Everyday things you've made/programmed

[Thad]

quote:

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And if you think about it, there is not a single item that any of us touched today that was not touched in some way by a metal worker of some sort. NOTHING

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The above quote from James (see the NTMA Classes thread) gave me the idea for this thread. James said it, now let's prove it. Specifically, what have you made or programmed that we all know of in the "real world?"

 

We've built dies for the rear bumper of the H2 Hummer and we just got a job to make the dies for the doors for Whirlpool dryers. Years ago, we were the sole supplier of dies to cut out all of the dashboard holes in the 2000 Ford Taurus. We also built the dies for the entire frame of the Dodge Durango. We've built dies for many other automotive parts, such as fuel tank straps, catalytic converter covers, oil pans, various bracketry, control arms, crossmembers, and the list goes on.

 

Add to the list....

 

Thad

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Ummmmm, the very first H2 had custom wheels, I programmed some of the parts to it. Ummmm, some parts for Aircraft seats, prototype mice (computer mice)... etc....

[Müřlıń®]

Plastic laundy basket mold, plastic garbage can mold, tear off plastic milktop mold, Tandy tv antenna mold, telephone mold, die cast mold for frame to GE meter that goes on the outside of your house(well untill the digital ones came out), Vics nasel spray nozzle & cap, 36" nylon pull tie mold,

 

Used to make the dies for the Bulldog trailer hitch you find on horse trailors and utility trailers.

 

Just got thru disigning and building the dies for a couple crankshafts that go in NASCAR dragsters.

 

Fixing to design the one for the new Ford

 

Those are a few....

 

oops all the molds I did manually.....no CNC dies were cnc

[Tim Johnson]

We make our own parts but I would bet that almost every material we use to make all those items we touch every day was analyzed on our equipment

[Harryman]

Odds are your cell phone has a chip grown in one of our vacuum chambers.

[medaq]

Anyone seen the momo logitech steering wheel setup?

 

I made the prototype pedals, and the simulated sheetmetal stamp that will wrap over the pedals. Machining something with .025 thick walls is always fun

 

And some other camp balls, cameras and such.

 

Jim

[Midwest]

 

 

Made a "Deer Whistle" mold before we had Mastercam. We don't have the mold anymore, I think they sent it to china to run.

 

I had another guy in the shop polish the mold and almost ruined the way the part fit between back part and the nose piece. They made parts with it, but it didn't look as good as it should have. That was the last thing he ever polished for us.

 

Oh the memories

[HevyMetl]

I served my apprenticeship and spent some time at Fisher Price / Mattel so any of you with kids have probably handled some toys from molds I built and repaired. Part and mold quality took a serious nose dive as soon as Mattel took over in 1994/95. I also worked on some duck, goose, and turkey calls for Knight and Hale game calls for all of you hunters, I never got so tired of hearing my kids blowing them around the house.

 

I now work for a company that builds, designs, and patents fluidic circuits. We then market them to companys that spray things. Our biggest customers are automotive manufactures. About 90% of the American made cars, and trucks have our windshield washer nozzels on them, and we are trying to pick up more of the Asian market. We also make hottub jets, lazyboy massaging units, sprayers for wetjet mops, carpet cleaners. The primary purpose of me and one other guy is to build and maintain the molds for the cicuitry. The housings and perifial molds are usually built outside, but maintained here. We have three outside shops. One in Chicago, Wisconsin, and New York respectively. Our company President came out and made the statement that no molds would be built outside of the United State due to intellectual property protection. I really respect him for that. We will see how long it last if dollars start talking. Right now it is forcing us to be very ingenious in how we build things to keep the costs down.

[mayday]

extrution mold for the flexible plastic drain tubeing you can buy. CV joints inner and outer for your can and truck. our troops use them - the recoil mechanism for a 105mm cannon on the 8 wheeled Stryker veichle.

and some scrap that got melted down and maybe all of you have got to use it

[mrainey]

Used to work for the company that makes the Jaws of Life in Shelby, North Carolina. Was working there when the product line was acquired from Hurst, so there was a lot of interesting programming and fixturing work to do.

[mcpgmr]

As a kid I worked for Rock-Away sportfishing equipment. They made the Chair that the guy strapped himself into on the boat to try to catch the shark with in the first Jaws movie.

[Jack Mitchell]

I machined the tray molds for Tim Horton's take out coffee; also machined the hanger molds for horticultural plant holders - it's so neat to see your work when walking around at gardening centers.

 

Regards, Jack

[Marty A]

well ww build dies to make various parts

for cars. ford,chrysler,gm, i'm sure they

are on someones cars out there.

 

 

marty

[Rekd™]

A lot of my stuff gets blown up, shot down, etc. :/

 

I do a lot of microwave stuff, (not the food cooking kind), for military radios. I've done stuff for F1 cars, (suspension parts), and for open class cars (motor plates, mounts etc), Pull-Star bicycle hubs, trodes/core/cavities for some golf tool that you might be familiar with. Trodes for zip-ties/cable-ties. (This is prolly the most common)

 

Methinks a better question might be "Name something that HASN'T been touched by a metal worker.

