Yes to both!

In terms of hench-men I had my eyes on Knick-Knack.  But I will consider  bradfordmiller for 'odd jobs' ;) 

I did not, but there seems to be a lot of these machines lately, I saw the Makera Z1. Hopefully this means nice and cheap ones will flood the market soon, like it happened with 3D printers in the last decade.

Ideas without budget limits? Well, I would start with those three:

First, create a home lab with all the required equipment to reverse engineer what's inside two wireless remotes I have here. So basically, sniffing equipment for both the RF signal and what's inside the "black boxes" on the PCB. I would imagine stuff like microscope, radioscope, current sensors that can sense at the "nanometer" scale, even tool that could read embedded flash memory. Yes, that sounds a lot like the lab that the IRCGN has with its 3D X-Ray tomography and laser abrasion bench: 
https://next.ink/6513/108071-la-nouvelle-arme-anti-cryptographie-gendarmerie/
https://www.pressreader.com/france/gq-france/20170517/285860142970333

That might sound a bit too much craziness, so maybe the second idea would be more feasible. I would like to add a LED matrix on my roof tiles so that I can display images/animations whenever I feel like it. Initially, I though of using a 8x8 array of WS2812B LEDs with light guides that would get out just at the corner of a few tiles. But with 20cm between pixels, that would not be really easy to look at. So, with unlimited budget, I would actually create roof tiles that embed a LED array itself, with like 5 centimeters between LEDs so that the overlap area between tiles does not "break" the array. Pretty much like the LED curtains that are now ubiquitous on TV sets or concert shows, but embedded in the tiles with resistance to temperatures from -40°C to +150°C (yes, a tile gets hot).

And finally, one that would be more practical is the creation of a robot that could autonomously pick cherries. Yes, I know, picking fruit robots already exist, from the "shaking tree" for olives to "hand snatch" for apples, but cherries are uniquely challenging. Indeed, the fruit must not fall more than 5 centimeters, be picked at the right time (sometimes 12 hours delay is too much) and with the tail because a cherry without it rots much faster. The computer vision is the easiest part, with the neat detail that it must happen at up to 10 meters in the air. Reaching that far by human task force is already a challenge, but a robot that does all this without "dropping" the fruit would be quite a challenge and require lots of experiments. Like, should I use a "fabric chute", a conveyor belt, a set of mini chair lifts? and should it be a retractable arm as in TV cranes, an arm with multiple folding segments, or even a snake like arm that has lots of flexibility?
And after all that has been figured out, how much would it cost to make it a "viable product"? Probably too much anyway.

Ah well, I guess I'll go back to smaller endeavors.

Ah nice, when I read T gauge, I somehow linked it to outdoor garden trains but I stand corrected

• To design a state of the art military hardware computer to learn coding and hardware software development. download and code editing and AI code generator to easily configure any device to my liking without having to worry about being compatibility cyber security nor mistakes or get caught for  providing myself to the luxury of free services, cuz well just be able to hack and mod but not for them malicious act of invading someones privacy and  the contrary.
• Freedom of information and knowledge and transparency. Live Long & Prosper 

Yes, Bond Villain makes a lot of sense. If I built my Dyson Sphere, I'd charge everyone for sunlight. Muhahahaha!

I would build a 'Lair' like a Bond Villain.  Not sure if it would be on a secluded island or deep under the sea.  It doesn't matter really I guess... I just need a place to carry out evil schemes.  Nothing outlandish like the movies though.  Afterall, I wouldn't want to draw the ire of MI6.  So under-the-radar endeavors like stealing all the soap from Fort Knocks or developing a powerful vacuum that can suck up all the coins from all the couch cushions in the world.  And, if those don't pan out I could make counterfeit meme coins... I assume that's a thing and hold the moon for ransom.

I would build a spaceship so that I could explore the solar system.

Lots to see and do.

A more achievable project would be an all sky camera so I could capture meteors and aurora over head.

Not to mention the occasional interesting aircraft visiting the local Air Force Base.

I guess my project would be a community maker space.  Think: Warehouse and beyond.  It would have the electronics stuff, but also woodworking, metalworking, cooking, knitting, outdoor power equipment repair, whatever.  If anyone had a skill that they would like to share with others... give them some space - and materials because there's an unlimited budget.  Of course, the project would never be completed because it would be ever evolving.  Hopefully it would evolve into a place where folks could make stuff for others - maybe in need.  That would be cool.