The MachinistReader: Pat DelanyHometown: Palestine, TexasMaterials: $10,000Time: Four yearsResult: A junkyard creation that could help developing nations develop faster.* See Multimachine Runners Up* Submit Your Own DIY ProjectTalk about recycling: Pat Delany of Palestine, Texas, transformed two old car-engine blocks and a hodgepodge of other castaway auto and machine parts into a mini machine shop. The 1000-pound contraption serves as an end mill, horizontal mill, drill press, sander, grinder, sheetmetal spinner, and as a metal or wood lathe and saw. Switching functions is a simple matter of attaching various adapters to the spindle or, for the lathe chucks, just screwing them on. Delany recently used his invention – a four-year labor of love – to resurface a neighbor’s brake rotors. But the self-employed oil consultant envisions a grander goal for his tool of plenty: “People in developing countries could be trained to use this machine to repair farm machinery, auto parts and more.” Delany bought a number of components, but he says the whole system could be built from scavenged parts.
