32 Outdoor Gift Ideas CNCers and Welders Can Make

Last modified: March 6, 2024

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Hey!  What kinda CNC Gifts are you making this year?

I recently did an article on 18 CNC Jewelry Gift Ideas to Delight the Non-CNCer in Your Life that was well-received.  It's the right time of year to be contemplating CNC Gift Projects, and they're typically aimed at the Non-CNCers in your life.  In this installment, we're going to look at Gift Ideas for the Outdoors.  I don't really mean for camping so much as to furnish and decorate the areas outside your home.

See if any appeal to you as a good project for this holiday season!

CNC Sign Projects

CNC Machines are perfect for making awesome and unique signs.  Whether you have a straight up CNC Mill, CNC Router, or even a Plasma Cutter, there are many interesting possibilities.  For starters, why not make the street address number for your home something unique and fun?

Large silver house number sign with "2227" on wooden background.

A modern house number sign with silver and orange panels on a white wall.

Here's a great cnc plasma cutter project...

Outdoor Furniture

The sky is the limit for a CNC'er that wants to make some unique outdoor furniture:

Silver metal bar stool with hole pattern.

A set of these bar stools in stainless would be awesome!  I hate to think what the material would cost.  Maybe aluminum is a better idea?

Sleek modern outdoor bench with slatted wooden seat on urban stone floor

Park benches are commonly seen around many homes.  How about this racey uber modern design?

Wooden Adirondack chair with skull-shaped backrest and bone-like armrests.

The venerable Aidrondack chair with something a little extra.  What sort of design would you add to yours?

Games and Other Fun Accessories

Lots of possibilities in the realm of garden and outdoor games.  For example, you could create one of those big chess sets where the pieces stand 3 feet tall.  Or, you could try some of the other examples:

Oversized stone chess pieces on a grassy chessboard.

Oversized chess...

Oversized checkers pieces on an outdoor checkerboard in a garden setting.

As long as you have a board laid out, why not checkers too?

Oversized wooden Tic Tac Toe game with white painted "X" and "O" blocks on gray wall.

Oversized could sit on a table top too!

Oversized wooden dominoes on grassy surface.

Oversized Yard Dominos, anyone?

Clocks and Sundials

You don't see clocks very often at residences, which is one reason I love the idea.

Clocks are endlessly fascinating and can be easy projects or very advanced.  Movements are relatively cheap, or make your own geared movement-you're a CNC'er, you can make anything you want!  Sundials need no movement, and are also wonderful yard ornaments.

Rustic puzzle clock with irregularly shaped pieces cut out to form a clock face on a white wall.

Puzzle clock would be a nice plasma table project.  Suitable for a regular mill on a smaller scale too!

Black numbers on a white background, 12-hour analog chain clock.

Vertical metal rod with chained gears and painted measurement markings (5-8).

This unusual clock is made from chain.  The correct time is at the top...

A rusted outdoor sundial with numbered top edge and shadowed lower section.

Here's a very modern sundial.  Figuring out how to do that ring will keep you scratching your head a bit...

Sundial sculpture near Tower Bridge, London, with cloudy sky and Roman numeral markings.

A very modern sundial.  A little smaller scale for a home would be really slick!

Oval-shaped sundial with engraved numbers and decorative markings.

A marble sundial uses a glass sphere to focus the sun's light on the dial...

White sundial with brass-colored gnomon and hour lines against greenery backdrop.

Wouldn't this be a lovely sundial on a pedestal in your garden?

A sundial with complex geometric shapes in a natural setting.

Sundials can be quite intricate and complex...

Door Jewelry and Garden Gates

Your frontdoor is the gateway to your castle and kingdom.  Decorate it to show your distinctive taste with a little CNC wizardry.

Bronze-colored dog's head attached to a red door.

There are door knockers in every imaginable form.  Why not one that shows your favorite dog breed?

Sleek silver door handle with elongated lever and round doorknob on white background.

Door handles are fair game too!

Sleek modern door handle made of brushed stainless steel on a dark grey background.

Not feeling creative enough for something complex?  Go way the other way and simplify to basic geometry...

Circular key guide with central hole and directional arrows.

While you're at it, how about a bezel that guides your key when it's too dark to see?

Fire Pits and BBQ Ideas

You're a CNC'er and you love to BBQ, why live with a simple Weber when you could create one of these amazing designs?

Stainless steel BBQ grill with curved, circular design and suspended chain.

Handy with a Tig Welder and Tubing Bender?

Yellow portable gas grill with three burgers on the grates.

How can I not have a Caterpillar BBQ in my life?  Git ‘er done!!!

Large oval-shaped metal object with vertical slats and a shiny surface on a grassy lawn.

The super-stylish Planca grill designed by Christophe Calanca...

A foldable wall-mounted barbecue grill made of black metal with a compact design and foldable mechanism.

Foldable wall-mounted grill hides away when you're done.  Would be slick as an outdoor warming fireplace too.

Tall wooden torches on a sandy beach with flames and swaying grasses in the background.

Tiki Torches: Something simpler than a BBQ Grill...

Rustic outdoor fireplace with weathered copper exterior and stacked firewood.

Matching outdoor fireplaces?

A stainless steel BBQ grill with "#1 DAD" engraving and parallel grooves for heat distribution.

Custom BBQ Grill: #1 Dad-not bad!

Outdoor Lighting

Yet another category that's fun.  Outdoor lighting can really spruce up your yard parties at night.

Unique wooden outdoor lighting fixture with cylindrical shape and hidden light source.

Rustic meets modern when you slice up a log just right...

Wooden outdoor light fixture with stacked rectangular blocks and a soft yellow glow.

Another take on the theme...

Sleek modern lighting fixture with geometric design and openwork pattern of interconnected circles.

CNC a design in sheet metal.  Put waterproof lighting inside.  Wow: outdoor light sculpture!

Three cylindrical logs with colored tops (yellow, teal, red) on a dark background.

How about colors?  They make LED fixtures that are waterproof and whose colors can be changed via wifi from your phone...

Conclusion

We're CNC'ers, we can make anything we imagine.  I hope these images have helped to inspire your imagination.

Tell us what sorts of CNC projects you're thinking about doing to delight the non-CNCers in your life below in the comments.

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