my cutting oil pot

  For quite some time now, I've wanted a "spillproof oil pot" which would hold a brush and some cutting fluid, and which won't make a mess if tipped over.

 I picked up this trick of applying cutting fluid with a brush from, well, not just my buddy who is a tool and die maker and an experienced machinist, but apparently every other machinist everywhere.  One uses a brush instead of a pump oiler to greatly reduce how much fluid one uses (I like to use TapMagic™, which is expensive) and to put it right where it's needed and nowhere else.

 The pot needs to be short and squat so it doesn't tip over, it needs to have an opening to accept a small brush (most of use seem to be using metal disposable "acid brushes" sold for use by plumbers for applying soldering flux - they are dirt cheap by the bag or box), and ideally it would have a magnet on the bottom, so you could put it on various parts of a machine and it will stay put. 

 Oddly enough, these don't seem to be for sale!  AFAICT from extensive searching, there is literally only one no-spill oil pot sold by anyone anywhere, it is serviceable but cheap plastic, unpleasantly light-weight, it has no magnet, and the opening for the brush is somewhat narrow.  Tom Lipton at OxToolCo likes them.

 I have seen quite a few different implementations by various machinists, including:

AVE - who made one from aluminum flare (AKA "JIC") fittings then gold-plated it

this fellow machined one from billet aluminum and heat-shrank (well, um, press-fit) the base onto it, a move I always appreciate.

TubalCain made one from a tuna can

and here are a bunch of others

 I decided I wasn't going to spend a lot of time and material machining something from billet, as sexy as that might look, I just don't have the time and material to spare for something like this.  So I decide I'd try to find something I could re-purpose with a bit of work. 

 Yesterday, my eyes landed on an old pump oiler I bought and didn't like so I never used it.  If it could be cut down, and a few things added, it might be about right...

So now this is happening:

The first step was to cut the top part of the can from the rest.  I would keep this part so I could have a removable top.  I cut the pump from the lid on the lathe.  Then I cut out about a two inch section from the remainder of the can (to shorten the height of the finished article) and discarded that bit.  The bottom section I chucked into the lathe, and with a spinning process, I stretched its opening for about a quarter-inch of depth, to accept the top with a tight fit.  I salvaged a piece of the original internal pump which I thought would make a nice funnel to guide the brush into the can, and I enlarged the centrol hole in the lid to accept the brush tube.  I planned to epoxy the tube into the lid.

I put JB Weld around the inside of the bottom part, assembled the two by pressing judiciously with the mill's quill to get the pieces assembled straight, then i put a bead of more epoxy on the outside to try to smooth the lines of the seam.  I will smooth the seam on the belt sander, and possibly add another coat of epoxy or Bondo and repeat, before I paint it.  I'll probably paint it some heinous, eye-bleeding fluorescent color so I can find it again when I inevitably misplace it.

The lid had an extra hole for the pump operation rod, which I machined smooth on the outside and plugged with epoxy.  I'll machine and sand the outside smooth before painting.

I decided I didn't like the first idea I'd had for the brush holder tube, as the opening wasn't large enough.  I wanted something wider and more funnel-like which would keep all the bristles on the brush together and make it easy to get the brush back in the can.

 Looking through my junk, I found a perfect little funnel-shaped object which came from a soldering iron holder, which required no modification whatsoever.

 I'll just need to enlarge the hole in the lid to accept it, and epoxy it in place so that the oil stays in if the can is turned upside-down; spill-proof!

 Once the epoxy has hardened and I've had a chance to finish the project and paint it (and epoxy a magnet to the bottom), I'll post a picture of the finished article.