[Midwest]

Live catch box mouse traps, tip and snap traps also. Clear plastic Lottery boxes found in several states. Termite traps, several jigs for woodmaking industry. Frisbee's, a golf T setter and ball marker. Also made a mold for a dentist, molded 2 toothbrushes together so you could brush the front and back of you teeth at the same time. It didn't last long but it was fun building for the laughs. Also several fishing lures.

 

[jeff]

A couple yrs ago we did the turning on the prototype rims for the Cadillac Sixteen that you seen at the Auto Show.The end product was pretty sweet looking.

We also made 6 wheels for the M1A vehicle out of solid titanium (ugh what a job).

We have that job again as we speak,but they finally got smart and went with castings.

 

We did some work on the rails for the U.S Luge team.

I think they are using that for testing for the Olyimpics.

 

These are not stuff that we make everyday,just the luck of the draw I guess, kinda neat though.

[Thad]

The company that I now work for (prior to going out of business once and being bought out 3 times), back in 1955 when they started up, used to build the dies and stamp fishing lures and bicylce parts. The old bicycles back like Pee-Wee Herman's, with all the sheet metal stampings.

 

Thad

[Thad]

quote:

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Live catch box mouse traps

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Boy, Midewst didn't mess around. He actually went out and "built a better mousetrap!"

 

Thad

[Midwest]

quote:

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Boy, Midewst didn't mess around. He actually went out and "built a better mousetrap!"

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They really are a nice trap, you can catch several mice at a time. They use them in the food industry because they can't use poison. Someone walks by and looks into the clear lid to see if any mice are caught. They have an aluminum extruded paddle to flip the mice into a holding area. Then waits for the next mouse to step on the trigger. They were made from sheet metal before we made them out of plastic. You can't have any edges or the mouse will chew his way out of the plastic trap.

 

"The Original Plastic Muliple Catch Mouse Trap"

 

A better mouse trap.......

 

Kwik Katch

 

 

We also made the PowerPuff on the above web page.

 

[The Iron Chef]

Oh boy the list is long. Isnt it cool to do this stuff?

Ah lemme see.

 

Direct TV stuff

HDTV stuff

Very spooky stuff for the feds

Songbird disposable hearing aids

Orchid Biosciences ( Dont leave any DNA anywhere )

Horseradish harvester parts

Homebilt airplane stuff

Princeton Gamma Tech X-ray spectrometer stuff

Space station comunnication aamplifier

Space shuttle stuff

All sorts of cameras

M1A1 Tank vision systems

the COOLEST virtual reality game system EVAR! it eventally became this company

autonomus vehicales

ALL kinds of Microwave stuff

 

 

Ill add to this list when I think of more stuff. Im taking the kids to the batting cage now

 

 

-Keith from home

[Thee Cutterman]

Good morning everybody

I worked at a Chain and Gearbox company for 16 years. We supplied a lot of the Mines and also a lot of sugercane chains(Begasse Chains).We made chains for go,carts all the way up to 21.0" pitch chain for B.H.P. which they used for throwing the billets into the rollers. We also made the hyd. units for the Telescopic light towers at Adelaide oval.

I have been working here at Confoil for the last 2 years machining and assembling the press tools to punch out our Aluminium containers. If your have ever flown with Quantas Airlines you have Eaten out of one of our containers. We also make the McDonalds muffin wraps, The little gold cat and dog food containers used by Sheba and Uncle Bens. And most of the foil containers used in Aus. Another part of our company is Dualpak containers. These are a cardboard container which are microwave and oven proof.

 

 

confoil

[kccadcam]

Wow,,, The list is long when I look back and think about it.

 

quote:

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Isnt it cool to do this stuff?

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That's why we do it!!

 

Let's see,

 

Back in Utah, at Central Valley Machine www.cvm-inc.com Hi James,,,,

 

Parts for Space Shuttle Boosters (Thiokol)

 

Satelite components (Space Dynamics Laboratories)

 

Many aerospace hogouts for Mcdonnell Douglas (which became Boeing)DC-8,DC-9,DC-10,MD-80,727,737 747

 

Various Optics and mechanical components for USU engineering depts.

 

Lots of parts and assys. for THRILL rides (S&S Powersports)

 

Prototype Clutch for Polaris snowmobile

 

"Big Air" Snowmobile and Motorcycle/ATV Carburetors for PSI Performance http://www.psiperformance.com/

 

Design and programming for Rotoclip Hoof trimming and Log shaping discs http://www.rotoclipinc.com/

 

Roll Dies for Pepperidge Farms Goldfish (The Yummy

little crackers)

 

 

For just over a year in Oregon, at Davis Tool Inc. What's up Jerimiah??

 

Medical components

 

Helicopter parts

 

Lots of Aerospace components and hogouts

 

The front fork assy and complete billet hogout engine block for the new Motosycz GP Bike on the cover of January 2005 CycleWorld Magazine!!

 

And it just keeps going, and going, and going,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Jack Mitchell]

quote:

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Roll Dies for Pepperidge Farms Goldfish (The Yummy little crackers)

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That is so cool - my grandson loves those.

 

Regards, Jack

[PE @ IHS]

Yes, everything we use was made by a machinist (directly or indirectly). Though there are a few "engineer haters" on this forum, keep in mind that everything that we machinists have built was designed by an engineer. They are equally important and deserve lots of respect.

[Jack Mitchell]

quote:

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They are equally important and deserve lots of respect.

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Awk

 

Regards, Jack