Make personalized Christmas gifts
by nbear1
Arts & Crafts Journey Overview
Follow this step-by-step arts & crafts journey to see real progress updates, challenges overcome, and practical experience.
Progress Updates (11 total)
Update #1: Make personalized Christmas gifts
10% completeTurn some bullet cases into personalized Christmas gifts for my brother and dad.
Challenges Overcome: began cleaning some of the cases
Obstacles Faced: cutting the cases without damaging them too much
Looking Back: sand all the way up to 5000 grit and polish for a nice smooth shine
Update #2: more polishing
20% completepolished the case to a nice shiny finish! it is super shiny now! now I need to focus on how to cut and glue the pins and cuff links to it. oh and I need to cast some half bullets too.
Looking Back: sand to 5000 then polish with some mag polish works like a charm
Update #3: designed and printed a case
30% completedesigned this two piece case in solidworks and also added a little C- shaped clasp that slides to lock the case closed. pretty fun little design to make and it prints in just under 2 hours.
Challenges Overcome: the design is completely original to me!
Obstacles Faced: printed setting could be optimized for less material and less time.
Looking Back: hinges are hard to design!
Update #4: Made some cutting jigs
40% completeI need to cut the cases in half with my jewelers saw, but it will be very difficult to do free handed, so I designed and printed these V1 cutting jigs that the cases slide into that have a slit which will allow me to easily cut the case straight every time. I had to print a few different sizes.
Challenges Overcome: Design work is always fun. immediately after printing and testing these ones I made a V2 design.
Obstacles Faced: Cases are too tight, need to adjust tolerances.
Looking Back: Added a hole at the back of the tube so I can stick a rod through and push the cases back out. The cases get pretty stuck in the V1 jigs.
Update #5: Updated the case design
45% completethe original case design was too short for some of the longer cases I am working with. so I had to update the design from a 2"x3" profile to a 2"x4" profile. This extra length gives me enough room to easily fit the longer .30-06 case.
Challenges Overcome: Easy redesign! I luckily designed the original case so all features were properly referenced meaning less work to redesign!
Obstacles Faced: Knowing how long to make the case initially
Looking Back: Design work never ends lol.
Update #6: Tested cutting jig
50% completeTested out the cutting jig i made and it worked like a charm! with the jewelers saw and a few blades i was able to cut the shell in half resulting in a very clean cut!
Challenges Overcome: Cutting jig is complete
Obstacles Faced: Accepting a less than perfect setup to make progress on the actual project!
Looking Back: Need to find the saw lubricant i have around here somewhere. The blade got stuck several times.
Update #7: Cutting a case with my jig
50% completeWanted to see if I could upload a video I took of cutting one of the .30-06 cases. This cartridge was used in my brother's M1 Garand which is a very cool and well known semi-automatic rifle from WW2.
Challenges Overcome: Cut another case, got some more exp in my cutting skills
Obstacles Faced: This was an issue I knew of but pressed on anyways. The jig I design had been improperly sized for the hole that held this cartridge. That is what caused it to flop around so much! But I made it through.
Looking Back: Using a finer toothed saw helped to cut through the brass quicker, but it still took a little bit and I broke a blade.
Update #8: Tested casting with solder
55% completeTested out some sand casting of a .45 bullet i 3d printed. I didn't want to break out the smelter so I ended up doing it with some solder and it worked well. the surface isn't perfect but with some sanding and polish im sure it will be fine.
Challenges Overcome: Cast a bullet and it looks decent!
Obstacles Faced: Pouring the solder and not wasting a bunch of it for each pour.
Looking Back: Solder is by far the easiest material to work with. But it has some down sides.
Update #9: Smelting pt 2
65% completesmelled the other 3 bullets that I need to finish up thebother pins. you can see i was able to cast three at once and have begun to cut away the excess material from the first one I cast.
Challenges Overcome: Not pictured here, but I also finished assembling the cases with their hinges and began to design and prototype some case inserts for the pins to sit in.
Obstacles Faced: Made a lot of smoke with the solder as the flux was burning. do it outside next time.
Looking Back: casting solder ain't too bad, but I need a better way to pour it.
Update #10: 3 updates in 1!
80% complete1. Designed the case inserts to hold the cuff links and pins for both the .45 ACP and the .30-06.
2. cut out the cast bullets and removed excess material.
3. Cut down the cases for the cuff links.
Challenges Overcome: Lots of cutting with the jewelers saw. luckily I have no more cutting to do!
Obstacles Faced: the cutting was difficult for the smaller pieces as I had less to hold on to without cutting my fingers.
Looking Back: Start the project earlier.
Update #11: Project Complete
100% completeFinished assembling the pins and cuff links and put them in their display boxes. Everything looks good and is all set.
Challenges Overcome: Trying something challenging. This project involved lots of smaller steps that all touched on some skills I've developed like casting and some jeweler skills. Overall this project was a good test to see if I've been able to retain and utilize everything I've learned from past projects.
Obstacles Faced: Scope creep! I wanted so badly to do so much on this project, but to finish it I really had to put on the blinders and focus on the goal at hand.
Looking Back: Design and execution are two very important steps. I made several iterations for some of my tool jigs and that almost became a new project for me. I ended up using a working jig even if it wasn't the most efficient one.