What's the best "Giveaway Gizmo" you've seen? IMTS,WESTEC, Salesmen, Etc

[Scruffy887]

A bit different, but attended EASTEC once when I was just a cabinet shop. Threw my card in a bin and was picked to get 2 carbide tipped boring bars, some carbide end mills, some counter sinks, and some other carbide tipped stuff. They sure were bummed when they found out I was a cabinet maker. But they did send the stuff to me.

 

[akajun]

Hunters orange ball caps or knit beanies
Even if you don’t hunt they count as Hi vis safety wear.

 

[DDoug]

Well, probably not all...LOL
Most of must customer's purchasing agents are engineers. There is a AP department that handles the PO's, but it is the engineers who direct the PO to a given shop.
(At least for my customers)

Most all PO's I've had known are clueless, viscous bean counters, who keep a tally of how many times the say "NO" in a day.

 

[bloomautomatic]

if you do waterjet, you could do some flat model kits.

they're popular for 3D printers, but could be adapted to metal.
Search Thingiverse - Thingiverse

 

[Strostkovy]

if you do waterjet, you could do some flat model kits.

they're popular for 3D printers, but could be adapted to metal.
Search Thingiverse - Thingiverse

My boss wanted me to make a set of kits like that for his kids. One got a dinosaur, one got a snake, and another wanted a butterfly. I looked everywhere for a butterfly file and finally found one on a kind of sketchy website with no instructions for $4, so I bought it, changed the slot sizes, and cut it. Half an hour into trying to assemble all the pieces we realized it was in fact a horse fly.

Fortunately the 5 year old girl it was for loved it, as it turned out large enough and solid enough (3/16" plate) that it could be ridden like a horse. Kids are strange.

 

[Bobw]

Not a machined thing, but a give away, and it wasn't given to me.

Shop I worked at, did a lot of hanging out in the office, and I always
grabbed this off the QC guys desk and played with, constantly.. Finally
he said "You really like that thing don't you?, take it"

Its that ridged plastic, where you just tilt it a few degrees and it changes.

 

[jccaclimber]

I’ve seen actual Leatherman tools once, they didn’t have many.
Park Tool was laser etching your name onto one of their smaller multi tools as freebies at Interbike one year.
One design firm that also did plastic injection had vernier calipers. Probably cost them $0.50 each and were only good to the nearest 1/64”, but as a broke engineering student I got a ton of use out of them.

If you’re going to give away a pen it had better be nicer than one I’m going to buy myself or it’s just going to get lost in a drawer.

Feintool gave me one of those telescoping magnets, but with an LED light on the end. I don’t use it that work, but it sure is handy in the garage, and the machine repair guys loved them.

 

[DDoug]

Not a machined thing, but a give away, and it wasn't given to me.

Shop I worked at, did a lot of hanging out in the office, and I always
grabbed this off the QC guys desk and played with, constantly.. Finally
he said "You really like that thing don't you?, take it"

Its that ridged plastic, where you just tilt it a few degrees and it changes.

My dad had one in the early 1970's

 

[Mcgyver]

I went to the Garbage Show once. They like to call it the Waste and Recycling Expo, but I call it the Garbage Show. Someone handed my a toenail clipper. I didn't take it personally. It did cause reflection about the company I was keeping

 

[DDoug]

PennaFlame used to give out a small 6" long clear tube with a ball bearing, for testing hardness.

 

[jccaclimber]

I really love the Protolabs freebies, namely because they’re useful as teaching aids. The common theme is filling a gap in my needs that I didn’t think of, or wasn’t going to solve on my own. Of course once you hand a bunch out the need is filled. Then you need another gizmo.

 

[metal-ica]

I always thought butt-plugs would be a good lathe give away.

Perhaps a bit controversial but there's no such thing as bad press, right?

 

[tylersteez]

I really love the graphing paper note pads like the one Bobw unintentionally posted. It became a joke with one of my suppliers that whenever he comes by to bring a couple extra for me. I burn through them drawing out parts, doing machinist math, and making lists of things I need to get done.

 

[Screwmachine]

This is my favorite. Looks like a Schaublin F type collet, opens up and becomes a corkscrew.

 

[Bobw]

I really love the graphing paper note pads like the one Bobw unintentionally posted. It became a joke with one of my suppliers that whenever he comes by to bring a couple extra for me. I burn through them drawing out parts, doing machinist math, and making lists of things I need to get done.

Those things are like gold...

Shop I used to work at, the "offices" were in a different location, so the Bralco salesman,
Butch, he was cool.. He'd stop at the shop, hand me a pile of pads, and then drive to the
offices and talk to the owner..

Where do you even get those pads? I've looked before and I couldn't find them. My stash
of pads is getting low..

And yes, honestly, scratch pads are probably the best thing in the world, Your name is right
in their face, all the time. They do get used.

 

[DDoug]

I really love the graphing paper note pads like the one Bobw unintentionally posted. It became a joke with one of my suppliers that whenever he comes by to bring a couple extra for me. I burn through them drawing out parts, doing machinist math, and making lists of things I need to get done.

Yup, and it was either Carr Lane or Jergens that gave out "doodle pads" with sketches of many of their clamps, locators, etc. printed all around the sides.

 

[Tony Quiring]

Pocket sized ones...

Also side note, make sure your business card is not the fancy kind that you can't write on.

Make sure backside is blank and white.

Our recent batch the marketing guys filled up with stupid stuff and cannot use for notes.

Writing notes on the back creates additional connection point to client.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[beege]

Many years ago I grabbed a stainless hammer made entirely on a Citizen L20. The handle unscrewed to reveal a screwdriver. Eastec

 

[Tom]

Citizen usually makes some cool stuff if you can get one from them. I have 2 different 0 to .5" micrometers, a vise, numerous bells, the trophy cup and the hammer beege speaks of. We, as the AE's, used to walk around the last day at IMTS and traded our gimmick parts to the other builders and then see who could come back with the best ones. This year will be my 18th IMTS - where has the time gone. I think the best one we ever did was either the mini-kg dime bank out of brass or the pocket watch body we did and pressed a clock face into - even gave out the chain to hook it your belt. We did those in 2000, we made over 700 of them at the show - I still have the prototype

Tom

 

[Strostkovy]

I work in an off-road shop and I proposed we give away 10mm sockets with our logo engraved on them. I got a room full of blank stares.