For packing joints.

I made a little baseball bat years ago for that purpose and recently had fun making more different ones for friends.

As you can see I used a piece of rebar for the bat.
I “turned” it using a drill and angle grinder then going through different grains of sanding:

The lightsaber’s hilt was made the same way, using a dremel tool to get more control on the details.
The “blade” is made of Corian, a synthetic stone commonly used for countertops.

The sword required a lot more precision to make and ended up okay but looking closely nothing is really symmetrical or straight…
I grinded it from a random stick of metal, the pommel is made from aluminum and the grip is two layers of sewing thread soaked in superglue, sanded, then superglued again.
A cross-guard would have added a lot of character but I didn’t find a nice and easy enough way to do it, and I was short on time…

  • MacAnusOP
    3·
    5 days ago

    Nice setup! Everything looks nice and sturdyish ^^

    How clean was the finish on that bar and how did you spin it?

    I need a vise… I’m still free-handing the angle grinder and it’s super hard to be consistent.

    Edit: sorry I only looked at the “lathe” pic and hadn’t read the words which answered all my questions :)

    • litchraleeEnglish
      2·
      5 days ago

      Thank you for the kind words! All of the tools I used were things that were laying around. I’m marginally better at woodworking than metalworking, so that’s why the jig holding the bar was all wood.

      I did think about attaching the motor from a disused drill press to spin the bar, but that seemed like it would invite all manner of complexity.

      Lathe is in my future, but I kinda want a CNC first. But a CNC lathe would be god-tier.

      • MacAnusOP
        3·
        5 days ago

        Well I am a woodworker myself and I gotta say that bench looks clean af, nice job!

        I also think about that sort of things every time I need a lathe and have tried repurposing old motors, but i haven’t yet made a semi decent one.

        I feel you, I crave so many tools…

        • litchraleeEnglish
          2·
          5 days ago

          Well, since I’ve already linked to two of my not-quite-a-lathe projects, I might as well link to the one which started it all: https://sh.itjust.works/post/16087080

          This one does have a motor, but not a conventional one at all. And this only worked because the thing I’m turning would need a center hole drilled through anyway.

          • MacAnusOP
            2·
            5 days ago

            Woaw now that’s a nice jig I’m going to keep in mind for later use!

            I love the multitude of solutions people can think of to get to their goals.

            Props on making your own stuff!