cuts .
Ultimately the GSXR triple clamp is wider than the old BMW, and that meant I had to center the wheel on the axel by creating 2 spacers, and to this day I will never know how the first attempt’s dimensions worked out perfectly. This would have the inner diameter matching the axel - but widen the ridges on the axel to the bearings.
I got home to fit everything, expecting to have to go back with adjustments, but to my amazement it was spot on (to be fair I had to file the bolt holes a little for a smooth fit)
Yeah, it started out as a 91 K100LT - previous owner had removed some of the fairings before I bought it from him, and I’ve done the rest.
This is what it currently looks like - still a few things to do (like I’m 3d printing a fuse block in the SLMS as I type this), but it starts at least.
At the time (2017!) I was planning to make a large bookcase using dado joints on various different thickness timber shelves. So the router bit wouldn’t cut it (as they say).
There are numerous designs available for such a jig, but I think the one I used was at:
It’s really good for cutting dados that need to be exact, rather than approximating with a standard diameter router bit. As we know, 18mm plywood for example can vary quite a lot in actual thickness, even within the same batch. The hardwood inserts make sure your cuts are straight.
In the end, I made a bookcase with a completely different design that did not require dado joints but I learned a lot by making this jig, so it was well worthwhile. If your are making a project with dados, give it a try; it is usually hanging on the wall near the planer/thicknesser and the dust extraction.
