Awesome Machining

A good lighter can come in handy even if you don’t smoke. Matthew’s Tools shows how he created a beautiful lighter from stainless steel and brass. To create his functional Art Deco masterpiece, he used precision machining tools, including a mill, lathe, and EDM. Nearly every component of the lighter was made from scratch. We love the flame cutouts.

This custom metal stamp features a surface that disappears into its face. The Process visited Iwai Press Co., Ltd. to see how they make them. They start with an artist brushing a design on paper, scanning it, and turning it into vector art. The factory then machines the parts using EDM wire cutting and hand assembles them. The stamps sell for over $1000 each.

An orrery is one of those mechanical models that simulate how planets move in the solar system. A tellurion is the same concept but only includes the Earth, its moon, and the sun. Chronova Engineering made an incredibly small tellurion and posted this video of the build process. The finished model has six gears, and is smaller than a fingernail.

A Möbius strip is a twisted object that loops back onto itself, so it has only a single side. Brandon from Inheritance Machining shows us how he made a similarly perplexing object out of a single block of steel. Like the strip, his Möbius cube has one continuous side, but it was far more complicated to engineer and craft than its source of inspiration.

Iron and steel are the most recyclable materials on Earth. So it’s no wonder we often see items made by melting and reforging metal. In this video from Maker B, the machinist shows us how he took an assortment of steel bolts and removed their threads to create the parts for a working combination lock – no melting required. He made the dial from a brass rod.

A vacuum engine moves due to air pressure on one side of its piston and a partial vacuum on the other. The simplest example uses a flame on one side of the piston to create these conditions. W&M Levsha shows the process of making a working miniature of this kind of engine using brass, aluminum, and precision machining techniques.

Inspired by the stainless steel pool ball made by MyMechanics, Cool Again Restoration set out to make their own. They used different techniques to set their pool ball apart and incorporated copper and epoxy resin. They started by machining cylindrical sections, gradually refining into a spherical shape. We’d love to see a whole rack filled with these.

One of the coolest weapons that ninjas carry is the throwing star – also known as a shuriken. Maker B offers a satisfying machining video showing how he transformed a large industrial bolt into a pocket-sized shuriken with points that deploy with the push of a button. He made its body from the bolt head and its retractable points from slices of its threaded shaft.

Screws come in all shapes and sizes. In this video from Mike at Chronova Engineering, he show the process of creating an insanely small 0.6 mm screw for use in a watch. After milling down a metal rod on a watchmaker’s lathe, the part is turned in a threading die, its head cleaned up, and a slot cut into it with a skinny saw blade.

An isogrid is a kind of metal structure that uses hollowed-out triangles to provide strength while reducing weight. Barry from Titans of CNC Machining used the technique to create a truly awesome skateboard. He started by plotting a design in SolidWorks, then used a CNC mill to carve the board from a block of aluminum.

One of the more interesting items you can produce in a machine shop is a sphere inside of a cube. Emil Hogslätt shows how he produced one such object using a DMG Mori 5-axis milling machine. The finished product is immensely satisfying, as are the soothing noises the machine makes as it cuts and smooths the aluminum piece.

Hand Tool Rescue came across Michael Volpe’s 1919 patent for an insane multi-wrench. The concept for the hand tool was that it could turn just about every imaginable fastener. He decided to make a replica of the impractical wrench in hopes that one day he might find every kind of fastener it can tighten.

The process of knurling metal involves applying a criss-cross pattern to create a grippy, textured surface. This satisfying video from My Mechanics Insights shows how the metalworker created the handle for a dumbbell and applied knurling to both ends of the shaft, along with an overlapping section in the middle.

We can’t think of a practical use for a vise you can fit between your fingertips, but that doesn’t make this tiny vise any less impressive. W&M Levsha created the micro tool by milling shapes from a small block of metal, drilling holes for its mechanism, then fitting it together with a teensy threaded rod and handle to make it work.

A while back, My Mechanics machined a sweet stainless steel 8-Ball. In this video, he makes a unique display stand for it, using a lathe and a rod of brass which he turned into a helical shape by gradually offsetting the piece before cutting. We wonder if he could create a double helix with a similar technique.

A Euler’s Disk is a plaything that illustrates the physics at work between a spinning, rolling disc, and stationary surface. Beyond the Press supersized the experiment by machining medium- and giant-size versions of the toy. Both are incredibly loud as they spin, and you wouldn’t want to put your hand underneath the bigger one.