small custom gift idea needed

[supermanotorious]

So my 9-5 is an office job where I am surrounded by people I virtually hate. I sit on an 11 person team and only get along with 3 of the people. I want to kill the whole team with kindness this holiday season. They know I am a fabricator and I'd like to make them something small but cool, maybe an ornament, maybe a jewelry box, I dunno. What are your ideas? I don't want to spend much at all. Any cool tiny welding projects?

 

[ML-TOYS]

what type of work do you do, maybe ideas can come from that.
Males, females, both ?

 

[rmm727]

Me, I would CNC plasma an ornament or something like that. In my old job, I would laser cut/engrave a thin piece of nice plywood. That seems to be popular with the women on Pinterest. Laser cut earrings.

 

[karte_m0lim]

How about bullet with engrawe name ?

 

[firemanjim]

I got a few people who that would be a great gift..... LoL
Dude! For the chick's, make a rose like Andrew showed in that thread. I think I'm gonna attempt a few for my wife..... The chick's would absolutely LOVE that....... Just saying.....
For the schmucks, I mean dudes, a simple business card holder for the desk. Use some aluminum diamond plate..... Engrave their names.......

 

[supermanotorious]

Ha ha ha the bullet would be nice but these pansies would have me fired immediately, team is a mix of men and women but most of the men behave like women, no one other than me works with their hands or could start a fire in an emergency, I don't have a cnc machine, I'm thinkng along the lines of horseshoe wine racks or something, keep the ideas coming please!

 

[firemanjim]

You don't like the rose idea? Andrew came up with a P D for sure, with that one......

 

[itsid]

a simple puzzle box perhaps, "machinist style"?

basically a small box with a lid, the lid is held on by four bolts and nuts protruding on both sides..
all four nuts are welded onto the bolt,
but three bolts (or all four if you want) are cut so that you can still undo the nut
(and its welded on piece of bolt) to open the box.

simple to do, costs basically nothing to make and is still a fun 'toy' on your desk;
polished or painted it even looks cool...
put some hard candy inside to start the curiosity.

'sid

 

[supermanotorious]

I do like the rose idea and I think they're cool, they may be more effort than I want to put in this, I certainly like the puzzle box idea too, something partially practical would be cool so these idiots think of me throughout the year and long after we separate

 

[firemanjim]

 

[supermanotorious]

Sid would you be willing to post a pic or diagram of the box? I'm not seeing it in my mind

 

[supermanotorious]

Like so?
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/12/01/6218da0564674e97b577bfdd811fcdb5.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/12/01/385d274469b0c1c43fc70b7f7df15069.jpg

 

[machinist@large]

Uhmm, just why do you hate these people so aggressively???? Not saying you're wrong, it's just WTF?????

 

[Poboy kartman]

Uhmm, just why do you hate these people so aggressively???? Not saying you're wrong, it's just WTF?????

It's a desert thing....people in Phoenix tend to get hot under the collar....if it's any consolation.....right about now....you don't need to feel left out anymore Pat.....what kind of gift do you want? ???

 

[itsid]

Like so?

exactly!

Sorry, was already out the door when you asked..
but that's exactly what I meant.
(well, welding the full circle looks much more dramatic to an untrained eye )

you can do square, rectangular, triangular or round boxes of nearly any size you want,
as long as the lid is rigid enough to not flex open with tightened down nuts.

you can use any bolt you'd like.
Personally I like allen keyed bolts best for some odd reason; torx is fine.. hex looks a bit crude IIAM

you can even countersink the heads for additional 'style' if you want to put in that much effort.

I only ever made ONE such thing as a gift box, and I cheated all the way through.
it was an aluminium box bought at an electronics store (made to carry a pcb of sorts) and JB-welded the nuts in (since I don't have a welder)
I'm sure you can do much better than that

'sid

 

[Poboy kartman]

I like this idea.....but....I'm thinking bent bolt end with totally mangled threads and rusted....

 

[itsid]

I like this idea.....but....I'm thinking bent bolt end with totally mangled threads and rusted....

but rusted and mangled someone still might think
"I can undo that" and the box just pops open.

welded on the other hand your first intention is more like
"that's not going to open this way"

'sid

 

[supermanotorious]

Machinist, have you seen stand up by Bill Burr? He makes a joke about people with lots of kids but none of the kids contribute to society so they're worthless to the rest of us. That's basically the problem with the people in my office. They are literally sheep or cattle. They dont know how to do anything with their hands, they say they value diversity but give me a ton of crap for wearing a full beard. They are pansies and not really worth full human lives in my eyes. But the office is ultra conservative, they pay is good, the benefits are fantastic so I deal with the day to day BS.

Back to the gift ideas, thanks for everyone chiming in, I priced horseshoes for wine racks and even at only $2 ea, that adds up too fast, as for the puzzle box, I kind of had something different in my mind at first with bolts on each side and a sequence for removing, as for Sid's suggestion, my coworkers are so dumb they'd never notice the welds on the nuts and they'd simply unbolt the lid, wouldn't be much of a challenge despite of being dumb

I'm thinking maybe I'll just weld their names on some flat stock to make desk name tags, I'll stamp my name and year of make on the back, that will cost next to nothing and showcase my welding talents, but I'm not sure how to finish them, the flat stock will have mill slag on it which I wont want but if I grind it off I'll need to paint the tags and I dont really want to do that either

sorry for the rambling, I've been enjoying MGDs while replacing an iPhone 4S digitizer and just finished, what a pain

 

[itsid]

sorry for the rambling, I've been enjoying MGDs while replacing an iPhone 4S digitizer and just finished, what a pain

Have you noticed that on 4s-s it's always the digitizer/display that breaks and on 5/5s-s it's always the buttons.. so that no matter what model you have you always have to disassemble that thing completely?!
Or is it just me again?

Anywhoo

well if they wouldn't even notice a weld, maybe the "welded gift" is pointless .

make some cupcakes, write their names with frosting and call it a day.
(I hope they're at least smart enough to eat )

Wait wine rack?
How about a single bottle stand?
one of those "defying gravity" bottle holders you could also buy..
but personalized

buy one to take some measurements if you're unsure how it works..

you could write their names (last names makes sense IIAM) to the side wall to show your welding skills if you want to;
stamp your name to the back plate and you still keep the "slightly useful" part of the approach.
*shrugs*
cutting the holder from 1x2 1/2 rect tubing will lessen the effort

'sid

 

[firemanjim]

If you got a blasting cabinet, or know some one who does, blast them after welding. Clean it good and spray with cheap rustoleum clear coat.... While it's still bright metal.....
If not, remove the slag with a wire wheel, then selectively wire wheel other spots, creating a sort of patina. Then clean and clear coat..... I did a door mounted hat rack like this, and it came out pretty good. It's still got shine to it......