What did you build that's not meant to be a toy or model, but to serve a general household purpose?

I made an iPhone stand to let me use it without holding it while it's charging, an iPad speaker amplifier that works, but isn't pretty. I'm considering making a nutcracker for sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds and an iPhone stand for use with the magnification feature (good for looking at Design IDs in tiny font on parts) or to use in lieu of scanning a receipt.

Edited May 23, 20177 yr by BubbaFit45531

I use a duplo brick as soap holder :D

(the hollowed studs are good to avoid the soap to lay in a small puddle)

Android tablet stand, key holders, raspberry pi case (and another for a smart TV box), and various arduino cases. Also a night-light for my son (although that one used non-purist LEDs as lego's ones are too expensive). 

There's a load of similar items in this thread, I don't know if that's what you meant;

Some of them are under-scaled, but many would be usable around the house.

I have also built numerous frames for a non-LEGO motor-and-fan-blade setup, for the rare warm days we get over here. Of course, @LXF has already done that with a proper LEGO RC buggy motor...

I'm talking about using Lego for household purposes, not recreating a household item with Lego.

I'm also considering making some sort of mirror mount so I can position two mirrors to look in my ear. I will need magnification mirrors. I'm thinking about using constraction jumbo ball & cup pieces.

Edited May 23, 20177 yr by BubbaFit45531

We also have a few photo frames - just a backplate made up of plates, then a layer of 1xX plate all around three edges, then a layer of 2xX plates on front of that, and they hold the photos in the groove. The kids decorate the 2xX tiles as they please.

I use 1X2 hollow bricks as covers for USB male connections. they fit perfectly and provide very good protection 

Years ago I made an iPad holder:

Camera dolly:

 

 

I fixed my washing machine with bricks (the switch broke) until a replacement part arrived.

I have also built a camera stand and a cherry pitter/stoner. In less time than it took my dad to go to the store and buy one. (That was the turning point when he stopped hating Lego).

I also built my wife a jewelry case, which I should really post here on EB sometime.

Edited May 24, 20177 yr by rodiziorobs

Fix my boy's kiddy car steering with some technic parts.

 

 I'm not sure if this counts as a household item, but I made myself a fidget cube to keep on my office desk. I use it as a stress reliever, so I don't really consider it a toy, but maybe I'm in the minority?

 I just ordered parts for a family photo frame from Bricklink, so hopefully I'll have that built by next week. I tried building an M&M's dispenser once, but the candies kept getting stuck in the exit slot. If anyone knows where I can find instructions for a working dispenser, I wouldn't mind having another go at it.

I'm guessing an M&M dispenser would involve some round hole Technic bricks and round connectors. Maybe some 2x2 flat tiles too.

I have done the obvious thing of making a holder for my stop-motion camera.

I'm sure I have used Lego for other things, but I can't think of them at the moment...

Edited May 29, 20177 yr by mocbuild101

On 5/26/2017 at 7:01 AM, Lancethecat said:

 I tried building an M&M's dispenser once, but the candies kept getting stuck in the exit slot. If anyone knows where I can find instructions for a working dispenser, I wouldn't mind having another go at it.

Here is a candy dispenser I made years ago (although you'll see that to make it contest-compliant I had to swap out the candies with minifig heads!) The post has some photos, as well as links to my Flickr where there are some with actual candies.

Thr pictures you will see use M&Ms, but I found that M&Ms are hard because of the flat side on them. My biggest issues were that they would jam the chute before they ever got to the mechanism. So I opted for Sixlets, which are basically rounder (and tastier) versions of M&Ms.

I have built a handful of these before, each different, but it's been years. I'll see if I can sketch out some plans from memory and post them here.

Edit: here is a quick sketch.

I used this specific Volcano Island part for the button assembly. You could design it without it but I found it pretty handy.

Edited May 30, 20177 yr by rodiziorobs
Added sketch

On 5/30/2017 at 0:54 PM, rodiziorobs said:

I have built a handful of these before, each different, but it's been years. I'll see if I can sketch out some plans from memory and post them here.

 Thanks for the sketch, rodiziorobs. I ended up building a dispenser where the candies were stacked one on top of the other, so they wouldn't get stuck:

I'm hoping to build a coin-operated dispenser soon, but most of the ones I've seen online are either too bulky or only store one or two candies.

Today, I saw a pic of a new Ninjago movie maker set and the stand to mount a smartphone looked nice. I didn't see a set # so not sure if I'll be able to find instructions for it later.