occasional gizmos

[dave]

Every now and then I find it would be really useful of I had, say, a metal turning lathe, shaping machine, milling machine etc to make a gizmo. There are a few local machine tool companies not too far away, but I suspect (but don't know) they would charge the earth to make me a 10cm gizzmo. Most of my gizmo desires would be fashioned from mild steel - maybe aluminium sometimes. Is there perhaps a bloke or collection of blokes herein that are maybe interested in low-volume (1 to 6 say), of occasional gizmo production for a "resonable" cost? tia

[BigWallop]

Why not look around at the auctions or sales rooms for a small lathe that will do all you need. You may even find one on Ebay.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I hsve a mate who is retired with one, and is bored out of his tiny... Near stevenage if its any good...

[Elessar]

The company I work for makes its living by finding people to manufacture bespoke parts. It's a free service for the buyer and even very small quotes are handled. I won't infringe the group rules by advertising the name but you can probably work it out from the posting header.

[dave]

Thanks all. Will keep all replies and when gizmo time is here again will be in touch.

[PoP]

Well I'm not the moderator hereabouts, but as a direct answer to a question that has been put on the forum I wouldn't have objected to such advertising.

Maybe the moderator would disagree though.

Alternatively, temporarily change your tagline to read "cheap gizmos available from ...". ;)

PoP

[Grunff]

No moderator, just a charter and faqs.

[David]

Don't necessarily rule out going to a local engineering company. I recently did this for a small welding task I needed doing; I showed up at the works entrance feelng a bit of a pratt with my little job; however, they were perfectly happy to take it on, and charged me a tenner cash which I thought was very reasonable.

David

[David]

Please go ahead - I (and am sure others here) would be very interested to know about it.

David

[Elessar]

OK.

Although we're really there for buyers in the manufacturing industry needing specialised, bespoke parts, processes or finishes I'm assured that any requirement - however small or mundane - will be handled. We pass the request to our "members" (there are many hundreds right across the range of size and speciality) who match the requirement.It's their choice whether to quote a price. They pay a membership fee which funds us - that gets them business without the cost of advertising, salesmen etc. It's free for the buyer.

Laurie R

[N. Thornton]

Hi

There are a couple of diy options for some items.

For a wood lathe, put a wood screw into the wood you want to shape, cut the head off, and put it in the drill chuck. Bit primitive but good enough for quite a few small things.

Another option is to use an angle grinder to shape a piece of wood: sounds orrid, but I saw someone do a good job of it. He used a metal grinding disc.

Also many tools are easy to make yourself, like sheet metal benders and so on.

Regards, NT

[David]

Thanks - looks very useful; I've bookmarked you! David