Relatively complicated multi-piece winch assembly for the "Up Next!" FIRST Robotics team.
Custom aluminum bottle openers.
Custom bottle openers made in several thicknesses for prototype testing.
Part of the fixturing used on the horizontal mill. This is a soft jaw vice mounted on a multi sided rotating "tombstone".
Custom birds-eye maple box with hand-painted channel catfish on the front cover.
Custom reel and custom box for Missouri Governor Jay Nixon.
Diamond-drag engraving done on the CNC machine as part of the machining. The Paua shell inlay was cut on the laser and custom fitted to the groove.
A nice array of small guitars machined from 6061 aluminum. Gene Giarratano and I made a bunch of these and had them anodized.
The various stages of machining the guitars with a US dollar bill for scale.
Glamor shot of a guitar after it has been anodized.
This time with a ruler for scale in case you are not familiar with US dollars.
First stage of some custom cutting tool racks. They were later flipped so the outside profile could be consistent for the entire height.
After the paint stick has been applied to the engraved letters. This could also have been done with the laser engraver using "Thermark" or with some "Casey aluminum black".
A pretty nice pile of chips made while creating a part for NIMS CNC mill certification.
The finished NIMS part.
Some custom machined hexagonal axles. The black one is the original and the others are the custom length.
A wrench designed for a Clausing 15" lathe. Over 100 of these were made in all. Some were 01 tool steel, some were 4041 mild steel and some were 304 stainless.
A custom made gear cover for the UMKC racing team. Designed by UMKC students and programmed by Gene Giarratano.
the other side of a custom made gear cover for the UMKC racing team.
On the right is a 60+ year old part for an antenna rotor box. On the left is the part recreated in HDPE. Once assembled, the box is ready for another 60 years or more.
Here are the pieces assembled in the rotor box.
The hub on the right was affordable but had a two week lead time from a robotics supply company. The Hub on the left was made in about two hours on a manual lathe and mill (with DRO).
There are plenty of products to make your couch slide easily but not so many to keep it from sliding on a vinyl floor. These couch coasters were just the ticket.
The rubber is recycled tires made into a mat material. The rubber company wanted $400 for 24ea 2" round pieces. Instead, we ordered an uncut length then made a die from a piece of pipe and made our own.
The finished couch coasters.
These parts are created for an arm-powered wheelchair for the P.E.T. project, Find more info here: http://giftofmobility.org/
Early stage of a "turners cube". These are traditionally made on a lathe, but these were made on a CNC mill using a macro program that could be adjusted for the cube size.
The finished turners cube. You may recognize this pattern from our current logo.
The part on the left is aluminum, cracked, and costs almost $300 to replace. We made the one on the right from ballistic steel. It should never crack or need replacement.
A plastic knob from a magnetic indicator mount. It costs more to buy one of these than it does to just purchase another cheap indicator mount.
We were making new knobs anyhow, why not make them colorful? Actually, the colors came about because these were made from HDPE scraps we had in the scrap bin.
The replacement power supply for this computer has a non-standard mounting pattern and is very expensive. An adaptor/spacer was made from some 1/2" HDPE we had on hand so that a standard power supply could be used.
An overlay of the mounting holes and the adaptor to make sure everything would work. Mock-up templates were cut from chipboard to verify.
A chipboard template was created on the laser just to make doubly sure it was all going to line up.
Here is the spacer with threaded inserts pressed in place,
We didn't make the holders but did grind some flats on them, Taper the ends, and create some custom collars to make them work on a specific tool-changer
A knurled part made of 12L14 steel. We use this steel whenever we can because it machines so beautifully and can be heat-treated in needed.
Three stages of a project that required some blocks ground to a dimensional accuracy of +/- .0005" (013mm).
a 16 lead screw that needed some modification. A split bushing was created to hold it for machining.
An aluminum yoyo. The deep face cavity required a special face-grooving tool.
Here is the face-grooving tool digging into the the yoyo and making some impressive curly chips.
These are mock-ups of the tool needed to create the face grooving on the yoyo. It was printed on a 3D printer along with one side of the yoyo. This was done as a visual aid and to check for clearance.
The 3D printed mock-up beside the actual tool as received.
Need 30 steel plates shaped like Missouri? No sweat.
Shape of Missouri cut from 3/8 inch steel plate
Brackets for mounting solar array. The ones that came with the array were not very strong and they were a few short.
Tiny hex driver for laser mirror adjustment. This took about 20 minutes to cut down a hex wrench, turn the tiny handle on a manual lathe and press the wrench in place.
Armature parts for stop-motion movies
Standoffs to be used on awards plaques made of bamboo. Note the snazzy swirl on the tops
Standoffs to be mounted on awards
A few quick notes to get started with the standoffs
